THE FRENCH CONNECTION // WTCC ON THE STREETS OF PAU

The battle for the 2009 World Touring Car Championship hit the streets of Pau, France this past weekend, and this the 4th round of the series turned out to be a dramatic affair.

The Chevrolet team took two race wins ahead of BMW, and with the Seat TDI's floundering down in the midfield following a reduction in their maximum boost pressure the title race is now very much a three way fight.

CTD's Neil Tozer was trackside to bring us his weekend report... [read more]

The first thing that strikes you upon entering the outskirts of Pau is the amazingly beautiful backdrop to the city provided by the mountains of the Pyrenees to the south, they create a wonderful panorama on a clear day and truly dominate the skyline.

The "Grand Prix De Pau" was first held in 1901 before becoming an annual event in 1933. The event was run as a non championship F1 race before changing to F2 and latterly European F3000. WTCC has been top billing for the last 3 years and this years race is the 69th running of this most historic of street races.

The circuit as with Monaco is very narrow and has some major challenges including the legendary "Foch" Chicane which is approached around a sweeping 100mph + corner then darts around a small grass mini roundabout before plunging steeply downhill on the exit. Touring cars here truly are a spectacular sight and even the spectator grandstand has it's own "Foch" regulars, as the corner is most often the scene of many a race ending shunt. It was here that Augusto Farfus (below) famously rolled his BMW in qualifying for the 2007 event.

Qualifying on the Saturday dawned clear and dry with temperatures nudging into the mid 70's with the Park and Casino section of the circuit looking gorgeous in the warm spring sunshine.

The two morning free practice sessions had seen the Championship leading Seat Diesels in real trouble with team boss Jaime Puig estimating that with the reduction in boost pressure, they had lost approximately 30-40 HP. So with the Chevrolet's fresh with success ballast from their race winning weekend in Marrakesh at the last round it really was a case of which BMW would be on pole.

Farfus was the initial pace setter before Jorg Muller and Andy Priaulx bettered his time. In a real surprise which would bode well for him for the rest of the weekend Rob Huff (below) in his factory Chevrolet Cruze joined Muller and Priaulx in the 1 minute 22's bettering their times by just 4 hundredths. So as with Formula 1 Q1 would see the top ten from Q2 battle it out for the pole which at Pau is vitally important as passing most of the time relies on an error from your opponent.

Again it was Farfus who set the opening pace in the ten minute Q1session but Team BMW GB driver Andy Priaulx narrowly bettered the Brazilians's time in the dying minutes to land the all important pole berth.
Behind the two 320si's was Tom Coronel (below) who set a scorching pace in his privately run petrol Seat Leon to take 3rd on the grid. Jorg Muller was 4th followed by the again impressive Huff just ahead of his Chevy' team mates Alain Menu and Nicola Larini.

However this was all to change shortly after the cars returned to the pit garages as the Seat team protested that 7 out of the top ten in Q1 had exceeded their petrol maximum rev limit, albeit while blipping the throttle on downchanges or with wheelspin out of the tight hairpin. Sad situation really but keeping a level playing field in this formula is not an easy game and there is always someone who is going to be feeling that they are hard done by. With the protest upheld the grid took on a different look with now Farfus heading Jorg Muller, Franz Engslter, Rob Huff and the demoted Andy Priaulx (Below).

Saturday Night in Pau on GP weekend is a lively affair with some of the support races starting as late as 8.30pm after a couple of hours break. The many restaurants and bars around the recently updated main square are full to capacity with team personnel, locals and race goers and late nights are had by quite a few albeit with the resulting sore head come morning.

Raceday started as usual with the 15 minute warm up session which passed by without anyone suffering any real drama's or mishaps and with the light cascading through the trees on the run up the hill into "Pont Oscar" (below) this place really has got something special. Maybe not quite the "Wow" factor of Monaco but certainly a real deserved runner up.

Race One:
So with all the preliminaries done and dusted race one with its rolling start (below) kicked into life just after 1pm. Farfus from pole lead the way through the flat out 1st turn and down into "Virage Gare" (Station Corner) but behind, Huff made a great move stick on Jorg Muller and sliced his way down the inside and into 2nd. As the field completed lap one with the run back down accross the startline it was Farfus from Huff, Muller, Menu and Priaulx.

Lap two saw the deciding point of the 1st 19 lap encounter with Farfus running wide into Pont Oscar on a patch of oil and in a flash Huff was through as the pair dived up into the Lysee' Hairpin. The following laps saw the top 5 cars all line astern (below) around the tortuous street circuit with each driver anxious to try to avoid any mistakes which would inevitably lose them more than just one spot as they would be shuffled to the back of the "Pack".

The situation for the TDi Seat's was graphically illustrated as Championship leader and crowd favourite Yvan Muller was languishing down in 17th place!

By lap seven there were spots of rain falling on the 1st part of the lap which had teams hurriedly preparing wets in the tight confines of the pitalne. The rain petered out almost as quickly as it started and lap 8 saw Sergio Hernadez in the Team Spain BMW slip past Franz Engstler again at Pont Oscar. Huff became more and more defensive with each passing lap, with the now much more mature Farfus trying everything to take the lead but without risking too much contact. Menu dropped to 5th on Lap 12 as Priaulx made a pass on him resulting in slight side to side contact as he went through. This delayed the Swiss driver just enough to let Hernandez through and up into 5th.

The "Foch" chicane claimed its first raceday victim on Lap 15 as Stefano D'aste clouted the barriers on the approach tearing off his left front which then saw the hapless BMW career over the the grass and into the escape road to be greeted and lifted by one of Pau's extremely efficent Cranes.

Onto the last lap and with the Chevrolet man Huff still resisting the pressure from the chasing BMW's team mate Menu dropped back to eighth place which as he knew would be pole for race two. So at the line it was Huff (Below) from Farfus and Muller. A great win for the British driver and Mark Busfield's Chevrolet squad who all fully realised that keeping renowned Pau "Expert" Farfus at bay for 95% of the race was no mean feat.

Race One Results:
01 Robert Huff Chevrolet
02 Augusto Farfus BMW
03 Jörg Müller BMW
04 Andy Priaulx BMW
05 Sergio Hernández BMW
06 Félix Porteiro BMW
07 Franz Engstler BMW
08 Alain Menu Chevrolet
09 Tom Coronel Seat
10 Tom Boardman Seat

Race Two:
As the lights went out for this the standing start race little did anyone know what carnage would occur in the next 2 minutes.

Franz Engstler in his non works BMW easily out dragged Menu from pole with the aid of rear wheel drive and was followed through as the field funnelled into the first braking area by Felix Porteirio. However Menu tapped the rear of the Spaniard's 320si causing Priaulx and Jorg Muller to collide with Jorg suffering broken front suspension against one of Pau's unforgiving armco barriers on the exit of Virage Gare. Next and up the hill into Pont Oscar Hernandez and Portiero collided with Hernandez spinning backward into the barriers and rejoining at the tail of the field only for his crumpled rear body work to catch fire which then saw the Spaniard make make a hasty exit from the BMW at Foch while the Marshals went to work to extinguish the blaze.(Below and Top Of Report) Also crashing at Foch was Tom Boardman who lost it on the approach and retired on the spot.

As Engstler led the field on the run downhill to the startline the safety car boards and yellows were out but unfortunately the safety car driver instead of using the acceleration lane out of the pits veered straight into the unfortunate BMW drivers's path causing a sizeable impact at well over 100mph, luckily neither driver was hurt but with all the debris and other cars littered around the circuit the Clerk of The Course had no choice but to stop the race.



So after a 45 minute break to clear up the mess and frantic work by the pit crews to repair differing degrees of vehicle damage the race was restarted behind the now 2nd! safety car.

The order now as the car let the field go was Menu from Porteiro,Farfus,Huff and Priaulx.

By Lap 5 Menu had built the biggest lead anyone had previously seen a whole 1.5 seconds! Priaulx was nailed to Huff's bootlid but like Farfus in race one he could not find a way through. Porteiro was then penalised for his part in removing Hernandez at the first start and had to serve a drive through penalty.

Lap 7 and Menu (below) was still easing away from Farfus who now had pressure from behind in the shape of Huff and Priaulx.

Over the midpart of the race Farfus managed to pull clear from his pursuer's as Huff began to get ever more defensive in keeping Priaulx behind. Farfus then put in a series of quick laps and latched on to Menu's bootlid with just two laps to go. As the leaders started their last lap there was a collision between Eric Carolle and Nicola Larini at the chicane before the pits which saw the track blocked and with it another red flag. This time the result was declared albeit one lap back and Chevrolet had taken their 2nd win of the day and their 4th in a row over the rounds at both Marakech and Pau. The Cruze is certainaly turning out to be just as good a street racing car as the Lacetti was and with Huff on a roll with his confidence sky high they are beginning to be a force to be reckoned with.

Race Two Results:
01 Alain Menu Chevrolet
02 Augusto Farfus BMW
03 Robert Huff Chevrolet
04 Andy Priaulx BMW
05 Alex Zanardi BMW
06 Gabriele Tarquini Seat
07 Yvan Muller Seat
08 Eric Cayrolle Seat
09 Nicola Larini Chevrolet
10 Kristian Poulsen BMW

With recriminations and protests after the race things are certainly getting interesting.

A three way title fight, rear wheel drive v front wheel drive, petrol v diesel, the possibilities are endless.

Roll on Valencia for round five.

Stay tuned to CTD for Neil Tozer's coverage of the WTCC's British round at Brands Hatch in July which once again will see action a plenty.

Photo/Editorial: Neil Tozer