Thread: Rain...Rain...Rain in the WTCC

This weekend me, the wife and my dad went to Anderstorp to watch the World Touring Car Championship race (IIRC the first car race with World Championship status on Swedish soil since the Swedish Formula 1 Grand Prix 1978).

We weren't expecting much of the weather since it's rained here every day since the beginning of June. Thankfully it wasn't raining all the time, we actually had some sun in between the extreme rain showers. But eventhough we had pretty decent clothing for the rain you weren't exactly dry when you sat in the car on the way home.

The racing, however, was excellent as both WTCC races were run in difficult conditions. The first race started out wet, dried out and then it started to rain again in the closing stages which proved entertaining as some of the cars were on slicks and others on wets.

The second race was a cracker. The two Chevys of Alain Menu and Nicola Larini started on wets and pulled away from the field. At halfway the track started to dry up and Rickard Rydell who made a guest appearance for Chevrolet was lying 9th and was the leading car on slicks but some 30 seconds or so behind the leaders. He then started lapping five seconds faster per lap than the front guys and on the last lap he passed both his team mates (Larini in the last corner) to take the win. A win that wasn't very popular with Larini who was very pissed off as Rydell took valuable points away from his two teammates who are battling for the overall championship.

Rydell supposedly ignored calls of holding position on the last laps to go for the win as he had been cleared to fight for the win before the race. Larini's tantrum after the finish was very funny to see on TV. Too bad it's not on Youtube yet.

The STCC Volvo S60 Flexifuel of Robert Dahlgren was also in the race and made a good recovery on slicks in the second race
and ended up in eight in front of all the BMW's. As the Volvo is only locally approved to run in the STCC he was not eligible for the point though.

Until there's some Youtube clips from the Anderstorp meeting I'll leave you with Augusto Farfus getting it wrong at Pau some months ago.



That's not the way to treat a BMW, is it?

Wow! That steward behind the wall can consider himself a bit lucky that he didn't got hit by any of the pieces flying from the car

Originally Posted by Ryan

Menu!, Larini!!, Rydell!!!, is there anyone in WTCC under 50?

Not really, they're all pretty damn old.


Oldest:
Gabriele Tarquini, 45
Alain Menu, 43
Nicola Larini, 43
Alessandro Zanardi, 40
Rickard Rydell, 39
(there are a couple of pretty old Russians too, but they're not really participating that much, and when they are they are a couple of laps behind)

Youngest:
Philip Geipel, 20
Olivier Tielemans, 23
Miguel Freitas, 23
Sergio Hernandez, 23
Augusto Farfus, 23
Felix Porteiro, 23

Most of the pack seems to be in the mid thirties.

I've found the last three laps of the dramatic race 2 on the tube now. Too bad we don't get to see Larini all grumpy.

Team orders are made to be broken.

Originally Posted by Racerpt

Probably the next Brazilian World Champion Ok it's not F1, but still, he's closer than Massa is.

Yeah, Farfus is looking strong this year and has matured. He used to drive into people like crazy in his Alfa.