fiawtcc-alexandre-zanardi-back-on-earth-bmw-estoril-brno

Dear Friends,

The Portuguese reality took me back on earth, after twirling delightfully for the good result obtained at Brno. Anyway, there are some reasons that led the weekend towards a more opaque performance than what it could have been.

In qualifying we certainly had the setup wrong but a problem to the brakes that prevented me to fully exploit a new set of tyres contributed to the "disastrous" position in the starting grid.

In race one I tried to attack, but carefully, since I knew that the middle of the group of WTCC is a place whereby one can find troubles without even looking for them. And in fact, timely, I have been hit at the second corner in which one of the front rods got bent. Despite of this , I managed to get back to an honourable ninth place but the understeering caused by the setup problem soon got much worse and it force me to slow my race pace down. I have therefore been caught by those opponents that were easy to pull away from just a few minutes earlier.

Just to add bad to the worse, in a fight with Menu I have been hit again and this bent the rod of the front right tyre too. This made my BMW more unstable than the Lupella...

In race one I made a stunning start and I recovered eleven positions in a single lap, but this has been just flash in the pan; stuck behind Tarquini I have been caught up by Farfus to whom I voluntarily gave the position since I thought that in a few laps we both would have overtaken the opponents that were in front of us thanks to the tyre wearing that usually penalizes "rear wheeled" more than us "BMWers".

But no way! In the last three races I was "rowing desperately" and I managed to let myself be overtaken by the good Coronel whom I had got rid of very quickly at the beginning of the race. The performance drop in race two is the only thing that worries me a bit and it is the technical matter that I will take care of with the engineers of the team.

There are some positive facts too: I lost 30kg of handicap weight due to the victory of Brno and, as a curious thing, I add that for the first thing since I started racing in the WTCC I received a fair-play sign from an opponent that was not one of my brand-mates, this made me happy. I am talking about Alain Menu that after the contact of race one came to me apologizing. This proved to me that there still are people around that not only know how to move the wheel but has the class to do it respecting the opponents.

If I read again what I wrote so far I realize that I pictured the scene darker than what it was. At the end of the day it was the first time I was running with that amount of ballast on board, more than most of my collegues and hadn´t I had the qualifying wrong I would probably had the rhythm to get home something good.

For these reasons I believe that at Brands Hatch I will have a good chance to get a good result. In fact not only I will have a lighter car of 30kg, but I will also race on a track that I reckon emphasizes the qualities of our car and minimizes the technical gap that other circuits force on me due to violent brakings and turn approachings requiring a lot of wheel work.

All the best, see you soon,

Alex Zanardi

by Alberto Brojanigo

Alessandro Zanardi: Seventh but... first of the BMW's ! 06.10.08

Dear Friends, Monza´s weekend unfortunately confirmed the worries of the eve. I finished race two as the best BMW, a result that some time ago would have been worth the first place of the podium but today, despite starting from the pole position...

ROAL Motorsport - Zanardi best BMW driver in race two 06.10.08

Circuit: Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Venue: Monza Car #4 Driver: Alessandro Zanardi Qualifying results: 14° (2'00.740) Race 1 results: 8° Race 2 results: 7° Car #5 Driver: Felix Porteiro Qualifying results: 12° (2'00.637)...

Tarquini gets penalty for Japan 06.10.08

Having watched the TV footage and heard the competitor, the Panel of the Stewards concluded that he gained an advantage with this manoeuvre and decided to impose him a penalty of five grid positions for the first race of the next event in...

Seat drivers encore and are closer to the title 06.10.08

With two 1-2 finishes today in Monza, SEAT Sport drivers have claimed a serious stake on both the World Titles. The retirements of Chevrolet's Robert Huff and BMW's Andy Priaulx, the only two serious competitors left, the Drivers' Championship...

Penalty for Rydell, Zanardi on Pole in Monza 05.10.08

The Stewards of the meeting stripped Rickard Rydell of the third place he had obtained in today"s the first race. The Swedish driver was given a 30 second time penalty because he cut the first chicane on the last lap after colliding with Nicola...

SEAT 1-2-3 in Monza Race 1 05.10.08

SEAT Sport’s Yvan Muller, who leads the Driver’s Championship, took the first win in Monza from team mate Gabriele Tarquini. Rickard Rydell finished behind them in third to make it a complete SEAT podium.But the race was not as simple as it...

Monza Race 1 Provisional classification 05.10.08

2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship Weather/Track: Sun 17°/ Dry 28° Monza Circuit Length = 5.7930 km. 1 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon TDI 18:16.448 9 170.16 2:00.922 2 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon TDI 18:16.725 9 0.277 170.12...

Seat take top four in Monza qualifying 04.10.08

SEAT Sport turbodiesel cars have claimed the top four positions on the grid for tomorrow’s first race.SEAT Sport turbodiesel cars have claimed the top four positions on the grid for tomorrow’s first race. Qualifying was all about the SEAT drivers...

Monza - provisional qualifying result 04.10.08

2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship QUALIFYING - PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION Weather/Track: Sun 19°/ Dry 36° Monza Circuit Length = 5.7930 km. 1 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon TDI 1:59.213 8 174.93 2 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon TDI...

Chevrolet retain drivers for 2009 04.10.08

The Chevrolet team will retain the same line up for the next season. They have re-signed the same three drivers - Robert Huff, Nicola Larini and Alain Menu - who have been with the team since the beginning of the World Touring Car programme....

Farfus leads BMW trio in Monza practice 2 04.10.08

BMW Germany drivers Augusto Farfus and Jörg Müller set the fastest laps in the second practice session at Monza. Müller headed the field for most of the session, only for his team mate to better his time on his final lap. Farfus set a time of...

Monza - Practice 2 results 04.10.08

2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship FREE PRACTICE 2 Weather/Track: Sun 17°/ Dry 15° Monza Circuit Length = 5.7930 km. 1 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 2:01.006 13 172.34 2 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 2:01.065 14 0.059 172.26 3 1 Andy...

Monza Practice1 - Augusto Farfus fastest in BMW 04.10.08

BMW Team Germany driver Augusto Farfus set the fastest lap (2:00.665) in the first session at Monza this morning. Jordi Gené took second place in the final moments, one tenth behind the leader. Alessandro Zanardi clocked the third best time early...

Monza Practice 1 results 04.10.08

2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship FREE PRACTICE 1 Weather/Track: Sun 12° / Dry 10° Monza Circuit Length = 5.7930 km. 1 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 2:00.665 13 172.83 2 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon TDI 2:00.734 11 0.069...

Last news from Monza 04.10.08

COUNTDOWN: - 1 DAY to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza A FIELD OF 30 CARS TO RACE IN MONZA A strong 30-car field at Monza will mark a new season record for the World Touring Car Championship. With the latest...

Zanardi Oschersleben 2007 Racing helmet at a charity auction on Ebay 30.09.08

On the next first of October, the website www.ebay.it will auction an autographed racing helmet that I used in occasion of the 2007 race of Oschersleben. The initial bid will be 1 euro. The whole revenue will be given to onlus of Udine...

Drivers on a golf course 26.09.08

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza Gabriele Tarquini, Robert Huff and Nicola Larini will take part this weekend in a 36-hole Stableford golf tournament at the San Valentino golf club in...

Wiechers and Poulsen join forces 26.09.08

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza After they were forced to skip Imola, the Wiechers-Sport team will come back in force at Monza. The German outfit will compete with two cars again like they did...

Duarte Félix da Costa from Seat Eurocup to WTCC 26.09.08

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza Duarte Félix da Costa has won a one-off participation in the WTCC event at Monza. The 23-year old from Cascais, Portugal, is the fifth SEAT Eurocup driver...

First Honda test for Taniguchi 26.09.08

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza Following the successful weekend in Imola where they claimed the first WTCC victory for Honda, N.technology is ready to run a second Accord car in Monza and...

Maximum ballast for Muller, Rydell and Huff in Monza 26.09.08

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza Three drivers will carry the maximum 70kg success ballast on board in the next race meeting at Monza: Yvan Muller, who won the first race in Imola and is...

Monza to close the European Season 26.09.08

COUNTDOWN: - 9 DAYS to the 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Italy - 4th / 5th October, in Monza The 19th and 20th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place next week at Monza, Italy. This will be the last European event before the big leap to the Far...

Are you wondering why this picture with Schumacher ? 25.09.08

My debut as a journalist! Jokes apart, during the Monza´s GP weekend, I happily wore the journalist clothes for "Sport Week", the weekly magazine of the Gazzetta dello Sport and the unfortunate interviewed in the occasion was Michael...

Poulsen verstärkt Wiechers Sport in Monza 24.09.08

Der 32-Jährige Däne Kristian Poulsen startet bei den Läufen 19 & 20 zur FIA World Touring Car Championship in Monza im zweiten Wiechers Sport BMW. Poulsen war bereits bei den Läufen in Estoril, Brands Hatch und Oschersleben im eigenen...

Tiago Monteiro, le pilote le plus rapide de la seconde course d'Imola... 24.09.08

... Mais quatre fois poussé hors piste! Pour Tiago Monteiro, le weekend d'Imola a pris des allures d'auto-tamponneuses plus que de 9ème meeting du Championnat du Monde de Voitures de Tourisme FIA WTCC. Le pilote de Porto a été la cible de...

[:: previous ] [ next ::]