The only way to get onto the winners podium in round two of the 2004 European Touring Car Championship in Spain at the weekend (18 April 2004) was behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 156. Alfa Romeo finished 1-2-3 in both races and the winners of the two races for non-works teams were also behind the wheel of Alfa Romeo 156s, delivering a crushing blow to BMW. Alfa Romeo now leads the drivers, manufacturers and team championship title races. After the fierce battle between Alfa Romeo and BMW in Monza, the second meeting of the 2004 FIA European Touring Car Championship turned to an all-Alfa parade. Since the qualifying session, Alfa Romeo drivers Gabriele Tarquini, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Augusto Farfus have been in a league of their own.
Tarquini and Giovanardi finished first and second in the first race, and repeated this result in the second race, though in reverse order, with Farfus claiming two third positions. In vain the rest of the field desperately tried to counter the Alfas - the BMW men had to settle for 4th position onwards. As for SEAT, which was expected to claim some good results on its home track, they could not have been more unlucky, with all the three Toledo Cupra cars out by Race 1. More promising results were achieved by Honda, Ford and Peugeot - the RS-Line Ford Focus particularly showed radical progress after Monza, while Jan Magnussen in the newcomer Peugeot was recovering his position before being involved in a collision during the second race.
Alfa Romeo drivers also dominated the Independent Trophy: Oregon Team's Salvatore Tavano scored two brilliant successes, and his team-mate Luca Rangoni recovered from the back of the field to second in Race 2. The Championship will now head to Magny-Cours in France with Tarquini leading the Drivers' Championship, two points ahead of Giovanardi and six ahead of Jörg Müller. In the Manufacturers' Championship Alfa Romeo leads BMW by 7 points.
ETCC, Round 2, Race One
# No DRIVER TEAM CAR Laps Elapsed Time Av.Speed\Gap
1 1 Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 13 22:28.346 139.01 kph
2 2 Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 13 22:29.828 1.482
3 3 Augusto Farfus (BRA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 13 22:32.205 3.859
4 11 Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW Team Great Britain BMW 320i 13 22:34.155 5.809
5 43 Dirk Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 13 22:36.224 7.878
6 42 Jörg Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 13 22:41.817 13.471
7 5 Antonio García (ESP) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 13 22:42.968 14.622
8 44 Salvatore Tavano (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 13 22:51.429 23.083
9 4 Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 13 22:52.388 24.042
10 20 Tom Coronel (NED) Carly Motors BMW 320i 13 22:55.125 26.779
11 23 Jan Magnussen (DEN) Peugeot Sport Engineering Peugeot 307 Gti 13 22:58.880 30.534
12 14 Alessandro Balzan (ITA) JAS Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R 13 22:59.661 31.315
13 28 Thomas Klenke (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 13 23:04.974 36.628
14 25 Stefano D´Aste (ITA) Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 13 23:05.745 37.399
15 16 Simon Harrison (GBR) GR Asia Honda Civic Type-R 13 23:18.903 50.557
16 17 Toni R. Ruokonen (FIN) GR Asia Honda Civic Type-R 13 23:19.233 50.887
17 27 Carl Rosenblad (SWE) Crawford Racing BMW 320i 13 23:22.475 54.129
18 21 Paulien Zwart (NED) Carly Motors BMW 320i 13 23:23.262 54.916
19 46 Luca Rangoni (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 10 18:05.996 3 laps
Dnf 45 Michele Bartyan (AUT) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 5 09:00.855 8 laps
Dnf 18 Sebastian Grunert (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 3 05:35.366 10 laps
Dnf 10 Frank Diefenbacher (GER) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 3 05:36.681 10 laps
Dnf 8 Rickard Rydell (SWE) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 0 13 laps
Dnf 9 Jordi Gené (ESP) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 0 13 laps
ETCC, Round 2, Race Two
# DRIVER TEAM CAR Laps Elapsed Time Av.Speed\Gap
1 2 Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 13 22:31.263 138.71 kph
2 1 Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 13 22:31.442 0.179
3 3 Augusto Farfus (BRA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 13 22:36.643 5.380
4 43 Dirk Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 13 22:36.970 5.707
5 42 Jörg Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 13 22:39.282 8.019
6 11 Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW Team Great Britain BMW 320i 13 22:39.591 8.328
7 44 Salvatore Tavano (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 13 22:50.373 19.110
8 46 Luca Rangoni (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 13 22:52.551 21.288
9 20 Tom Coronel (NED) Carly Motors BMW 320i 13 22:55.063 23.800
10 4 Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 13 22:55.939 24.676
11 9 Jordi Gené (ESP) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 13 22:56.273 25.010
12 25 Stefano D´Aste (ITA) Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 13 22:59.707 28.444
13 14 Alessandro Balzan (ITA) JAS Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R 13 23:00.098 28.835
14 28 Thomas Klenke (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 13 23:00.593 29.330
15 5 Antonio García (ESP) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 13 23:04.318 33.055
16 16 Simon Harrison (GBR) GR Asia Honda Civic Type-R 13 23:09.506 38.243
17 21 Paulien Zwart (NED) Carly Motors BMW 320i 13 23:17.884 46.621
18 17 Toni R. Ruokonen (FIN) GR Asia Honda Civic Type-R 13 23:22.772 51.509
19 27 Carl Rosenblad (SWE) Crawford Racing BMW 320i 13 23:48.044 01:16.781
Dnf 8 Rickard Rydell (SWE) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 5 08:58.279 8 laps
Dnf 23 Jan Magnussen (DEN) Peugeot Sport Engineering Peugeot 307 Gti 2 03:39.022 11 laps
Dns 10 Frank Diefenbacher (GER) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 0
Dns 45 Michele Bartyan (AUT) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 0
Dns 18 Sebastian Grunert (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 0
European Touring Cars, Drivers' Championship
Pos. # Driver Points
1 1 Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) 28
2 2 Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) 26
3 42 Jörg Müller (GER) 22
4 43 Dirk Müller (GER) 21
5 11 Andy Priaulx (GBR) 20
6 3 Augusto Farfus (BRA) 12
7 20 Tom Coronel (NED) 8
8 10 Frank Diefenbacher (GER) 6
9 5 Antonio García (ESP) 5
10 44 Salvatore Tavano (ITA) 3
11 9 Jordi Gené (ESP) 2
12 25 Stefano D´Aste (ITA) 1
13 4 Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) 1
14 46 Luca Rangoni (ITA) 1
ETCC, Manufacturers' Championship
1 Alfa Romeo 54
2 BMW 47
3 SEAT 8




