The Weighting Game: 2007 WTCC Season Review

This year's World Touring Car Championship finale in Macau might not have had a staggering nine-driver shootout for the title like it did in 2006, but it proved to be far more dramatic.

The final two laps of the first race on the street circuit this year were worthy of plenty of coverage, but the destiny of this year's title wasn't entirely down to Yvan Muller's fuel pump problem and Augusto Farfus' altercation with Gabriele Tarquini and a wall. There was far more to it than that, in a season where all four manufacturers were genuinely competitive.

The title still went to Andy Priaulx and BMW though, despite (in Priaulx's eyes) the best efforts of pretty much everyone involved in the championship to ensure the Guernsey man didn't lift his third-straight world title, and fourth-straight FIA title (he was European champion in 2004).

BMW

After the first round of the season in Brazil, it was difficult to imagine anything but a BMW champion come Macau. The German cars swept the podium places in both races, leaving their rivals wondering what had hit them.

Andy Priaulx at Anderstorp © LAT

As if the first race hadn't started well enough for BMW, their new recruit Augusto Farfus topped things off with a win on home soil. Farfus, Priaulx, and Jorg Muller were all tied at the top of the standings, five points clear of their nearest rival after just two of 20 races.

SEAT were particularly vocal about their plight, claiming that BMW had an unfair advantage. As usual, the base weights of the cars had been played with over the winter, and one particular bone of contention for most of BMW's rivals was that the rear-wheel drive cars had been given a weight-break in exchange for agreeing to have rolling starts for one of the races each weekend.

The rule makers would be frequently changing their mind throughout the season, but as the summer drew to a close, Priaulx in particular felt that the officials had tried to hard to please BMW's rivals, and that the odds were now stacked firmly against the German cars.

As far as the reigning champion was concerned, if he lost the title in 2007, it would have been down to the regulations and little else.

Priaulx's highlight - apart from that spectacular Macau weekend - had to be taking a victory on home soil at Brands Hatch. The British driver had thrown a win away in the rain in 2006, but there were no errors this time, and he took the success he sought after so badly.

It was one of three wins for the eventual champion, and with the rules (and success ballast) firmly against him, he had to play the reverse grid card to take all three.

One weekend where a race one win might have come his way was at Brno, where Priaulx had qualified on the front row, but was instantly knocked out of contention in a first corner accident.

He had been robbed of a good result at one of his favourite circuits, but he salvaged two points from the weekend by charging from 24th on the grid to seventh in race two.

While Priaulx will forever be a BMW hero now that he has won them four titles, the German squad took a shine to their new recruit Farfus, who made an instant impact with his win in Brazil.

But it was the fourth weekend of the year, at Pau, where Farfus and his team really bonded. The Brazilian destroyed his car at the end of qualifying on Saturday with a dramatic crash, only to grab a front row start for race two, and then win the reverse grid race.

The efforts of his team to repair the demolished car had been rewarded, and the dents in the roof were still apparent as he stood on the car in parc ferme the next day.

Jorg Muller, meanwhile, will look back on another season where he was the nearly man. The German has so often been a contender all year, but it never quite comes together for him, and it didn't again this season.

While BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen was full of praise for his champion and his new Brazilian star at Macau, there was little mention of Muller, who will be pleased to have a contract in place for 2008.

Gabriele Tarquini and Michel Jourdain Jr at Brands Hatch © LAT

SEAT

In most championships, after the first race SEAT had this year, the Spanish squad would have been preparing for a season in the doldrums. But this is the WTCC, where cars are rarely off the pace for long.

As weight limits for cars fluctuated through the season, SEAT at least enjoyed some more competitive outings as the year went on.

The mauling that they (and the rest of the field) took in round one was soon forgotten as Gabriele Tarquini netted a win next time out at Zandvoort, but by the time six of 10 weekend had passed, the top SEAT was 19 points adrift of the championship leader.

The man driving that top SEAT was Yvan Muller who, along with Jordi Gene, switched to a diesel engine for the next race at Anderstorp. The performance first time out was satisfying, if unspectacular, but it was followed by a pole and a race one victory next time out in Germany.

SEAT's response to those who said it was all down to the engine was to point to the car that shadowed Muller to the flag, as Tarquini's petrol-powered Leon was less than half a second adrift.

However, as the solid results kept coming with the new engine, Tarquini knew that if he was to keep his own title hopes alive, he would need a TDI too. Ahead of his home race at Monza, the penultimate round of the season, he publicly expressed his hopes that he would get a diesel.

His employers listened, and the Italian lined up third on the grid, as Muller and Gene led a diesel 1-2-3 around the high-speed Italian circuit. The qualifying session had also been a good example of SEAT's team play, as their cars worked together to slipstream each other around the track in turns.

Muller and Gene took a win apiece at Monza, and the next driver to call for a diesel engine (although for 2008) was BMW's Priaulx. The turbo diesel had a clear power advantage, and BMW were also concerned about the variable levels of boost that the Spanish cars were able to use in qualifying.

After a bad weekend on home soil, Tarquini vowed to help Muller at Macau. The Frenchman was tied on points with Priaulx, and he was heading for victory in the penultimate race of the year.

With Priaulx out of the points at that time, Muller was effectively sealing the title, as even the Macau specialist wasn't going to snatch a win from the fifth row of the grid in race two.

But that all changed when Muller slowed in the closing stages with his fuel pump problem, or in his own words: "when it fell off." Muller was out, and as Farfus came off worst in a clash with Tarquini, Priaulx was sitting pretty in eighth place, heading for his fourth title.

The TDI presented SEAT with a golden opportunity this year, as the WTCC rule makers left the car alone despite the noises coming from rival camps. The car is unlikely to enjoy such an advantage next year, because even if the engine is not pegged back, it will probably not be the only diesel on the grid in 2008.

Alain Menu, Rob Huff, and Nicola Larini at Porto © XPB/LAT

CHEVROLET

Gone are the days of 2005, where the light blue-coloured RML squad would rejoice at a points finish. In fact, gone are the days of 2006, where a Chevrolet Lacetti taking the chequered flag first could be considered a 'shock result'.

Chevrolet took six wins this year, and just about had a driver in contention for the title heading into Macau, although the chances of Nicola Larini making up the 20-point deficit in one weekend were slight to say the least.

Remarkably, Larini was Chevrolet's top finisher in the championship, despite not contributing to their wins tally. Consistency paid off for the Italian though, who netted five second places throughout the year.

He could have scored his first win at Anderstop were it not for Rickard Rydell's desire to snatch a win on home turf in a one-off ride with Chevrolet. Larini was incensed after the race, publicly criticising Rydell, who claimed that it was OK because Chevrolet weren't going for the title.

As it turned out, those extra two points would have moved Larini up a place to fourth in the standings by the end of the year.

The majority of Chevrolet's winning was left to Alain Menu, who only scored points 11 times this year, but stood on the top step of the podium five times. He was a master of the street circuits too, taking pole position and winning race one at Pau, Porto, and Macau.

That form even led to someone asking him at Macau if Chevrolet tested a lot on street circuits. Menu was quick to point out that it's rather difficult to find the time (and space!) to test on public roads.

Rob Huff took Chevrolet's other win this season, as he came on strong in the second half of the year. Aside from a good performance at Pau, the British driver had little to shout about in the early part of the season, but he then went on a run of six-straight points finishes, which only came to an end with a DNF in the final race at Macau.

Chevrolet have well and truly arrived in the WTCC now, and next year they will have to be taken very seriously as title contenders.

James Thompson at Macau © LAT

ALFA ROMEO

It's perhaps a little unfair to say that there were four manufacturers in the championship this year. In reality, this heading should read something like (James Thompson and N.Technology), because they were very much on their own in 2007.

The only reason there were two red Alfa 156s on the grid this year was due to the three-year agreement that the Italian manufacturer signed when the WTCC started in 2005.

N.Technology were by no means a works team in 2007, and Thompson was pretty much a lone ranger in the team, as Olivier Tielemans lacked the experience to offer much help.

The season started slowly as the team used the early races as their test sessions to save budget, but Thompson's incredible double win at Valencia was met with a weight change for the next race in a bid to peg the ageing, under-developed car back. Yes, really.

By mid-season both driver and team were on song, and from round 13 onwards Thompson was never out of the points. During the second half of the year he claimed that he would be delighted just to get to the finale with a shot at the title, but once the craziness of that first Macau race was out of the way, he was the only man who could stop Priaulx winning the crown.

Thompson may not have had enough in the end to dethrone his countryman, but the fact that he, along with N.Technology, took a car with little recent development to the brink of a world title says a lot.

The 33-year-old is keen to remain with the team, who have been linked to a deal to run Hondas for 2008. It would be easy to wonder what they could have achieved with more testing and manufacturer support, but they seem happy to celebrate what they did achieve, rather than wonder what they might have.