2009 WTCC : Final - Seat beat BMW by 3 points out of 314

2009 WTCC Champion : Gabriele Tarquini - SEAT León 2.0 TDI - SEAT Sport

MACAU, China : November 24, 2009 - SEAT did it again. Like last year the Spanish Manufacturer won both the WTCC titles with its León TDI cars. Gabriele Tarquini dethroned his team mate Yvan Muller and SEAT beat BMW in the Manufacturers’ Championship fight.

2009 WTCC Champion : Gabriele Tarquini - SEAT León 2.0 TDI - SEAT Sport

However, if in 2008 SEAT secured both championships at the penultimate event, this year they had to wait until the second race in Macau. And the 3-point winning margin (out of the 314 scored by SEAT) say clearly how much the battle was clos in the Manufacturers’ Championship.

BMW won ten of the 24 races, while SEAT won eight, but Jaime Puig’s wonder quintet (Tarquini, Muller, Gené, Rydell and Monteiro) was extremely consistent at scoring points. And this made the difference.

Race Fact :

Recovering from two major crashes on Thursday and Friday, Gabriele Tarquini claimed the 2009 FIA WTCC crown and in the process he set a couple of new records: he has become the oldest FIA World Champion ever and scored the highest number of points ever for a WTCC season.

The 47-year old Italian eclipsed Juan-Manuel Fangio’s record that lasted since 1957, when the Argentine ace claimed his fifth F1 title. Tarquini is also the first Italian to win an FIA world championship since Teo Fabi in the 1991 World Sportscars Championship.

“Experience is a crucial factor to survive touring car tough racing. So the age is not so important. And I still feel young enough to be competitive,” the new champion said.
Consistency was also a factor in Tarquini’s approach to the world title. He claimed only three victories against Augusto Farfus’ six and Yvan Muller’s four, but he scored points in 22 races out of 24.

“WTCC is such a competitive championship that you have to focus on scoring points. In the past I paid scoreless races dearly. So I changed my approach, focusing on qualifying (he took five pole positions this year) and then looking to convert the pole in a win or a podium position in Race 1. Finally I tried to score points in the second race. It worked, but to beat Yvan and Augusto I had to collect 127 points, which is a record… 13 more than Yvan’s last year’s score!”

Driver's Championship
P.	Driver - Nationality	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Total
1	Gabriele TARQUINI (ITA)	5	10	3	1	8	4	0	3	6	6	6	4	10	0	5	6	8	6	10	8	4	2	8	4	127
2	Yvan MULLER (FRA)	10	5	5	10	5	8	0	2	10	2	1	8	6	8	0	2	0	2	8	10	5	6	4	6	123
3	Augusto FARFUS (BRA)	4	3	8	5	0	3	8	8	5	10	0	0	1	10	1	10	4	10	0	1	1	10	1	10	113
4	Andy PRIAULX (GBR)	2	0	6	8	0	0	5	5	4	5	0	1	0	2	6	4	10	8	0	0	10	8	0	0	84
5	Robert HUFF (GBR)	0	0	0	0	10	6	10	6	0	0	0	0	8	3	8	3	0	0	6	0	6	3	10	1	80
6	J๖rg MLLER (GER)	0	4	4	0	1	5	6	0	3	8	8	2	0	1	3	8	0	5	0	0	8	0	2	8	76
7	Rickard RYDELL (SWE)	6	8	10	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3	2	6	4	5	6	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	64
8	Jordi GENษ (ESP)	8	6	2	2	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	4	3	0	6	3	48
9	Tiago MONTEIRO (POR)	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	8	1	3	6	5	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	5	44
10	Alain MENU (SUI)	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	1	6	0	5	3	0	39
11	Sergio HERNมNDEZ (ESP)	3	0	0	4	0	0	4	0	1	3	4	10	0	0	0	0	1	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	36
12	Alessandro ZANARDI (ITA)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	4	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	5	0	0	0	0	31
13	Nicola LARINI (ITA)	0	0	1	0	3	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	2	27
14	Tom CORONEL (NED)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	15
15	F้lix PORTEIRO (ESP)	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10
16	Franz ENGSTLER (GER)	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
17	James THOMPSON (GBR)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	-	-	3	3	0	0	0	0	6
18	Stefano D'ASTE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
19	Eric CAYROLLE (FRA)	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1

Manufacturer's Championship
Pos.	Brand	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Point
1	SEAT	18	18	15	16	14	12	7	7	18	11	11	14	16	14	9	11	14	10	18	18	9	9	14	11	314
2	BMW	11	11	14	13	7	8	14	13	11	18	18	15	7	14	9	18	15	18	8	8	18	18	7	18	311
3	CHEVROLET	2	7	4	7	15	16	15	16	7	7	0	7	13	6	18	7	4	8	8	8	9	9	15	7	215
4	LADA	7	3	5	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	7	3	3	5	3	3	6	3	5	5	3	0	2	0	83

Images : 2009 FIAWTCC - Final : Macau, China

[Source : 2009 WTCC - Official]