The 2005 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the opening round of the 2005 World Touring Car Championship season, the first season of the revived

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

, after a previous season in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. It was held at the

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after ...

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on April 10, 2005. BMW and

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

took one victory each, Dirk Müller winning Race 1 for the former, and James Thompson winning Race 2.

Report

Qualifying

Dirk Müller took pole position for the first World Touring Car Championship race by topping the timesheets in the qualifying session with a time of 1:59.009. Two other BMWs had finished behind him, fellow BMW Team Deutschland driver

Jörg Müller Jörg Müller (, ; born 3 September 1969) is a Dutch-born German BMW factory driver. Racing career Born in Kerkrade, Netherlands, Müller won the titles in 1989 German Formula Opel Lotus Challenge and in 1989 European Formula Ford 1600. The 199 ...

, and the BMW Team Italy-Spain car of Antonio García. However, Jörg had his best time disallowed by the stewards after he failed to stop at the weighing scales, dropping him to 18th. Alfa Romeo Racing Team drivers

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He ...

and

Augusto Farfus Augusto Farfus Jr. (born 3 September 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He lives in Monaco. Early years Born in Curitiba, Farfus first tasted racing in minibike races and won the local championshi ...

qualified in third and fourth place, with reigning European Touring Car Champion

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Touring ...

fifth for

BMW Team UK Racing Bart Mampaey (formerly Juma Racing) is a racing team based in Mechelen, Belgium that runs the BMW Team RBM operation in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Previously the team had been racing in the European Touring Car Championship and World ...

. The session was brought to a premature end after

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice ...

crashed his

Chevrolet Lacetti The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled b ...

, bringing out the red flags.http://www.fiawtcc.com/archives/2005/reports/R01_02_Qualifying.pdf Qualifying report

Race 1

Dirk Müller led the first race of the new FIA World Touring Car Championship from pole position to take the victory. Behind him,

finished second, with his Alfa Romeo teammate

finishing third after managing to keep

at bay. Antonio García slipped back from his front row starting position to finish fifth after he had been nudged off the track by Farfus during an overtaking manoeuvre. The remaining Alfa Romeo drivers,

Fabrizio Giovanardi Fabrizio Giovanardi (born 14 December 1966 in Sassuolo) is an Italian racing driver. During his career he has won ten touring car titles, including European and British crowns making him the most successful touring car driver worldwide. He has s ...

and James Thompson, finished in sixth and seventh position, with

SEAT Sport Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the mi ...

Rickard Rydell Rickard Rydell (born 22 September 1967) is a retired Swedish racing driver. He won the 1998 British Touring Car Championship, the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, and has also been a frontrunner in the European/World Touring Car Cham ...

taking the last point in eighth as well as pole position for Race 2, for which the top eight finishers from the first race are reversed on the race two grid.

Marc Hennerici Marc Hennerici (born 10 May 1982 in Mayen) is a German auto racing driver. He is best known for being the first winner of the World Touring Car Championship's Independents Trophy, in 2005. Racing career Hennerici competed in Formula BMW from 1999 ...

finished 13th overall to take the victory in the Independent's Trophy.http://www.fiawtcc.com/archives/2005/reports/R01_02_Races.pdf Race report

Race 2

Polesitter Rydell was passed by Thompson for the lead at the start of the second race. Meanwhile, Giovanardi stalled on the second row of the grid. García and Dirk Müller were able to pass Rydell for second and third and began chasing Thompson for the lead, but García made a mistake and lost three positions to Müller, Farfus and Tarquini. On the sixth lap, Farfus ran wide at the first chicane, while Müller and Tarquini clashed, putting the Italian out of the race. This allowed García to regain third behind Dirk Müller. Thompson crossed the line to win the race ahead of Dirk Müller and García.

recovered from 29th on the grid to finish in fourth, with

Jordi Gené Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also a ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia Fe ...

Alessandro Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and aga ...

and Giovanardi rounding out the points. Hennerici won the Independent's Trophy after finishing tenth.

Classification

Race 1

Race 2

Standings after the races

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers standings.

References

External links

Results booklet from fiawtcc.com archives
{{WTCC race, Name_of_race = FIA WTCC Race of Italy , Year_of_race = 2005 , Previous_race_in_season = ''first race'' , Next_race_in_season = 2005 FIA WTCC Race of France , Previous_year's_race = ''none'' , Next_year's_race = 2006 FIA WTCC Race of Italy

WTCC