BMW-dominance in France?

Magny-Cours is a BMW track. At least so it seems when you look at the results of the three latest seasons. Since 2003, every time the FIA Touring Car Championship visited the circuit in the Nievre region, the Bavarian cars won all the races.

Jörg Müller claimed two wins in the 2003 FIA European Touring Car Championship, while Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx took one victory apiece the year after. In 2005, on the first visit of the new FIA WTCC to Magny-Cours, Jörg Müller managed to repeat his double, the only one obtained by any driver in the past season.

The total is of six consecutive race wins, something unusual for a championship which is based on the balance of performances. Next week BMW’s five works drivers will try to extend this winning streak further, proving that the French racetrack suits the new BMW 320si as well as the old 320i.

“I like Magny-Cours, even if I can’t exactly explain why,” explains BMW Team Germany driver Jörg Müller. “Last year, I entered the event without any handicap weight, which naturally made the double victory easier. It is extremely fun to race on this track.

“The most important thing is to get through the chicanes well,” he adds. “For this purpose you need a chassis that enables you to drive over the kerbs with a lot of speed. The interaction between suspension, dampers and stabilisers has to work smoothly.”

On this purpose the BMW Team Germany spent two days of testing at Budapest’s Hungaroring, whose kerbs are quite like thos of Magny-Cours.