D’Aste independent champion by 2 points

Proteam Motorsport’s Luca Rangoni won both races in Macau, but this was not enough to beat his fellow countryman Stefano D’Aste in the fight for the Independents’ Trophy.

At the wheel of his Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si D’Aste grabbed the title with a margin of only two points thanks to outstanding consistency. D’Aste scored points in all the 22 championship rounds but one, the second race in Pau in which he crashed after suffering from a puncture.

The third contender, Pierre-Yves Corthals saw his hopes vanishing when his Exagon Racing SEAT León crashed into the wall at the start of Macau’s first race.

These three men dominated the season and altogether won 15 out of the 22 races: 9 Rangoni, 5 Corthals and 3 D’Aste; the remaining five victories were collected by SEAT Sport Italia drivers Roberto Colciago (3) and Massimiliano Pedalà (2).

“I am more than happy because it was a very difficult year for me this year with a new car and a new team. At the start of the season we had a lot of problems understanding the car and the right way of getting the best out of it. From the third race things changed and we improved race by race,” a delighted D’Aste commented.