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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!”