Augusto Farfus, World Touring Car Championship driver, is getting his first opportunity in Formula 1 today as BMW Sauber allowed him behind the wheel of one of their cars in Valencia.

The Brazilian has long hoped for an opportunity to drive an F1 car and BMW motor sport boss Marion Theissen was happy to give him that chance having watched the youngster’s performance for the manufacturer in the WTCC. “In his first year, Augusto Farfus has settled extremely well in our BMW fold and is already a fully integrated member of Team Germany,” Theissen said.

“In recognition of Augusto’s achievements, we want to give him the chance to test our Formula One car for a few hours in the run-up to the Formula BMW World Final. It also underlines our philosophy of forging links between our motor sport projects: after Jorg Muller, Dirk Muller, Andy Priaulx and Alessandro Zanardi, Augusto Farfus will be the fifth touring car driver to get behind the wheel of one of our Formula One racers.”

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