Seat claimed podiums on their home track
Robert Huff claimed his and Chevrolet’s first victory of the season, charging from fourth position to the lead in the first five laps of the race.
Robert Huff claimed his and Chevrolet’s first victory of the season, charging from fourth position to the lead in the first five laps of the race. The Briton was able to overtake one after the other the three SEAT cars of Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini and Jordi Gené and then managed to pull out and create a comfortable margin.
Tarquini and Gené completed the podium (which propelled the Italian back into the championship lead), while Yvan Muller had to fight for saving his fourth position under great pressure from Jörg Müller, Nicola Larini and Andy Priaulx.
Gené took a better start and led into turn 1, from Tarquini and Y. Muller; Farfus went wide after a clash with Priaulx. The first lap-battle involved a few drivers: Porteiro, Hernández and Okyay pitted for repairs and rejoined, while Corthals and van Lagen retired.
On lap 4 Gené went wide in one corner and slipped to third behind Tarquini and Huff. A few moments later D'Aste overtook Tielemans for the Independents' Trophy lead; Engstler tried to do the same but clashed with Tielemans and spun off.
On lap 5 Huff moved to first. The leading sextet – Huff, Tarquini, Gené, Y. Muller, J. Müller and larini increased the gap, as Thompson was lying in sixth and blocking a train of cars led by Priaulx. Farfus, who was chasing the world champion, spun off at turn 1 was collected by Rydell.
As Huff increased his pace, Priaulx and Zanardi were able to get past Thompson when the Honda driver went wide in a corner. On lap 9 Larini stole fifth position from J. Müller, but in the final stages of the race the German retook it for good.
During the last lap Zanardi and Menu fought hard for the eighth position and the pole on the reverse grid for Race 2; eventually the Swiss had the better of his rival who outbraked himself at turn 1 and went wide.
D'Aste won the Indepedents' race from Tielemans and Romanov.
The Results
Pos Driver Car Laps/gap
1. Rob Huff Chevrolet Lacetti 22:52.987
2. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Leon TDI +5.376
3. Jordi Gene SEAT Leon TDI +10.095
4. Yvan Muller SEAT Leon TDI +10.491
5. Jorg Muller BMW 320si +10.982
6. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti +11.679
7. Andy Priaulx BMW 320si +12.114
8. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti +13.189
9. Tom Coronel SEAT Leon TFSI +19.643
10. Rickard Rydell SEAT Leon TDI +21.075
11. Tiago Monteiro SEAT Leon TDI +22.016
12. James Thompson Honda Accord +24.900
13. Alex Zanardi BMW 320si +26.985
14. Jose Manuel Perez-Aica SEAT Leon TFSI +29.021
15. Stefano D'Aste BMW 320si +31.461
16. Olivier Tielemans BMW 320si +33.208
17. Andrey Romanov BMW 320si +42.738
18. Franz Engstler BMW 320si +46.632
19. Alexander Lvov Honda Accord +54.226
20. Viktor Shapovalov Lada 110 +1:19.208
21. Andrey Smetsky Honda Accord +1 lap
22. Felix Porteiro BMW 320si +1 lap
23. Sergio Hernandez BMW 320si +1 lap
24. Ibrahim Okyay BMW 320si +1 lap
DNF Augusto Farfus BMW 320si 5 laps*
DNF Pierre-Yves Corthals SEAT Leon 2 laps*
DNF Jaap van Lagen Lada 110 1 lap*
The Lada made its debut at Valencia
Race 2
Alain Menu and Robert Huff dominated the second race in Valencia, giving Chevrolet a brilliant one-two finish. The two men in blue managed to overcome the strong resistance from BMW's Andy Priaulx and Jorg Muller, who came home in third and fourth respectively.
SEAT Sport drivers were involved in the battle for point positions and four of them - led by Gabriele Tarquini - filled the spots between fifth and eighth; this enabled Tarquini to stretch his championship lead to 8 points.
Sergio Hernandez, of Proteam Motorsport, claimed his first WTCC victory on his home circuit, after a tough fight with Pierre-Yves Corthals.
Priaulx sprinted to the lead at the start, beating pole sitter Menu in the run down to the first corner. They were chased by J. Muller, Larini and Y. Muller. After starting eighth on the reverse grid, Huff began to recover positions and within three laps he got past Tarquini, Gene, Y. Muller and Larini climbing up to fourth.
On lap 3 Menu was able to strike back and overtook Priaulx for the lead and the reigning world champion find himself chased closely by J. Muller.
The fighting became hotter and hotter. Y. Muller, Larini, Gene and Tarquini were bumping into each other at every corner, Monteiro and Thompson had a couple of brutal collisions and the Portuguese man was given a drive-through penalty as a result.
While Menu was creating a gap, Huff overtook J. Muller for third on lap 7. Coming from the back of the field, Farfus jumped ahead of Rydell and Gene to claim seventh position; however he and Y. Muller collided while fighting for the fifth place; this was the end of Farfus' race, while the Frenchman slipped down to eighth.
On lap 9, Huff squeezed past Priaulx and moved up to second. Porteiro provided one last thrill overtaking Thompson for tenth.
The championship will resume for rounds 7 and 8 in Pau, France, on May 31sr and June 1st.
Results
1. Alain Menu Chevrolet 22:47.994
2. Robert Huff Chevrolet + 2.441
3. Andy Priaulx BMW + 3.952
4. Jorg Muller BMW + 5.403
5. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT + 16.332
6. Jordi Gene SEAT + 19.171
7. Rickard Rydell SEAT + 19.662
8. Yvan Muller SEAT + 20.459
9. Nicola Larini Chevrolet + 21.312
10. Felix Porteiro BMW + 27.753
11. James Thompson Honda + 28.183
12. Sergio Hernandez BMW + 28.819
13. Pierre-Yves Corthals SEAT + 30.758
14. Jose Perez Aicart SEAT + 36.35
15. Stefano D'Aste BMW + 47.009
16. Franz Engstler BMW + 48.737
17. Alexander Lvov Honda + 52.805
18. Alex Zanardi BMW +1:36.653
19. Ibrahim Okyay BMW +1:37.412
20. Augusto Farfus BMW +1:39.479
21. Andrey Smetsky Honda + 1 Lap
Retirements:
Tiago Monteiro SEAT
Andrey Romanov BMW
Jaap van Lagen Lada
Olivier Tielemans BMW
Viktor Shapovalov Lada