WTCC

BMW 1-2-3 Ends Up As A Chevrolet 1-2-3 As Muller Doubles Up

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Chevrolet claimed a 1-2-3 finish and Yvan Muller a double victory from a second WTCC race at Valencia that had looked set to produce a podium lockout from BMW.

Although the BMW of Franz Engstler pretty much failed to get away from pole position, Tom Coronel took the lead in his 320TC and was followed by the similar Bavarian machines of Javier Villa and Norbert Michelisz during the opening half of the race. Muller had climbed to fourth place but was not making many inroads into third placed Michelisz.

The race turned on its head though with the BMW trio only four laps from completing a remarkable result. Villa made a move on Coronel for the lead at Turn 2, but the Dutchman retaliated into the next corner. Coronel's car rode up the side of Villa's, sending the Spaniard into the gravel trap. While Michelisz was distracted by the events in front of him Muller dived down the inside of the corner to take the lead.

The Hungarian wasn't going to give up that easily though, and he remained on Muller's bumper until the final lap. Huff made an opportunistic move down the inside of the BMW driver on the entry to the very last corner. Michelisz attempted to get the power down early to get back past Huff on the run to the line, but he spun his car. He dropped to seventh, as Menu followed his teammates across the line for the most unlikely of Chevrolet 1-2-3s.

Coronel was fourth, ahead of Gabriele Tarquini and Kristian Poulsen. Pepe Oriola, Robert Dahlgren and the recovering Engstler completed the top ten behind Michelisz.

Muller’s double victory gives him a 16 point lead over Huff in the standings, while Chevrolet have wrapped up the manufacturers’ title. Three flyaway rounds in Asia remain, with the first of those being the series’ first visit to Suzuka in Japan on 23 October.

Race 2 results – 13 laps:

Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap
1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 23:14.296
2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 0.434
3 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1.143
4 Gabriele Tarquini Sunred Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 2.966
5 Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 320 TC 5.560
6 Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 320 TC 9.201
7 Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 320 TC 12.184
8 Pepe Oriola Sunred Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 15.651
9 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo C30 Drive 17.952
10 Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 320 TC 19.055
11 Stefano D’aste Wiechers BMW 320 TC 22.493
12 Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 320 TC 24.806
13 David Sigacev KK BMW 320 TC 29.091
14 Darryl O’young Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 30.030
15 Michel Nykjaer Sunred Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 30.488
16 Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 40.370
17 Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW 320si 1:41.824
18 Fredy Barth Sunred Sunred SR Leon 1.6T +2 laps
19 Javier Villa Proteam BMW 320 TC +4 laps
Ret Aleksei Dudukalo Sunred Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 4 laps
Ret Tiago Monteiro Sunred Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 1 lap
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Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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