Tiago Monteiro won the second World Touring Car race at Valencia, handing SR-Sport and SEAT a double win around the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Monteiro was able to take the lead on the opening lap, after a slow start from polesitter Alain Menu allowed fellow Swiss driver and front-row starter Fredy Barth to take the lead into Turn 1. He was followed by Andy Priaulx, who started fourth, and Monteiro, who then went around the outside of Priaulx to take second. Menu attempted to pass Priaulx for third, but the pair made contact, putting Menu into the gravel, although he was able to rejoin. Yvan Muller took advantage of this to take third from Priaulx, having taken the outside line around Turn 2 to move from seventh to fifth. At the same time, Monteiro took the lead from fellow-SEAT driver Barth.
On Lap 5 Priaulx was passed by the SEATs of Gabriele Tarquini, who had eariler won the first race, and Jordi Gene, leaving him down in sixth. He re-passed Gene a couple of laps later though, but only after brushing the rear corner of Gene's car under braking into Turn 2. Meanwhile, Barth's car began snaking around, allowing Muller past for second before retiring to the pits.
Monteiro went on to win the race ahead of Muller. Priaulx found a way back past Tarquini for third as the Italian ran wide coming onto the last lap, but Tarquini used the slipstream and the power from his turbo diesel engine to take the place back again. Behind Gene in fifth, Rob Huff finished sixth after a quiet race, ahead of Michel Nykjaer. Augusto Farfus and Tom Coronel finished eighth and ninth, with Kristian Poulsen winning the Independents' category again in 10th overall.
The Valencia round concludes the European leg of the 2010 season, with the flyaway races in Japan and Macau left to come in October and November. Muller has extended his championship lead over Priaulx to 25 points, while Tarquini is just a further four points behind.
