Touring CarsWTCC

Menu Converts Pole To Victory In Race 1 In Porto

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Alain Menu scored a lights-to-flag victory in Race 1 of the World Touring Car Championship Race of Portugal on the streets of Porto. Yvan Muller held off Rob Huff to finish second as the Chevrolet trio scored their third 1-2-3 finish of the season.

Menu kept his lead from the rolling start, though Muller and Huff were close behind during the first half of the race. Muller then started to drop back though, which handed Menu a comfortable margin up front. He took the checkered flag with a gap of 1.2 seconds to Muller.

As Muller dropped back he came under increasing pressure from Huff. The Briton could not find a way past around the street circuit though, so would have to settle for third.

Tiago Monteiro finished a fine fourth on his home circuit. He took the position from his SUNRED teammate Gabriele Tarquini on the opening lap of the race, after the Italian had got around the outside of Huff at the start, resulting in slight contact between the pair. This allowed Monteiro to get alongside Tarquini, taking the position for good when he had the inside line a few corners later.

Tarquini attempted to reclaim the place a few laps into the race but would settle for fifth. Tom Coronel had a very quiet run to sixth in his ROAL Motorsport BMW, with Robert Dahlgren seventh in the Polestar Volvo.

Norbert Michelisz won the Yokohama Trophy battle for the independent drivers in eighth overall. He was followed across the line by Michel Nykjaer and Stefano D'Aste, who scored the final overall point in tenth on his WTCC return.

Team Engstler teammates Krisitan Poulsen and Franz Engstler spent much of the race fighting over 11th, with the Dane eventually coming out on top. Engstler was passed too by Javier Villa, but the Spaniard then hit the wall on the exit of the first chicane, putting him out of the race.

He joined Fredy Barth and Aleksei Dudukalo on the sidelines. Barth was spun by Villa at the same chicane on the opening lap, with Dudukalo then collecting Barth's stranded Leon and putting both into retirement.

Race 1 Provisional Classification – 11 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap
1 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 23:22.763
2 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1.262
3 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1.519
4 Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 5.710
5 Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 10.457
6 Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 320 TC 12.237
7 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo C30 Drive 16.693
8 Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 320 TC 17.256
9 Michel Nykjaer SUNRED Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 17.724
10 Stefano D’aste Wiechers BMW 320 TC 18.232
11 Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 320 TC 18.801
12 Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 320 TC 20.360
13 Darryl O’Young Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 25.778
14 Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 320 TC 26.084
15 Pepe Oriola SUNRED Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 27.343
16 Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 55.046
Not Classified  
Javier Villa Proteam BMW 320 TC 6 laps
Fredy Barth SUNRED Sunred SR Leon 1.6T 3 laps
Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 0 laps
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About author
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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