Huff and Muller congratulate one another after the race - Photo Credit: fiawtcc.com
Rob Huff completed a fine double victory in the Guia Race of Macau, but missed out on a first World Touring Car Championship title as rival and teammate Yvan Muller finished in third place to secure his third world title.
Tom Coronel took the lead at the start, getting the jump on front row starters Franz Engstler and Michel Nykjaer. Nykjaer and Huff had taken second and third by the time they got to Lisboa, with Huff then squeezing his way past the Dane during the twisty mountain section.
After starting from seventh, Muller had passed Gabriele Tarquini for seventh at the start and then got past Engstler at the end of the opening lap. On lap three, Huff took the lead from Coronel on the run down to Lisboa, while behind Muller took his vital fourth place from Bennani. This tied him on points with Huff, and with the duo also tied for race wins Muller would win the title on second-places countback.
Such desperate measures wouldn't be needed to separate them in the end though, as Muller took third from Nykjaer on lap nine. The safety car had come out on lap three after Gary Kwok crashed his BMW, and remained out until lap seven.
Tarquini finished fourth after getting past Bennani and then Nykjaer, with Norbert Michelisz also passing the Moroccan to come home sixth. Engstler finished eighth after dropping back over the first two laps off of pole position, with Tiago Monteiro and Javier Villa taking the final points of the year.
