NEWS

RACE 1 – ANDY PRIAULX IS BACK !

6 Sep 2009

Andy Priaulx has taken his first win since Pau 2008. Pole man Gabriele Tarquini crossed the line second to take the championship lead and Rickard Rydell came home third.
As the field entered the first chicane five abreast there was no room for manoeuvre. Jörg Müller was sent into a spin collecting team-mate Farfus on his way. While Farfus continued to a valuable sixth place Jordi Gené, Robert Huff, Félix Porteiro and Jason Watt were all casualties of the opening lap. Alessandro Zanardi, Alain Menu and Tiago Monteiro were also involved in incidents but finished the race after a spell in the pits.
It looked like LADA’s ambitions of scoring their first points would be a reality as Jaap van Lagen had a storming race holding onto fifth position until the final corner on the last lap when he was involved in an incident with Nicola Larini who was chasing him fiercely. Points were not to be as van Lagen was sent into the gravel and eventually finished 11th.
Tom Coronel took the Independent win finishing fourth overall while rival Stefano D’Aste took second place in the category and seventh overall. Franz Engstler will start Race 2 from pole for the second time this season having finished eighth.

Man of the race
Until today, it was 15 months since Priaulx won a race. Starting from 14th on the grid the BMW UK man managed to avoid incident in a chaotic first couple of corners and by the end of the first lap he was lying fifth. He worked his way past van Lagen and Coronel during lap two for second place. After setting the best lap on lap five he took the lead entering lap six and did not let it out of his grasp.

Key moment
Yvan Muller was leading the championship until this race. Starting from 17th on the grid provided the Frenchman with a challenge but he made it through the rough few corners and found himself battling with Farfus for tenth in the second lap. As Farfus overtook him on the outside of turn two Yvan clipped the tyres and badly damaged his car. That was the end of any point-scoring chances and the championship lead...for now at least.

Withdrawals
J. Müller: race incident; Y. Muller: race incident; R. Huff: race incident; J. Gené: race incident; F. Porteir race incident; J. Watt: race incident; M. Nykjær: drive shaft; V. Shapovalov: gearbox.

WTCC Video

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

1.

Yvan Muller
229 pt.

2.

Andy Priaulx
218 pt.

3.

Gabriele Tarquini
196 pt.

4.

Robert Huff
173 pt.

5.

Alain Menu
145 pt.

6.

Augusto Farfus
145 pt.

7.

Tiago Monteiro
125 pt.

8.

Tom Coronel
119 pt.

9.

Colin Turkington
60 pt.

10.

Norbert Michelisz
46 pt.
MANUFACTURER' S CHAMPIONSHIP

1.

CHEVROLET
508 pt.

2.

BMW
453 pt.

3.

SEAT Customers Technology
447 pt.

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