Farfus wins hectic second race at Porto
Augusto Farfus clinched his second World Touring Car win of the season in race two at Porto this afternoon
The BMW driver started the reverse grid race from pole position after being gifted eighth place in race one by team-mates Andy Priaulx and Jorg Muller, and he converted that advantage into a healthy lead no fewer than three times in an incident-packed race.
Farfus opened a strong lead in the first couple of laps, pulling clear of a train of four SEATs. But the race had to be stopped on the third lap after an accident involving Nicola Larini and race one winner Gabriele Tarquini.
Larini had just been passed for sixth place by his Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff, when Tarquini tried a late move to follow Huff down the inside. Larini turned in, made contact with Tarquini and both cars landed in the tyre wall on the exit.
The drama doubled when independent SEAT racer Mehdi Bennani arrived on the scene after running wide and picked his way between them, but he rejoined the racing line in the path of Tom Boardman, who had nowhere to go.
Farfus streaked away again at the restart and had another healthy lead when there was another stoppage with just three laps to go. Felix Porteiro nudged Franz Engstler's BMW wide and Alain Menu drew alongside the German as he recovered momentum.
The pair went into a flat-out right-hand kink side-by-side and touched in the middle of the turn. Menu's car jinked left into the barrier and came to rest broadside across the track.
The race was restarted behind the safety car with just two laps to run and Farfus once again rattled off another getaway without incident.
Yvan Muller finished second after his SEAT team-mates Jordi Gene and Rickard Rydell both moved aside to let him through. Tiago Monteiro completed a line of four SEATs in fifth, with Huff rounding out the top six.
Andy Priaulx and Jorg Muller raced to seventh and eighth for BMW, with Stefano D'Aste once again the top independent in ninth and Alex Zanardi completing the top 10.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Augusto Farfus BMW 47m48.304s 2. Yvan Muller SEAT + 2.295s 3. Rickard Rydell SEAT + 2.810s 4. Jordi Gene SEAT + 3.385s 5. Tiago Monteiro SEAT + 3.970s 6. Robert Huff Chevrolet + 4.219s 7. Andy Priaulx BMW + 4.583s 8. Jorg Muller BMW + 5.064s 9. Stefano D'Aste BMW + 6.428s 10. Alex Zanardi BMW + 7.584s 11. Franz Engstler BMW + 9.201s 12. Tom Coronel SEAT + 13.290s 13. Felix Porteiro BMW + 15.272s 14. Diego Puyo SEAT + 17.706s 15. James Thompson Lada + 22.964s 16. Kristian Poulsen BMW + 53.730s 17. Kirill Ladygin Lada + 1 lap Retirements: Alain Menu Chevrolet 9 laps Nicola Larini Chevrolet 5 laps Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 2 laps Mehdi Bennani SEAT 2 laps Tom Boardman SEAT 2 laps
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