Yvan Muller grabs race two win as BMW challenge self-destructs
Chevrolet's Yvan Muller took perhaps the most opportunistic victory of his illustrious tin-top career when he won the second race at Valencia in Spain on Sunday to extend his points lead in the World Touring Car Championship
The win had looked destined to be claimed by a BMW driver, as although Franz Engstler stalled from pole position, Tom Coronel led a marque 1-2-3 from Javier Villa and Norbert Michelisz.
But with four laps to go, their party was crashed by Muller. Villa sparked the calamity, by nudging Coronel under braking for Turn 2 on lap nine. Villa nipped ahead of Coronel on the exit, but as they raced through the left-hand kink of Turn 3, Coronel's car rode up Villa's left-rear wheelarch and then hit him again, spinning him out.
As Michelisz dithered, Muller struck - diving down his inside to grab the most unlikely of leads, which he converted into victory. Michelisz wasn't done yet, however, and as Muller ran out of grip from his tyres in the latter stages, he fought back onto his tail.
But it was Rob Huff (Chevy) who would grab second, diving down the inside of Michelisz at the final corner. As the Hungarian tried to switchback he spun, dropping to sixth.
Muller won by less than half a second from Huff, with Alain Menu making it a Chevrolet 1-2-3. Coronel finished fourth, ahead of Gabriele Tarquini (whose Sunred SEAT squad solved the electrical issue that forced him out of race one) and Kristian Poulsen (BMW).
The result ensured Chevrolet the WTCC Manufacturers' Championship title, and Muller now leads Huff by 16 points with three flyaway rounds remaining in the Far East.
Results - 13 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 23m14.296s
2. Rob Huff Chevrolet + 0.434s
3. Alain Menu Chevrolet + 1.143s
4. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW + 2.184s
5. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT + 2.966s
6. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW + 5.560s
7. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW + 9.201s
8. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT + 15.651s
9. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo + 17.952s
10. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW + 19.055s
11. Stefano D'Aste Wiechers BMW + 22.493s
12. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW + 24.806s
13. David Sigacev KK BMW + 29.091s
14. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet + 30.030s
15. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT + 30.488s
16. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet + 40.370s
17. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW + 1m41.824s
18. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT + 2 laps
19. Javier Villa Proteam BMW + 4 laps
Retirements:
Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT 4 laps
Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 1 lap
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