Yvan Muller dominates Valencia World Touring Cars race one
Chevrolet's Yvan Muller completed a perfect start to his World Touring Car Championship title defence with a dominant display in the first race of round two at Valencia
The success follows the Frenchman's double victory at the Monza season opener. Muller is the first driver in the WTCC's history to start a campaign with a hat-trick of wins.
"I am not here to look at the records," said Muller. "I think I have the best car, and the advantage of taking age is experience. I was careful not to repeat my little mistakes at Valencia last year, where I pushed too hard too soon and created some flat-spots on my tyres."
The battle for second provided the bulk of the action among the lead group. Lukoil Racing's Gabriele Tarquini converted his second place in qualifying to the runner-up position.
The Italian's SEAT Leon's rear bumper was tapped on more than one occasion by a feisty Tom Coronel. The ROAL BMW driver was aggrieved to receive a black and white warning flag, for unsporting driving, from race officials on lap nine. The Dutchman took notice and backed off, before stepping up his attack once more on the final lap. Tarquini survived to take second by just 0.244 seconds.
Muller's RML factory Chevrolet team-mates Rob Huff and Alain Menu spent several laps tucked up behind Coronel. But as the race wore on, Coronel extended his advantage, leaving Huff and Menu in a solid fourth and fifth at the chequered flag.
The Cruze pair had worked effectively to move up the order from their fifth and ninth place starting positions. Fourth qualifier Pepe Oriola claimed sixth in his Leon, and the Independents' class victory for the SUNRED-run Tuenti Racing.
"I was on the outside on the rolling start so Huff could pass me," said Oriola. "Later on Menu got a run on me on the straight and I decided to let him pass as the Independents' win was my priority."
Results - 13 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 22m53.924s 2. Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil SEAT + 6.988s 3. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW + 7.232s 4. Rob Huff Chevrolet + 8.982s 5. Alain Menu Chevrolet + 9.250s 6. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT + 10.614s 7. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW + 11.854s 8. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW + 12.202s 9. Tiago Monteiro Tuenti SEAT + 21.185s 10. Darryl O'Young Special Tuning SEAT + 24.010s 11. Stefano D'Aste Wiechers BMW + 25.349s 12. James Nash Arena Ford + 30.104s 13. Alberto Cerqui ROAL BMW + 30.282s 14. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW + 30.685s 15. Alex Macdowall bamboo Chevrolet + 31.373s 16. Isaac Tutumlu Proteam BMW + 32.187s 17. Gabor Weber Zengo BMW + 33.507s 18. Charles Ng Engstler BMW + 34.050s 19. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 34.372s 20. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT + 36.599s 21. Fernando Monje SUNRED SEAT + 37.377s 22. Pasquale di Sabatino bamboo Chevrolet + 37.926s 23. Andrea Barlesi SUNRED SEAT + 51.999s Did not finish: Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil SEAT 6 laps
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