BTCC - Muller breaks duck
It was a familiar tale in the British Touring Car Championship this year, with Vauxhall taking the drivers' title courtesy of Yvan Muller. Whilst it was nothing new for the VX Racing team, victory was a tremendous relief for Muller.
The Frenchman has been chasing this British crown for plenty years now, and it had become something of a holy grail for him. He was elated when he finally grasped the title at Oulton Park's final round.
But although he was only up against team-mate James Thompson in the showdown, the opposition had made some quality progress, particularly in the second half of the year. Honda had a more than respectable six wins from Matt Neal, who got good support from Alan Morrison.
MG's wins were shared amongst its three drivers Colin Turkington, Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes. Each of them had one win, but like Honda, MG did not consistently have the outright pace to beat the experienced and reliable Vauxhall duo in the points race.
Muller showed how much the thought of losing the title meant to him by getting involved in a post-shunt confrontation with Anthony Reid at Brands Hatch's late season round. That untypical incident earned him a suspension that lost him practice time at Donington's penultimate round, but Muller still managed to come away with a third place and a win.
That result meant he would need a disaster at Oulton Park to miss out on the championship. A third and a second was easily good enough, and Muller could celebrate the winter as BTCC's number one. He and Thompson will be back for Vauxhall again next year.
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