Farfus wins rough second race

Reigning champion and race one winner Andy Priaulx crashed out in a tangle with Dirk Muller and James Thompson.

Zanardi attacked polesitter Farfus right from the start, although Rickard Rydell briefly got between them on lap two when an abortive move into the Roggia chicane cost Zanardi some momentum. He repassed the SEAT on the outside into the first chicane on lap three, and almost took Farfus for the lead in the same move.

As Farfus and Zanardi rubbed bodywork and slowed themselves up, the eight car lead gaggle concertinaed. Priaulx and Dirk Muller went either side of Thompson into the Curva Grande but there was no room for all three cars. Priaulx was spun into Muller, firing both cars straight into the barriers. The drivers were unhappy, but unhurt.

Gabriele Tarquini then tried to pass Zanardi into the Parabolica, but the BMW turned in and more contact was made, sending Tarquini into a wild slide in front of the pack. Thankfully no-one collected the SEAT and he only lost a few places.

This incident left Zanardi free to pile the pressure on Farfus, repeatedly drawing alongside at the first chicane. It was here that their battle came to a head on the penultimate lap, as a particularly forceful bout of wheel banging in the second part of the complex left Zanardi with broken front suspension, and Farfus with a clear run to the chequered flag.

Yvan Muller clawed his way through to second, with the Chevrolets of Alain Menu and Rob Huff also making rapid progress through the top ten, starting the final lap in fourth and fifth behind Rydell. Menu dived down the inside of the SEAT into the Roggia and snatched third, but as Huff tried to follow his teammate through, contact was made, delaying the Chevrolet and taking Rydell out of the race.

Menu made it safely through to collect Chevrolet's first ever WTCC podium, with Alessandro Balzan taking the Independents' class win in a superb fourth overall. Balzan had run third for much of the race before being shuffled back by the factory SEATs.

Jordi Gene and Tarquini took fifth and sixth, with Nicola Larini making it a double points finish for Chevrolet in seventh. Having come from 35th on the grid to 13th in race one, Peter Terting completed his charge to take eighth and a point in the second race.

Race two result:

Pos  Driver        Make        Time
 1.  A Farfus      Alfa Romeo  18:37.438
 2.  Y Muller      SEAT        + 0.951
 3.  A Menu        Chevrolet   + 2.580
 4.  A Balzan      Alfa Romeo  + 3.924
 5.  J Gene        SEAT        + 5.721
 6.  G Tarquini    SEAT        + 6.927
 7.  N Larini      Chevrolet   + 7.895
 8.  P Terting     SEAT        + 8.503
 9.  J Thompson    SEAT        + 8.727
10.  G Morbidelli  Alfa Romeo  + 9.414
11.  S Iacone      BMW         + 10.886
12.  R Huff        Chevrolet   + 13.255
13.  T Coronel     SEAT        + 13.978
14.  R Sharp       Honda       + 14.705
15.  E O'Brien     BMW         + 15.756
16.  R Romagnoli   Alfa Romeo  + 20.526
17.  S Valli       BMW         + 23.171
18.  J Janak       Alfa Romeo  + 25.074
19.  M Ceresoli    SEAT        + 25.920
20.  D Roda        SEAT        + 26.905
21.  S D'Aste      BMW         + 26.944
22.  R Rydell      SEAT        + 1 lap
23.  A Zanardi     BMW         + 2 laps
24.  D Romanini    BMW         + 2 laps
25.  J Muller      BMW         + 3 laps
26.  M Costa       BMW         + 5 laps
27.  D Muller      BMW         + 7 laps
28.  A Priaulx     BMW         + 7 laps
29.  L Rangoni     BMW         + 7 laps