Larini scores maiden WTCC victory
Nicola Larini celebrated his maiden World Touring Car win by completing a double for Chevrolet in Morocco this afternoon
Rob Huff scored the Cruze's first win earlier in the day, before Larini, making his 87th WTCC start, took advantage of a mistake by reverse grid pole-sitter Jorg Muller to get into the lead on the streets of Marrakech.
Muller clipped the wall exiting the hairpin at the end of the eighth lap, allowing Larini and Yvan Muller to drag past the BMW on the main straight, while Huff dived up the inside into Turn 1.
Larini was then able to draw away at the front while the battle for second raged behind between Yvan Muller and Huff, who had made his way through the top eight following his earlier victory.
Huff fought tirelessly to unsettle Muller and make it a Chevrolet 1-2, darting around in the SEAT's mirrors and flashing his lights on the long straights, but Muller's resistance remained firm and he held onto second place.
Gabriele Tarquini finished fifth ahead of Augusto Farfus and Tiago Monteiro, while Franz Engstler was best of the independents in seventh.
Local hero Mehdi Bennani had looked set to claim his second independent class victory of the day, until he followed Andy Priaulx off the road at Turn 1 when the four-time champion outbraked himself.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Nicola Larini Chevrolet 27m29.960s
2. Yvan Muller SEAT +1.399
3. Robert Huff Chevrolet +1.778
4. Jorg Muller BMW +2.728
5. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT +3.068
6. Augusto Farfus BMW +3.991
7. Tiago Monteiro SEAT +4.907
8. Franz Engstler BMW +6.779
9. Tom Coronel SEAT +11.084
10. Mehdi Bennani SEAT +15.644
11. Felix Porteiro BMW +31.913
12. Kirill Ladygin Lada +33.688
13. Marin Colak SEAT +39.038
14. Stefano D'Aste BMW +1 lap
15. Jaap van Lagen Lada +1 lap
16. Andy Priaulx BMW +2 laps
17. Alain Menu Chevrolet +3 laps
18. ViktorShapovalov Lada +4 laps
Retirements
Vito Postiglione BMW 5 laps
Jordi Gene SEAT 0 laps
Kristian Poulsen BMW 0 laps
George Tanev BMW 0 laps
Sergio Hernandez BMW 0 laps
Fastest lap, Menu 1m51.017s
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