Macau WTCC: Rob Huff wins wild finale
Rob Huff claimed his sixth victory on the streets of Macau in a World Touring Car Championship finale that swung from chaotic to dangerous
Just 15 of the 33 cars finished a race that was punctuated by two huge melees and two subsequent stoppages, but which did at least conclude with a fantastic - and clean - fight for the lead.
Nine drivers are under investigation for their roles in the clashes.
Watch Macau video clips on the AUTOSPORT WTCC page
The carnage started at Turn 1 where, from a standing start, Norbert Michelisz tagged Tom Chilton, damaged his car and ended up spearing into the outside wall.
The Hungarian's stricken Zengo Honda bounced back into the oncoming pack, precipitating chaos as cars flew into each other and the surrounding walls, ruling out seven drivers immediately.
After a lengthy delay the race restarted under the safety car and with the grid reset to its original position - a welcome reprieve for the likes of James Thompson and Chilton, who had originally dropped back, but equally effectively a punishment for those like Tiago Monteiro who had gained ground.
Coronel once again protected his lead at the restart, heading up a train of cars comprising Thompson, Chilton and James Nash - the latter pair being separated by just one point in the fight for third in the championship.
Chilton gained the advantage in that scrap when he picked off Nash through Mandarin on the restart, with Huff also getting by Alex MacDowall in a four-way fight down to Lisboa.
Immediately behind Monteiro and Yvan Muller collided at San Francisco. The latter hit the wall but was able to continue, while the former - who went from eighth to fourth at the original start - retired with damage.
The race settled into something resembling calm by lap five - the third after the restart - only to explode when Chilton suddenly faded with exhaust damage. As he crawled around Maternity, he was hit by Eurico de Jesus, who ended up parked sideways across the track.
The frontrunners were just about able to slow down as they happened upon the scene next time around, but as they backed up those behind exercised less caution, with Franz Engstler and then Filipe de Souza ploughing into the bottleneck.
The scene was repeated behind as Joseph Rosa-Merszei and Michael Soong hit the slowing Yukinori Taniguchi and slid into the pack.
The reds once again flew and another lengthy stoppage followed, which did at least grant teams time to repair the damage suffered in the pile-up - Muller for example lost his rear left, but was able to continue for the final restart.
Coronel still held the advantage this time, but Huff came to the fore as he picked off Thompson and then the Dutchman in quick succession to move into a lead he would not relinquish.
There was yet more drama when Oriola nerfed Thompson at the left-hander before Maternity while fighting for third.
The Spaniard, who clashed with Chilton in race one, went on to pick off Coronel and claim second, but is one of the nine under official review.
Nash and MacDowall rounded out the top five, with Muller diving by Marc Basseng on the final time through San Francisco to steal sixth.
Results - 11 laps (inc two red flags): Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Rob Huff Munnich SEAT 1h23m32.152s 2. Pepe Oriola Tuenti Chevrolet +0.723s 3. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW +1.173s 4. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet +2.909s 5. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet +3.428s 6. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet +4.642s 7. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT +5.665s 8. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW +18.982s 9. Gabriele Tarquini Honda +30.963s 10. Henry Ho Engstler BMW +47.079s 11. Celio Alves Dias China Dragon Chevrolet +48.255s 12. Ng Kin Veng China Dragon Chevrolet +58.652s 13. Lam Kam San China Dragon Chevrolet +58.921s 14. Mak Ka Lok RPM BMW +1m00.680s 15. Filipe de Souza China Dragon Chevrolet +1m34.078s Retirements: James Thompson Lada 7 laps Yukinori Taniguchi Nika Chevrolet 6 laps Charles Ng Engstler BMW 5 laps Michael Soong Campos SEAT 5 laps Joseph Rosa-Merszei Engstler BMW 5 laps Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 4 laps Eurico de Jesus PAS Honda 4 laps Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 3 laps Tiago Monteiro Honda 3 laps Jeronimo Badaraco Son Veng Chevrolet 2 laps Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 1 lap Konstantins Calko Campos SEAT 0 laps Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 0 laps Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 0 laps Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 0 laps Hugo Valente Campos SEAT 0 laps Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 0 laps Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 0 laps
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