Tavano takes maiden WTCC win
Salvatore Tavano dominated the first World Touring Car Championship at Puebla, Mexico, thereby taking his maiden victory in the championship
The Italian had not even scored a point in the WTCC until now, however after a strong start he comfortably held off Alfa Romeo teammate Augusto Farfus Jr.
But allowing Tavano to win was a bizarre decision from the N-Technology-run Alfa team, who could have easily instructed Tavano to pull aside on the final lap and let his championship-chasing teammate through.
The privateer team of JAS Motorsport have something to celebrate tonight after scoring a podium position with former GP2 racer Ryan Sharp.
Sharp, who had qualified a superb third in his privateer Honda, was briefly ahead of Farfus at the beginning, but was slow exiting one corner which allowed the Brazilian to outdrag him and pass him for the position.
For the rest of the race the Scottish driver had his work cut out fending off the fellow independent runner of Tom Coronel, but was up to the task, despite a few scares in the final laps.
James Thompson took the championship lead with fifth position in his SEAT Leon.
The race was stopped for nearly half an hour after a huge crash to Robb Huff's Chevrolet Lacetti on the first lap.
Huff hit the outside retaining wall on the banked part of the circuit, and there were initial fears for his safety as it took considerable length of time to extract the Briton from the wreckage.
However, Huff did manage to get out of the car eventually, and was taken to the medical centre for a precautionary check-up.
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Salvatore Tavano Alfa Romeo 156 57:38.172 2. Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo 156 + 0.310 3. Ryan Sharp Honda Accord Euro R + 4.983 4. Tom Coronel SEAT Leon + 5.411 5. James Thompson SEAT Leon + 19.801 6. Dirk Muller BMW 320si + 21.616 7. Gianni Morbidelli Alfa Romeo 156 + 23.268 8. Rickard Rydell SEAT Leon + 25.240 9. Peter Terting SEAT Leon + 25.582 10. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Leon + 27.233 11. Jordi Gene SEAT Leon + 27.575 12. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti + 28.079 13. Pierre-Yves Corthals Honda Accord Euro R + 29.840 14. Yvan Muller SEAT Leon + 30.892 15. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti + 36.425 16. Maurizio Ceresoli SEAT Toledo Cupra + 36.803 17. Alessandro Zanardi BMW 320si + 43.212 18. Andy Priaulx BMW 320si + 43.903 19. Jorg Muller BMW 320si + 44.056 20. Diego Romanini BMW 320i + 52.868 21. Duncan Huisman BMW 320si + 53.752 22. Stefano D'aste BMW 320i + 55.394 23. Luca Rangoni BMW 320si +1:02.778 24. Oscar Hidalgo BMW 320i + 1 lap . Robert Huff Chevrolet Lacetti DNF
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