Muller wins amid more last lap drama
Yvan Muller won Sunday's second World Touring Car race at Monza after misfortune once again befell a leading SEAT on the last lap
Michel Nykjaer started from the reverse grid pole and looked certain for victory after Gabriele Tarquini had to take a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
Tarquini had passed Nykjaer early on, but the Dane reclaimed his lead on the road into the first chicane - the move coming after Tarquini had been given the penalty but before he had taken it.
Nykjaer, who dropped from fifth to eighth when he suffered a last lap puncture in race one along with Tarquini and Rob Huff, was leading comfortably onto the last lap this time. But he slowed dramatically at Curva Grande and pulled off the track at the second chicane with another deflated tyre.
That gave Yvan Muller the lead with just half a lap to go and a small but safe cap over Tom Coronel and Huff, who would complete the podium. The BMWs of Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx were next up, once again profitting on the final tour.
A lively scrap between the SEATs of Jordi Gene, Tiago Monteiro and Nortbert Michelisz filled sixth to eighth places, while Alain Menu and Leonel Pernia rounded out the top 10 for Chevrolet.
After serving his drive-through penalty, Tarquini returned to the pits on the following lap to retire.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 18m29.805s 2. Tom Coronel SEAT +0.512 3. Rob Huff Chevrolet +0.822 4. Augusto Farfus BMW +1.001 5. Andy Priaulx BMW +1.742 6. Jordi Gene SEAT +3.495 7. Tiago Monteiro SEAT +4.197 8. Norbert Michelisz SEAT +4.580 9. Alain Menu Chevrolet +5.099 10. Leonel Pernia Chevrolet +9.918 11. Stefano D'Aste BMW +11.856 12. Darryl O'Young Chevrolet +13.499 13. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet +14.368 14. Fredy Barth SEAT +14.506 15. Kristian Poulsen BMW +14.836 16. Sergio Hernandez BMW +15.266 17. Mehdi Bennani BMW +33.557 18. Fabio Fabiani BMW +49.454 Not classified Michel Nykjaer SEAT 8 laps Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 6 laps Andrey Romanov BMW 2 laps Fastest lap, Priaulx 2m01.860s
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