ROUNDS 3 & 4 - PUEBLA-AMOZOC, MEXICO RACE 1 & 2
REPORT
ANOTHER 1-2 FOR SEAT WITH GENÉ AND RYDELL
Jordi Gené led from pole to secure the win of the
first race in Puebla. He started alongside Chevrolet's Nicola
Larini, and was only challenged during the rolling start when
Larini came up beside him off the line. Gené's SEAT
Sport team mate Rickard Rydell came up from sixth during the
first corner scuffle to second place, and remained there for
the rest of the race. From this position he was able to protect
his team mate from the Chevrolet charge coming from behind.
As the field went into the first corner there were several
clashes in the middle of the pack: BMW drivers Alessandro
Zanardi, Jörg Müller, Andy Priaulx and Félix
Porteiro were all involved. Chevrolet's Alain Menu, who overtook
Tom Coronel on the first lap for fourth position slipped back
during the race as the car seemed to struggle for pace; he
was sixth for much of the race.
Larini followed SEAT's 1-2 into third position, with Coronel
behind in a brilliant fourth. Gabriele Tarquini performed
a pushy overtaking manoeuvre on Alain Menu to secure fifth
position, and Yvan Muller followed him into sixth place. Another
SEAT Sport driver Tiago Monteiro took seventh spot to round
off a successful race for SEAT.
Muller and Monteiro overtook Menu in the final moments when
he went extremely wide at a corner, and therefore the Chevrolet
driver finished eighth and will begin the second race from
pole position.
Robert Huff finished ninth in the Chevrolet, following an
eventful race. He tangled with Yvan Muller in the first laps,
which damaged his wheel and caused him to lose places. However,
he fought back and overtook Augusto Farfus to finish just
behind his team mate.
As the previous sessions of the weekend have shown, the BMW
cars struggled again in the race. Several were involved in
scuffles and others, including Farfus, seemed to lack the
pace of SEAT and Chevrolet. Priaulx ended up finishing in
the highest position in tenth place behind Huff.
Pierre-Yves Corthals won the Independents' class; he had
begun the race from pole position, but had problems at the
start with cars bumping into him. He struggled for grip on
the track, leaving the racetrack in the final laps, but managed
to stay ahead of closest rival Stefano D'Aste to finish twelfth
overall.
Before the start of the race a minute's silence was observed
to remember Eurosport's commentator David Leslie and the other
victims of the plane crash.
MONTEIRO'S CLAIMS FIRST WIN
SEAT cars filled the top-six position at the end of the second
race in Puebla and this results, in addition to the 1-2 obtained
for the Spanish Manufacturers in today's first race, secured
the total domination of the yellow León cars (never
mind if they are turbo diesel or petrol-powered) in Puebla.
Four SEAT men - in the order Rydell, Tarquini, Muller and
Gené - are on top of the Drivers' Championship, while
SEAT have already built a solid advantage in the Manufacturers'
Championship.
Even though it was Chevrolet's Alain Menu who began from
pole position for the second race, it was SEAT Sport annihilation.
Tiago Monteiro took the chequered flag with a spotless drive
throughout the race after he took the lead into the first
corner.
Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini battled for second position
with the Swede coming out on top after Tarquini ran wide on
lap 14. Rydell had another great start coming up from seventh
to fourth on the first lap. Tarquini had jumped up to third
at the start ahead of eventual fourth placed team mate Yvan
Muller. First race winner Jordi Gené, finished in fifth
after the problems for Chevrolet's Alain Menu and Nicola Larini,
the latter failed to finish the race after a rear suspension
collapsed following a collision with another car. Gené
was battling with Muller for fifth position, but he came off
worse and Muller proceeded to overtake Menu.
Menu ran wide and fell down to tenth position, allowing the
SEAT's to dominate. He battled back up to seventh, behind
Tom Coronel who rounded off SEAT's top six positions.
BMW UK's Andy Priaulx finished in the top BMW car in eighth
place as he fought with Menu and Huff for most of the race,
as the BMWs struggled once again. Priaulx was the only German
manufacturer's driver to score during the weekend. Robert
Huff had another eventful race: after a poor start he made
his way back up to eighth, only for him to drop places down
to tenth. For the rest of the race he battled with Priaulx
and Menu and eventually finished just outside the points in
ninth.
Pierre-Yves Corthals won the Independents' class to add to
his triumph in race one. He is now on joint points with Stefano
D'Aste, who finished behind him in fourteenth, and Olivier
Tielemans who had won both races in Brazil.
The start was clean but, once again, Jörg Müller
and Alessandro Zanardi had clashes during the first lap, and
Müller later left the track but rejoined to finish the
race behind Zanardi in twelfth.
The championship will resume for rounds 5 and 6 in Valencia,
Spain, on May 17th and 18th.
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