ROUNDS 5 & 6 - VALENCIA, SPAIN RACE 1 & 2 REPORT
HUFF WINS ONE FOR CHEVROLET
Robert Huff claimed his and Chevrolet's first victory of
the season, charging from fourth position to the lead in the
first five laps of the race. The Briton was able to overtake
one after the other the three SEAT cars of Yvan Muller, Gabriele
Tarquini and Jordi Gené and then managed to pull out
and create a comfortable margin.
Tarquini and Gené completed the podium (which propelled
the Italian back into the championship lead), while Yvan Muller
had to fight for saving his fourth position under great pressure
from Jörg Müller, Nicola Larini and Andy Priaulx.
Gené took a better start and led into turn 1, from
Tarquini and Y. Muller; Farfus went wide after a clash with
Priaulx. The first lap-battle involved a few drivers: Porteiro,
Hernández and Okyay pitted for repairs and rejoined,
while Corthals and van Lagen retired.
On lap 4 Gené went wide in one corner and slipped
to third behind Tarquini and Huff. A few moments later D'Aste
overtook Tielemans for the Independents' Trophy lead; Engstler
tried to do the same but clashed with Tielemans and spun off.
On lap 5 Huff moved to first. The leading sextet - Huff,
Tarquini, Gené, Y. Muller, J. Müller and Larini
increased the gap, as Thompson was lying in sixth and blocking
a train of cars led by Priaulx. Farfus, who was chasing the
world champion, spun off at turn 1 was collected by Rydell.
As Huff increased his pace, Priaulx and Zanardi were able
to get past Thompson when the Honda driver went wide in a
corner. On lap 9 Larini stole fifth position from J. Müller,
but in the final stages of the race the German retook it for
good.
During the last lap Zanardi and Menu fought hard for the
eighth position and the pole on the reverse grid for Race
2; eventually the Swiss had the better of his rival who outbraked
himself at turn 1 and went wide.
D'Aste won the Independents' race from Tielemans and Romanov.
RACE 2 REPORT
CHEVROLET MAKE A DOUBLE WITH MENU-HUFF
Alain Menu and Robert Huff dominated the second race in Valencia,
giving Chevrolet a brilliant one-two finish. The two men in
blue managed to overcome the strong resistance from BMW's
Andy Priaulx and Jörg Müller, who came home in third
and fourth respectively.
SEAT Sport drivers were involved in the battle for point
positions and four of them - led by Gabriele Tarquini - filled
the spots between fifth and eighth; this enabled Tarquini
to stretch his championship lead to 8 points.
Sergio Hernández, of Proteam Motorsport, claimed his
first WTCC victory on his home circuit, after a tough fight
with Pierre-Yves Corthals.
Priaulx sprinted to the lead at the start, beating pole sitter
Menu in the run down to the first corner. They were chased
by J. Müller, Larini and Y. Muller. After starting eighth
on the reverse grid, Huff began to recover positions and within
three laps he got past Tarquini, Gené, Y. Muller and
Larini climbing up to fourth.
On lap 3 Menu was able to strike back and overtook Priaulx
for the lead and the reigning world champion find himself
chased closely by J. Müller.
The fighting became hotter and hotter. Y. Muller, Larini,
Gené and Tarquini were bumping into each other at every
corner, Monteiro and Thompson had a couple of brutal collisions
and the Portuguese man was given a drive-through penalty as
a result.
While Menu was creating a gap, Huff overtook J. Müller
for third on lap 7. Coming from the back of the field, Farfus
jumped ahead of Rydell and Gené to claim seventh position;
however he and Y. Muller collided while fighting for the fifth
place; this was the end of Farfus' race, while the Frenchman
slipped down to eighth.
On lap 9, Huff squeezed past Priaulx and moved up to second.
Porteiro provided one last thrill overtaking Thompson for
tenth.
The championship will resume for rounds 7 and 8 in Pau, France,
on May 31sr and June 1st.
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