2009 WTCC : SEAT continues on winning streak in Mexico with Muller and Rydell

Race 2 Podium : Yvan Muller - Andy Prialux - Rickard Rydell

PUEBLA-AMOZOC, Mexico : March 22, 2009 - SEAT dominates the overall standings of the World Touring Car Championship after the victories achieved today at the Mexican racetrack of Puebla, venue of the second WTCC round. Rickard Rydell and Yvan Muller, who share the championship leadership, claimed clear victories today at the wheel of their SEAT León TDIs, withstanding the constant pressure of the BMW drivers Augusto Farfus and Andy Prialux.

Rickard Rydell : RACE 1 Winner

RACE-1

Rickard Rydell forced his way through the BMW front row to claim SEAT’s third consecutive victory in three rounds.
Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx put a lot of pressure on the Swedish driver and eventually settled in second and third respectively, the first podium results for BMW in the season so far.
While SEAT and BMW men were fighting for the top positions, Nicola Larini managed to defend his eighth place, scoring the first point for the new Chevrolet Cruze.
Félix Porteiro won the Independents’ class once again, recovering from the 14th position where he had fallen after being involved in a collision at the start.

Man of the race
Throughout the whole Mexican event, Nicola Larini has emerged as the fastest of the Chevrolet drivers. While his team mates Alain Menu and Robert Huff were fighting against technical issues and set-up problems, the Italian proved consistent and reliable.
His reward was a brilliant eighth place in the first race that was worth the first point scored by the new Chevrolet Cruze car and the pole position on the reverse grid for the second race.

Key moment
Rydell had already moved up from fourth to second going past Priaulx at the start on the outside line. And yet, during the first lap, he struck again stealing the lead from Farfus with an hazardous manoeuvre.
He dived to the inside at the braking of turn 12, and then managed to defend his position through turns 13, 14 and 15 from Farfus’ return.
On that move Rydell built a small margin that was crucial to claim the win.

Withdrawals
G. Tanev: clutch; M. Čolak: race incident; R. Huff: broken suspension; A. Menu: broken suspension; Shapovalov: throttle cable.

Yvan Muller : RACE 2 Winner

RACE-2

The second race was another SEAT vs. BMW fight. The reigning world champion Yvan Muller claimed his second victory of the season as he managed to keep at bay the former world champion Andy Priaulx.
Jordi Gené took the lead at the start, but then, in a breathtaking succession of overtaking manoeuvres, Jörg Müller, Gabriele Tarquini, Y. Muller, Priaulx, Rickard Rydell and Augusto Farfus overturned the order completely. Müller and Tarquini however, had to leave the company after they clashed on lap 6 and slipped down.
All the three Chevrolet cars completed the race, with Nicola Larini’s in tenth position, and so did the LADA cars, with Jaap van Lagen’s in 17th.
Porteiro claimed a fourth consecutive win in the Independents’ trophy.

Man of the race
With two podium results today, Andy Priaulx was the most effective BMW driver once again.
The former triple WTCC champion was very close to stop SEAT’s winning streak in the second race.
Priaulx and Bart Mampaey’s BMW Team UK did an excellent job to find the best set up for a track that did not give BMW many reasons to rejoice in the past.
The concentration and the grit Priaulx showed while chasing his rivals in the two Mexican races are testament that whoever wants to be champion will have him to reckon with.

Key moment
On lap 8 Jordi Gené, who had taken the lead at the start, was struggling to resist the charge of his chasers.
When the field got to turn 5, Yvan Muller took the inside line and squeezed between his team mate’s car and the kerbs. As the Spaniards was forced to turn wide, Andy Priaulx was swift to take advantage and followed Muller in his manoeuvre.
As Muller and Priaulx cleared off, Gené began to lose positions and eventually slipped down to seventh.

Withdrawals
T. Monteiro: race incident; K. Poulsen: race incident; M. Čolak: car on fire.

Driver's Championship
Pos.	Driver - Nationality	Team - Machine	R3	R4	Champ. Point
1.	Yvan Muller - France	SEAT Sport - Seat León 2.0 TDI	5	10	30
2.	Rickard Rydell - Sweden	SEAT Sport - Seat León 2.0 TDI	10	6	30
3.	Augusto Farfus - Brasil	BMW Team Germany - BMW 320si	8	5	20
4.	Gabriele Tarquini - Italy	SEAT Sport - Seat León 2.0 TDI	3	1	19
5.	Jordi Gené Guerrero - Spain	SEAT Sport - Seat León 2.0 TDI	2	2	18
6.	Andy Priaulx - England	BMW Team UK - BMW 320 si	6	8	16
7.	Jörg Müller - Germany	BMW Team Germany - BMW 320si	4	0	8
8.	Sergio Hernández - Spain	BMW Team Italy-Spain - BMW 320 si	0	4	7
9.	Alessandro Zanardi - Italy	BMW Team Italy-Spain - BMW 320 si	0	3	3
10.	Félix Porteiro - Spain	Scuderia Proteam Motorsport - BMW 320 si	0	0	3
11	Nicola Larini - Italy	Chevrolet - Chevrolet Cruze LT	1	0	1
11	Tom Coronel - Netherland	SUNRED Engineering - Seat León 2.0 TFSI	0	0	1

Manufacturer's Champion
Pos.	Brand	Point
1.	SEAT	67
2.	BMW	49
3.	CHEVROLET	20
4.	LADA	18

Images : 2009 WTCC R.3-4 : Puebla-Amozoc, MEXICO

[Source : WTCC-Official, SEAT, BMW]