2009 WTCC : SEAT and BMW claim one victory apiece

Gabriele Tarquini - SEAT Sport - SEAT León 2.0 TDI

PORTO, Portugal : June 05, 2009 - SEAT and BMW shared glory in Porto yesterday, claiming one win each, as 120,000 gathered around the Circuito da Boavista during the weekend.

In the first race Gabriele Tarquini converted his pole position to a lights-to-flag solo flight ahead of Chevrolet’s Robert Huff and his own SEAT Sport team-mate Yvan Muller. The second race saw Augusto Farfus’ deliverance after a black period, as the young Brazilian won the WTCC’s 100th race from Muller and Rickard Rydell.

RACE-1 Podium

TARQUINI WINS CHAOTIC RACE 1

Gabriele Tarquini took his second win of the season in an eventful race. Robert Huff came home second and Yvan Muller third. An incident in the first lap saw a massive crash which affected seven drivers (Menu, Monteiro, Ladygin, Engstler, Puyo, Bennani and Boardman).

Before this pile up, Sergio Hernández and Jaap van Lagen had crashed on the straight. Hernández hit the concrete wall sideways at high pace and was taken to the local hospital for x-rays on his left ankle but returned to the track with no treatment needed.

Local driver Tiago Monteiro crossed the line fourth followed by Larini, Gené and Rydell, while Farfus recovered after he received a drive through for causing the accident at the start and inherited eighth position and the pole for Race 2.

Man of the race
In the recent past Gabriele Tarquini hasn’t been able to turn his pole positions into race wins. However today he led the field all the way despite the race suspension and pressure from Huff who stayed close behind him. The experienced Italian driver defended fervently at the start, took control of the restart and his calm head enabled him to take the chequered flag as victor.

Key moment
At turn 10 on lap one Augusto Farfus missed his braking point and hit the rear left of Menu’s car. This sent Menu into the tyres and while Farfus swerved to recover he came into the path of Monteiro. Farfus continued but Monteiro was hit by Larini who too was trying to find a clear path. The pile-up behind resulted in the race being suspended and Farfus being given a drive-through penalty at the restart.

Withdrawals
A. Menu: race incident; J. Van Lagen: race incident; M. Bennani: race incident; S. Hernández: race incident.

RACE-2 Podium

FARFUS WINS THE 100th WTCC RACE

Augusto Farfus is the name that will be in the history books for winning the 100th WTCC race. The BMW Team Germany driver led the pack from lights to flag in a race that saw three serious crashes, two safety car periods and a suspension.

Yvan Muller, current world champion, finished second followed by his SEAT Sport team-mates Rickard Rydell, Jordi Gené and Tiago Monteiro.

After clean opening laps for the entire pack, lap three spelt the end of the race for Nicola Larini and Gabriele Tarquini. The duo was battling at turn five but neither would concede the line meaning they ended up in the tyres. Seconds later Mehdi Bennani went straight at the same corner, avoided the SEAT and Chevrolet but rejoined the track directly in the path of Tom Boardman who could do nothing to avoid him. With a second crash at the same place the safety car was deployed.

The third collision came further down the field on lap nine. Franz Engstler and Félix Porteiro hit each other but both continued. As Engstler picked up his pace again, Menu was on his tail and pushing to get past. The Swiss made contact, spun and crashed into the metal barrier blocking the track to cause the race to be suspended.

Man of the race
Sitting on pole for the 100th race after two catastrophic incidents in the previous two races must have been a tense moment for Augusto Farfus. However as the lights went out he stormed away with determination. The Brazilian had to endure two further restarts but remained focused to reward himself and his team with the ultimate prize of victory and maximum points.

Key moment
Yvan Muller overtook Nicola Larini at turn two on the first lap – a move that showcased his expertise. He was on the inside of the corner and while Larini edged over to take the line, Muller held strong using the wall on his left to resist Larini’s attempt to shut the door on him. This move enabled Muller to move up to second later in the race and take eight valuable points that could prove to be worth their weight in gold at the end of the season.

Withdrawals
J. Lagen: DNS; M. Bennani: race incident; T. Boardman: race incident; N. Larini: race incident; G. Tarquini: race incident; A. Menu: race incident; K. Ladygin: race incident.

Driver's Championship
P.	Driver - Nationality	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Total
1	Yvan MULLER (FRA)	10	5	5	10	5	8	0	2	10	2	1	8	6	8	80
2	Gabriele TARQUINI (ITA)	5	10	3	1	8	4	0	3	6	6	6	4	10	0	66
3	Augusto FARFUS (BRA)	4	3	8	5	0	3	8	8	5	10	0	0	1	10	65
4	Rickard RYDELL (SWE)	6	8	10	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3	2	6	46
5	Robert HUFF (GBR)	0	0	0	0	10	6	10	6	0	0	0	0	8	3	43
6	J๖rg MLLER (GER)	0	4	4	0	1	5	6	0	3	8	8	2	0	1	42
7	Andy PRIAULX (GBR)	2	0	6	8	0	0	5	5	4	5	0	1	0	2	38
8	Jordi GENษ (ESP)	8	6	2	2	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	32
9	Tiago MONTEIRO (POR)	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	8	1	3	6	5	4	31
10	Sergio HERNANDEZ (ESP)	3	0	0	4	0	0	4	0	1	3	4	10	0	0	29
11	Alessandro ZANARDI (ITA)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	4	10	0	0	0	21
12	Nicola LARINI (ITA)	0	0	1	0	3	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	18
13	Alain MENU (SUI)	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	14
14	Felix PORTEIRO (ESP)	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0	0	10
15	Franz ENGSTLER (GER)	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
16	Tom CORONEL (NED)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	5
17	Eric CAYROLLE (FRA)	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1