2009 WTCC : SEAT come back for double wins again

Victories Sharing : Gabriele Tarquini - Yvan Muller ; SEAT Sport - SEAT León 2.0 TDI

IMOLA, Italy : September 20, 2009 - Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini swapped to claim SEAT’s double wins of the day.

Race 1 Podium

RACE 1 – SEAT SPORT TAKE A DOUBLE

Gabriele Tarquini has stretched his title lead to nine points after winning his third race of the season. Yvan Muller took second in the race to remain second in the title fight and Huff came home third. James Thompson crossed the line sixth to become the first LADA man to score points in the Drivers’ Championship while title contender Farfus was involved in an incident on lap one which ended his race.

Alessandro Zanardi was the best BMW finishing fourth ahead of Independent race winner Tom Coronel in fifth. Andy Priaulx was in for a chance of Race 2 pole position after sitting eighth but on lap 12 Priaulx and Menu touched which sent Priaulx wide and despite fighting to come back damage to his car meant he finished 15th. Consequently Menu took eighth with Sergio Hernández seventh.
There were two safety car periods. The first on lap one after the pile-up at the first chicane and the second on lap nine after Jaap van Lagen was hit by Kristian Poulsen and rolled.

Man of the race
James Thompson is a well respected and experienced touring car driver. He became part of the LADA team in Porto and has aided them in taking large step forwards. In his absence at Oschersleben van Lagen came close to scoring points but it was not to be. Today Thompson made the team’s ambitions a reality through a mixture of skilful defending and determined attacking that enabled him to finish sixth.

Key moment
With the front three spots of the grid full of SEAT cars it was always going to be tough for the others. However, coming into the first chicane Gené hit Huff who then hit Tarquini. While the latter two recovered, Gené spun across the track sending a wave of contact down the field. The resulting chaos spelt the end of any point-scoring hopes for Farfus, Gené, Jörg Müller and Rydell. The most notable of these is Farfus, for whom a nil point race creates extra turbulence in his bid to become World Champion.

Withdrawals
T. Monteiro: race incident; N. Larini: engine; A. Farfus: race incident; R. Rydell: race incident; J. Müller: race incident; J. Gené: race incident; A. Larini: black flag; J. van Lagen: race incident.

RACE 2 – MULLER AND TARQUINI ENCORE

Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini swapped positions to claim SEAT’s second triumph of the day. Alain Menu finished third while Augusto Farfus salvaged one point by finishing eighth. Alessandro Zanardi took fourth and James Thompson sixth, just as in Race 1. Jordi Gené was fifth with SEAT Sport team-mate Rickard Rydell seventh. The results mean Tarquini is seven points ahead of Yvan Muller and 18 from Farfus – only these three drivers remain able to win the title.

Stefano D’Aste was the victor of the Independent race (10th overall) from Félix Porteiro (12th) and Franz Engstler (13th).

Menu got a good start off the line and led until lap seven when the SEAT duo overtook and broke away. It was not without drama however as in the opening lap Huff and Tarquini made contact. Despite following Muller for the last four laps, Tarquini was pushing hard and even bumped into Muller – indication that both parties have their eye firmly on the prize.

Man of the race
With the pile-up at the start of the first race it could be said LADA driver James Thompson was given a helping hand to sixth place. However, after achieving the same result in the second race it shows the Briton had a truly competitive pace. In the first lap he was fighting with the leading drivers and continued to post impressive times to maintain position.

Key moment
With the drivers’ title within his reach you might expect Tarquini to be treading with caution. However, the first lap revealed the Italian is not afraid to take risky shots as he made a move on the inside of Huff between the two Rivazza bends. The contact sent the Chevrolet’s driver into a spin; he managed to rejoin, but at the back of the field.

Withdrawals
J. van Lagen: DNS; M. Bennani: race incident.

Driver's Championship
P.	Driver - Nationality	R1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Total
1	Gabriele TARQUINI (ITA)	5	10	3	1	8	4	0	3	6	6	6	4	10	0	5	6	8	6	10	8	109
2	Yvan MULLER (FRA)	10	5	5	10	5	8	0	2	10	2	1	8	6	8	0	2	0	2	8	10	102
3	Augusto FARFUS (BRA)	4	3	8	5	0	3	8	8	5	10	0	0	1	10	1	10	4	10	0	1	91
4	Andy PRIAULX (GBR)	2	0	6	8	0	0	5	5	4	5	0	1	0	2	6	4	10	8	0	0	66
5	Rickard RYDELL (SWE)	6	8	10	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3	2	6	4	5	6	0	0	2	63
6	Robert HUFF (GBR)	0	0	0	0	10	6	10	6	0	0	0	0	8	3	8	3	0	0	6	0	60
7	J๖rg MLLER (GER)	0	4	4	0	1	5	6	0	3	8	8	2	0	1	3	8	0	5	0	0	58
8	Sergio HERNมNDEZ (ESP)	3	0	0	4	0	0	4	0	1	3	4	10	0	0	0	0	1	4	2	0	36
9	Jordi GENษ (ESP)	8	6	2	2	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	4	36
10	Tiago MONTEIRO (POR)	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	8	1	3	6	5	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	34
11	Alain MENU (SUI)	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	1	6	31
12	Alessandro ZANARDI (ITA)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	4	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	5	31
13	Nicola LARINI (ITA)	0	0	1	0	3	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	21
14	Tom CORONEL (NED)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1	4	0	15
15	F้lix PORTEIRO (ESP)	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10
16	Franz ENGSTLER (GER)	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	7
17	James THOMPSON (GBR)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	-	-	3	3	6
18	Stefano D'ASTE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
19	Eric CAYROLLE (FRA)	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1