Last round in Macau to decide Drivers’ title
Chevrolet took another double win today, with the RML prepared Cruzes, in the first event ever of the WTCC in China, as Alain Menu won Race 1 and Yvan Muller triumphed in Race 2, with Rob Huff twice on the podium, as third in both races. The short and twisty track of Tianma was the ideal set-up for two lively and closelyfought races, which delighted the numerous Chinese fans. With his good results today, Yvan has been able to extend his lead in the championship to 20 points over Rob.
The Drivers’ title will be decided at the closing round of the championship in Macau in two weeks. Race 1 saw Alain Menu keeping the advantage of the pole position at the start and leading the pack until the chequered flag to take his fifth win of the year. The Swiss had to contain the attacks of Turkington, who was very strong in the final laps and had passed Huff for second, while Muller managed to finish fourth after starting from seventh in the grid.
Race 2 was marked by a chaotic start and first couple of laps, with an incredible number of incidents. Yvan Muller managed to take advantage of the situation and take second position, before passing Tarquini and flying to his eighth success of the season. Huff and Menu,engulfed in traffic, finished third and sixth respectively.The WTCC heads now to the traditional grand-finale in the streets of Macau and the battle for the Drivers’ title still wide open…
• QUOTESYvan Muller (4th / 1st): "What a day! After the bad qualifying session I had, I could neverdream of such an outcome. This is racing as I like it and today, Louis Chevrolet’s motto,‘Never give up”, really applied to me! Race 1 had already been good, as I managed to takefourth just behind Rob, thus limiting the damage, but Race 2 was incredible. I knew the startwas going to be lively and I chose to stay behind Tarquini, knowing he would open the way,and that was the right choice. Once I passed him too, everything was quite easy.”
Alain Menu (1st / 6th): “Another win for me, which is very good. I made a very good start inRace 1, keeping the advantage of the pole, and was very cautious in the first laps, in ordernot to damage the front tires. That was wise as Turkington came back very strong in thesecond part of the race, but I was able to hold him, I just tried to stay focused and keep mypace. Race 2 was a big fight, I got caught in-between the BMWs and there wasn’t much Icould do.”
Rob Huff (3rd / 3rd): “Obviously, not a very good result towards the championship. Everythingwill be decided at Macau, as anticipated, and we’ll see what happens there. Race 1 was nottoo bad, it’s just a pity that I could not keep Turkington behind, but I was having somevibrations on the left front tire since early in the race and didn’t want to put the tire at risk.Race 2 was very difficult, with a lot of contacts since the start, and then found myself stuckbehind Tarquini, it was just a very difficult race…”
