The Swiss driver dominates Race 1, four podium finishes for the Cruzes at Suzuka

Chevrolet took another win Sunday in Japan, totalling four podium finishes, as the fight for the Drivers’ Championship gets even more exciting. Alain Menu scored his fourth win of the season in Race 1, with Huff 2nd and Muller 4th, while in Race 2, Yvan, Rob and Alain finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively, confirming the excellent form of the RML run Cruzes. Local hero Toshi Arai finished 15th in both races, after a solid show in front of his many fans.

Race 1 saw a chaotic start with two different multiple accidents, which had no consequencesfor the Chevrolet drivers and forced the safety car out. At the restart, Muller took the lead butcould not prevent Menu passing him on lap 8. From then on, the Swiss kept the lead andcrossed the line as the winner, escorted by Rob Huff, who took 2nd. Muller eventually lost twomore positions, finishing 4th, while Arai concluded 15th.

Race 2 started with pole sitter Darryl O’Young, in the Bamboo run Cruze, being ousted at thefirst corner, which allowed Coronel to take the lead. The Dutchman resisted the pressure ofthe three Cruzes throughout the entire race, with Muller, Huff and Menu finishing behind him,after an interesting fight with Dahlgren.

With these results, the gap between Muller and Huff in the overall standings has beenreduced by 3 points, while Menu is 73 points behind, which ensures total suspense as theWTCC heads to China for the penultimate round of the season!• QUOTESAlain Menu (1st / 4th): “A very good weekend for me and I am very happy with the pace I gotthroughout it. Ahead of Race 1, we had agreed with Yvan not to attack each other at the startand he took the advantage, as I maybe was a little bit too cautious. After the safety carperiod, I could pass him again and then it was just a matter of saving the tires, controllingthings and not opening the door to Rob. In Race 2, I had a good start but was blocked at thefirst corner and then there was little I could do, as overtaking is almost impossible here, butat least I could keep Dahlgren behind me. I am still in the race for the championship, but it isgoing to be very tough, as both Yvan and Rob scored heavy points today!”

Rob Huff (2nd / 3rd): “Not a bad weekend, as I could shorten the gap from Yvan in thechampionship by three points, although today’s result doesn’t change things much. But weknew it is going to be a long and hard road up to the end! I was lucky that my car was notdamaged in the pile up at the start, although there was quite a serious contact with Coronel,after that the race was pretty straightforward, and I could finish ahead of Yvan. Race 2 wasmore difficult as we were very close to each other in the top five and the tires were sufferingmore, but it was OK to finish right behind Yvan.”Yvan Muller (4th / 2nd): "Not a bad weekend, although I lost three point to Rob, but it couldhave been worse! In Race 1, I paid the set-up choice I made, which turned out to be a littlebit too aggressive, in the attempt to spare the constraint on the front left tire, which is the onesuffering most here. I could not keep Alain behind me and then lost two more positions whenI made a little mistake. In Race 2, I wasn’t in a position to really attack Coronel for the leadand stayed behind him to be ready for any opportunity, but he did no mistake…”

Toshi Arai (15th / 15th): “Yesterday, after qualifying, all my times were cancelled, as I didn’tstop for the technical inspection when coming back to the pits. Very frankly, I didn’t see thered light. As a consequence, I had to start last, and with the traffic problems on this track, Icould not do better than 15th, a result I repeated in Race 2. Still, I am very happy of myprogress throughout the weekend, I enjoyed the experience tremendously, and I am verypleased with the support received from the team and the many fans who attended.”

Eric Nève: “Again a very good weekend for Chevrolet, but what pleases me the most is theexcellent atmosphere in the team and the sportsmanship shown by our three driversthroughout the weekend. They are fighting for a World Champion title with all theirdetermination, but in the most sportive manner, and there was not a single contact betweenthem here in Suzuka. The fight is getting even closer now, with only two events to go, and itis important they keep the same spirit until the endI am equally pleased with the performance of the other Chevrolet local hero, YukinoriTaniguchi who finished Race 1 in an impressive 6th position. It was great to have Toshi andhim representing our brand which is gaining rapid momentum in Japan.”

SUZUKA RACE 1 RESULTS1. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze 25 laps in 25m50s9192. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze + 3s1333. M Nykjaer SEAT SR León 1.6T + 3s7664. Y Muller Chevrolet Cruze + 4s4415. K Poulsen BMW 320 TC + 4s85115. T Arai Chevrolet Cruze +26s767

SUZUKA RACE 2 RESULTS1. T Coronel BMW 320 TC 23 laps in2. Y Muller Chevrolet Cruze + 0s5583. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze + 0s8404. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze + 1s5765. R Dahlgren Volvo C30 Drive + 2s05715. T Arai Chevrolet Cruze +23s541

DRIVERS POINTS STANDINGS AFTER RACE 20 OF 241. Y Muller (Chevrolet), 363 points; 2. R Huff (Chevrolet), 360; 3. A Menu (Chevrolet),290; 4. T Coronel (BMW), 183; 5. G Tarquini (SEAT), 159; … 12. D O’Young (Chevrolet), 43;14. C Bueno (Chevrolet), 25;