Valencia, Race 2: Menu claims a fighting win

Alain Menu claimed his first victory of the season after an action packed race that saw him surviving clashes with Tom Coronel and Stefano D’Aste who completed the podium in the order.

After a few skirmishes with his Italian competitor, Menu managed to outbrake him with a great manoeuvre at Turn 2. Then he spent the final laps defending the lead from a rushing Coronel.

For most of the race Menu, Coronel and D’Aste were involved in an exciting fight with Norbert Michelisz, Franz Engstler, Rob Huff, Pepe Oriola and Yvan Muller. The outcome of the battle was affected by an oil stain on the track that sent a few drivers wide on the gravel. They all rejoined, but some of them lost their positions.

However, Michelisz and Engstler were able to finish in fourth and fifth respectively, while Muller could not achieve any better than eighth.

James Nash was very unlucky; on his way to claim Ford’s best result, he retired from 11th on lap 9 for the consequences of a collision.

Key moments
Start – D’Aste sprints from pole and pulls out from Engstler and Menu
Lap 1 – Boardman is hit by another car and stops
Lap 1 – Menu overtakes Engstler for second
Lap 2 – Coronel overtakes Engstler for third
Lap 3 – Huff and Muller are in a close fight for sixth
Lap 6 – Dudukalo and Monteiro make contact while fighting for 12th
Lap 6 – Menu pushes D’Aste sideways, but gives him back the lead
Lap 7 – Menu overtakes D’Aste and takes the lead
Lap 7 – Engstler retakes third from Coronel
Lap 9 – Menu, D’Aste, Engstler, Muller and Bennani skid on oil
Lap 10 – Coronel and Oriola move up to second and seventh
Lap 12 – Tutumlu overtakes Dudukalo for 11th
Lap 13 – Menu and Coronel make contact, the latter defends second place from D’Aste

Withdrawals
G. Wéber: clutch; T. Boardman: race incident; A. Cerqui: suspension; D. O’Young: overheating; J. Nash: racing incident; C. Ng: power steering