Macau, Race 2 - Huff wins, Muller is champion

Muller retains World Touring Car title despite

By Franck Drui

20 November 2011 - 06:45
Macau, Race 2 - Huff wins, Muller (...)

Rob Huff encored, claiming a second dominant victory, but he lost the world title to Yvan Muller by three points only.

The Briton tried his best to recover the 13-point gap and managed to overtake Michel Nikyær and Tom Coronel (who had taken a fantastic start from the second row) on his way to another race win. However, Muller was in a position to control without taking too many risks.

For six laps, two of them behind the safety car, Huff and Muller were equal for points and the number of victories (eight each); and yet the Frenchman would have been champion because of the second places (eight against six). Eventually Muller settled the situation by moving up to third, ahead of Nikyær.

The latter won again the Yokohama Trophy race, beating Mehdi Bennani who obtained his best result ever - sixth - in WTCC, while Joe Rosa-Merszei claimed his second victory in the Jay-Ten Trophy.

Key moments
O’Young takes the start from the pit lane
Start – Coronel takes the lead from Nikyær and Huff; Muller overtakes Tarquini for sixth
Lap 1 – Huff overtakes Nikyær for second; Muller overtakes Engstler for fifth
Lap 2 – Tarquini and Michelisz overtake Engstler for sixth and seventh
Lap 3 – Huff takes the lead overtaking Coronel at Lisboa; Muller overtakes Bennani for fourth
Lap 3 – Kwok crashes at Mandarin, the safety car is deployed
Lap 6 – the race resumes
Lap 7 – de Souza and Mak Ka Lo make contact at Lisboa
Lap 9 – Muller overtakes Nikyær for third
Lap 10 – Tarquini overtakes Bennani for fifth
Lap 11 – Tarquini overtakes Nikyær for fourth

Withdrawals
A. Menu: DNS; A. Dudukalo: DNS; A. Couto engine; G. Kwok: race incident; F. de Souza: race incident; Mak Ka Lok: race incident

Pos. Driver Car Time
01 R. Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 laps - 33m23.773s
02 T. Coronel BMW 320 TC +4.680s
03 Y. Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +8.695s
04 G. Tarquini SR Leon 1.6T +9.047s
05 M. Nykjaer SR Leon 1.6T +10.718s
06 M. Bennani BMW 320 TC +11.066s
07 F. Engstler BMW 320 TC +12.241s
08 T. Monteiro SR Leon 1.6T +15.126s
09 N. Michelisz BMW 320 TC +16.686s
10 J. Villa BMW 320 TC +16.950s
11 P. Oriola SR Leon 1.6T +19.640s
12 D. O’Young Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T +20.088s
13 K. Poulsen BMW 320 TC +22.457s
14 C. Ng BMW 320 TC +39.267s
15 J. Merszei BMW 320 si +1m02.249s
16 P. Ma BMW 320 si +3 laps
17 Mak Ka Lok BMW 320 si DNF
18 F. Desouza Chevrolet Lacetti DNF
19 G. Kwok BMW 320 TC DNF
20 A. Couto SR Leon 1.6T DNF
21 A. Dudukalo SR Leon 1.6T DNS
22 A. Menu Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T DNS
Best lap R. Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 2:32.173

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