Oschersleben, Race 2 - Engstler wins his home race!

Franz Engstler won his first WTCC race on his home event, making himself a belated present for his 50th birthday (last Monday) and also obtaining the first victory for the BMW 1.6-litre turbo engine.

At the end of an exciting race, Engstler crossed the line ahead of Alain Menu and Gabriele Tarquini, a podium full of experience that had the better of the young exuberance of Norbert Michelisz who threw a probable victory to the winds by spinning from the lead.

Behind the three podium finishers and Tom Coronel, who challenged Tarquini for third until the final metres, Yvan Muller and Rob Huff were fighting their personal battle for the world title.

They both were trying to avoid risks and collect points. Despite making a mistake that cost him the fourth position, Muller managed to finish in front of Huff and reduced further his gap in the points.

Key moments
Start – Michelisz takes the lead from Engstler and Monteiro; Bennani and Poulsen come together on the straight and both crash into the pit wall
Lap 1 – Muller overtakes D’Aste for 8th
Lap 2 – the Safety car is deployed to remove Bennani’s and Poulsen’s cars
Lap 4 – the race resumes; Menu overtakes Monteiro for third
Lap 5 – Tarquini overtakes Monteiro for fourth; Dahlgren overtakes D’Aste for ninth
Lap 6 – Huff and Monteiro make contact at turn 1, Muller takes the opportunity to overtake them
Lap 7 – Nykjær pits with engine problems; Barth and Dudukalo clash while fighting for 14th
Lap 8 – Michelisz spins from the lead at turn 13 and rejoins in fourth
Lap 9 – Muller overtakes Coronel for fifth
Lap 10 – Huff and Dahlgren overtake Monteiro for seventh and eighth
Lap 10 – Muller overtakes Michelisz for fourth
Lap 11 – Coronel and Michelisz tangle at turn 1, the latter crashes into the tyre wall
Lap 13 – Muller skids sideways at turn 10 and hands fourth position to Coronel
Lap 15 – Tarquini crosses the line in third place, 0.031 seconds ahead of Coronel

Withdrawals
K. Poulsen: race incident; M. Bennani: race incident; F. Barth: race incident; N. Michelisz: race incident; M. Nykjær: DNC, engine.