Porto, Race 1: Muller keeps his cool in the heat

Muller beats Chilton in race one

By Franck Drui

30 June 2013 - 13:40
Porto, Race 1: Muller keeps his (...)

In the heat of Porto, Yvan Muller took yet another victory – his fifth of the season –to further extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

After qualifying on pole position, Muller took a lights-to-flag win ahead of his RML teammate Tom Chilton, who finished second. The top four was an all-Chevrolet affair, with Michel Nykjaer

finishing third and Pepe Oriola fourth. Nykjaer was also the highest-placed finisher in the Yokohama Trophy.

After Tiago Montiero pulled up with turbocharger failure in Free Practice yesterday, Gabriele Tarquini suffered the same fate in the other Castrol Team Honda car. As some comfort for the team, Monteiro - competing in front of a large home crowd - rewarded the fans by recovering from 17th to ninth.

Besides Tarquini, several other drivers failed to finish the race. Norbert Michelisz made contact with the wall on the second lap and pulled up, while a bizarre incident on lap 9 saw the BMW of Franz Engstler make contact with the rear of a marshal’s pickup truck that was on its way to recover Tarquini’s car. Fredy Barth then spun while trying to avoid Engstler’s car and the pickup, which brought out the safery car for two laps.

Key moments
Start – Michelisz and Nykjaer make contact on the way to Turn 1
Lap 1 – Tarquini and Oriola pass Michelisz
Lap 1 – Boardman outbrakes himself and hit Bennani
Lap 2 – Michelisz makes contact with the wall at Turn 13
Lap 4 – Ng passes Karamyshev for 19th
Lap 5 – Nykjaer pressures Chilton
Lap 8 – White smoke comes from Tarquini’s car and he stops at Turn 13
Lap 9 – Monteiro pressures Nash
Lap 9 – Engstler hits a marshal’s vehicle, Barth spins; the Safety car is deployed
Lap 11 – the race resumes
Lap 12 – Coronel and D’Aste pass Basseng for seventh and eighth
Lap 12 - Monteiro passes Nash and then Basseng to finish 9th
Lap 12 – Boardman hits the wall at Turn 10

Pos. Driver Car Time
1 Yvan MULLER Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 12 laps - 27:38.637s
2 Tom CHILTON Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T + 0.343
3 Michel NYKJAER Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T + 0.665
4 Pepe ORIOLA Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T + 1.318
5 Rob HUFF SEAT Leon WTCC + 2.493
6 James THOMPSON Lada Granta + 3.662
7 Tom CORONEL BMW 320 TC + 6.333
8 Stefano D’ASTE BMW 320 TC + 6.416
9 Tiago MONTEIRO Honda Civic + 6.977
10 Marc BASSENG SEAT Leon WTCC + 7.576
11 James NASH Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T + 10.632
12 Darryl O’YOUNG BMW 320 TC + 11.014
13 Hugo VALENTE SEAT Leon WTCC + 11.485
14 Alex MACDOWALL Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T + 11.953
15 Charles NG BMW 320 TC + 12.291
16 Fernando MONJE SEAT Leon WTCC + 12.842
17 Nikolay KARAMYSHEV SEAT Leon WTCC + 13.234
18 Fredy BARTH BMW 320 TC + 13.736
19 Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY Lada Granta + 33.630
20 Tom BOARDMAN SEAT Leon WTCC + 1 lap
21 Franz ENGSTLER BMW 320 TC + 3 laps
22 René MUNNICH SEAT Leon WTCC DNF
23 Gabriele TARQUINI Honda Civic DNF
24 Mehdi BENNANI BMW 320 TC DNF
25 Norbert MICHELISZ Honda Civic DNF

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