Race 2 - Muller wins as Coronel defends second

Despite he started from eighth on the reverse grid, Yvan Muller put in a strong performance to recover positions, ousting a determined Tom Coronel from the lead and claiming another victory for Chevrolet.

The Frenchman made up of a disappointing first race in which he was beaten by his team-mate Rob Huff, and pocketed the second win of the season to reduce a bit his gap in the championship classification.

Coronel performed a great defensive drive and managed to reject the reiterated assaults from Alain Menu and Huff. In the last two laps of the race, the Dutchman resorted to all his driving skill and experience in order to keep his rivals at bay.

Michel Nykjær finished fifth and won the Yokohama Trophy, obtaining a brilliant result with the SUNRED León 1.6T that was a deserved reward for the Spanish team’s efforts in developing the new engine.

Key moments
Start – Coronel takes the best start and leads from Nykjær, Tarquini and Menu
Lap 1 – Menu and Muller overtake Tarquini; Huff overtakes Poulsen for sixth
Lap 1 – Muller overtakes Menu for third; Engstler retires with turbo problems
Lap 2 – Menu and Muller have a contact; Tarquini overtakes Menu for fourth
Lap 3 – Poulsen, Villa, O’Young, Dahlgren, Bennani and Michelisz have a close fight for seventh
Lap 3 – Tarquini loses two positions to Menu and Huff
Lap 4 – Muller and Menu overtakes Nykjær moving up to second and third
Lap 5 – Huff overtakes Nykjær for fourth; Muller takes the lead from Coronel
Lap 5 – O’Young and Dahlgren clash; O’Young goes off onto the gravel and retires
Lap 6 – Poulsen and Tarquini have contact; Villa moves up to seventh
Lap 9 – Menu hits Coronel in the attempt to pass him, but the Dutchman keeps the position
Lap 10 – Muller wins as Coronel successfully defend his second place

Withdrawals
U. Sonderegger: spin; F. Engstler: turbo wastegate; D. O’Young: race incident; F. Barth: ball bearing.