Salzburgring, Race 2: D’Aste claims last turn win!

The final few corners of a thrilling last lap gave a delighted Stefano D’Aste a victory he surely couldn’t have expected.

In fourth place with only four corners remaining, D’Aste’s BMW benefitted from punctures to the front left tyre of both the Chevrolet cars of Yvan Muller and Robert Huff. Muller, the race leader, ran wide at Turn 10, with a slightly surprised D’Aste then diving past both Tom Coronel and Huff in T12 to score his first ever WTCC victory and also the first for the Wiechers-Sport team. Muller eventually nursed his Chevrolet Cruze home in 8th place, with his teammate Alain Menu failing to finish after sliding off the track on Lap 8.

Behind D’Aste, Huff and Coronel, Pepe Oriola finished fourth, ahead of Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani.

There was drama even before the cars lined up on the grid, with the Lukoil Racing Team mechanics forced to work quickly in the short period between the races to repair Aleksei Dudukalo’s damaged SEAT León. In the end, the repairs - to the car’s right-hand driveshaft - were carried out within the time allowed and so the Russian driver could take his place on pole position.

Starting from 8th, 9th and 10th on the grid, the three factory Chevrolet Cruze cars quickly carved their way through the field so that, by the end of only the fourth lap, Muller led. Huff then moved into second place on the following lap, with Menu taking third place from Coronel on Lap 7. It then looked as though the race was set to witness another Chevrolet 1-2-3 until the last-lap drama.

Key moments
Start - Coronel is first into T1, ahead of D’Aste and Dudukalo
Lap 1 - Muller, Huff and Menu all pass Bennani
Lap 2 - Muller passes Tarquini for 6th; Huff and Menu also pass Tarquini
Lap 2 - Muller passes Monteiro for 5th
Lap 3 - Muller passes Oriola for 4th and then passed Dudukalo for 3rd
Lap 4 - Muller passes D’Aste for 2nd; to Huff passes D’Aste and Dudukalo for 3rd
Lap 4 - Muller passes Coronel to take the lead
Lap 5 - Huff passes Coronel for 2nd
Lap 6 - Huff attacks Muller, but Muller holds on to the lead
Lap 7 - Menu passes Coronel for 3rd; Monteiro goes off at T10
Lap 8 - Menu and MacDowall goes off at T9; Tarquini through the gravel at T13
Lap 9 - D’Aste attacks Coronel into T1, but Coronel holds on
Lap 11 - Michelisz passes Bennani for 6th
Lap 12 – Muller goes off into gravel at T10; D’Aste passes Coronel and Huff to take the win

Withdrawals
D. O’Young: DNS; T. Boardman: DNS; T. Monteiro: race incident; A. Menu: race incident; A. MacDowall: race incident