Suzuka, Race 2: D’Aste wins from Oriola

Stefano D’Aste claimed a lights to flag victory, his second one in the season. Pepe Oriola and Gabriele Tarquini completed a podium that, for once, did not feature any of the Chevrolet drivers.

While at the front D’Aste was performing his best defense driving to keep Oriola and Tarquini at bay, Rob Huff, Alain Menu and Yvan Muller were stuck in fifth, sixth and seventh positions behind Mehdi Bennani.

Only in the last two laps they finally managed to overtake the Proteam Racing BMW. Huff and Menu did it on lap 24 and for a while Muller found himself second in the points for the first time this year.

However, the reigning champion was quick to react and grabbed the sixth position on the last lap. A move that enabled him to stay on equal points with Huff.

Just like in the first race, there were close fights for the positions. Aleksei Dudukalo, beat Alex MacDowall for eighth, and Tiago Monteiro stole tenth from Franz Engstler scoring a second point for Honda.

Further back, Tom Boardman finished in 12th after a race-long battle with O’Young, Cerqui, Nash and Coronel.

Key moments
Start – D’Aste takes the lead from Oriola and Tarquini
Lap 1 – Michelisz it punted off at Turn 3
Lap 2 – Nash overtakes Ng for 14th
Lap 3 – Dudukalo drives wide at Turn 8 and slips down from 5th to 8th behind the Chevrolet trio
Lap 4 – MacDowall overtakes Monteiro for tenth
Lap 6 – Monteiro keeps Boardman at bay
Lap 5 – MacDowall overtakes Engstler for ninth
Lap 9 – D’Aste loses his rearview mirror brushing the tyres at Turn 7
Lap 15 – Yoshimoto exits at Turn 8
Lap 18 – Tarquini knocks on Oriola’s rear bumper
Lap 19 – Monje retires with technical problems
Lap 24 – Huff and Menu overtake Bennani for fourth and fifth
Lap 26 – Muller overtakes Bennani for sixth

Withdrawals
N. Michelisz: race incident; F. Monje: mechanical failure