Salzburgring, Race 2: First victory for Nash

Following his second place in Race 1 James Nash, driving a Chevrolet Cruze, went one better in Race 2 and took his first ever WTCC race win.

His victory was also the first for the bamboo-engineering team in the WTCC and it meant that both the races at the Salzburgring were won by competitors in the Yokohama Trophy. Once again, Yvan Muller picked off the drivers ahead of him; starting from tenth on the grid, Muller finished in second place to record his second podium result of the afternoon. Norbert Michelisz finished third in the Zengö Motorsport Honda Civic.

Nash and Michelisz started the race alongside each other on the front row of the grid and for much of the race ran unchallenged at the head of the field. Behind them, Muller was doing exactly what he did in Race 1 and duly passed Michelisz on lap 11 to finish in second place behind Nash. Tiago Monteiro’s fourth place gave the Castrol Honda team its best result of the weekend while Michel Nykjær followed up his win in the first race with fifth place in Race 2.

Darryl O’Young and Stefano D’Aste failed to start because of damage incurred during the first race. The Stewards gave Charles Ng a drive-through penalty after they judged he had made a false start.

Key moments
Lap 1 – Nash first into T1. Contact between Chilton and Münnich at T1. Damage to the rear of Nykjær’s car. Chilton into the pits.
Lap 2 – Oriola passed Tarquini for 4th. Muller passed Huff for 7th
Lap 3 – Nykjær & Muller passed Tarquini for 5th & 6th
Lap 4 – MacDowall passed Huff for 8th. Drive-through penalty for Ng. Muller passed Nykjær for 5th
Lap 5 – Muller passed Oriola for 4th Barth passed Kozlovskiy for 12th.
Lap 6 – Thompson & Engstler passed Kozlovskiy for 13th & 14th. Nykjær passed Oriola for 5th. MacDowall passed Tarquini for 7th.
Lap 7 – Muller pressuring Monteiro.
Lap 8 – Muller passed Monteiro for 3rd. Barth passed Basseng for 11th.
Lap 9 – MacDowall passed Oriola for 6th.
Lap 10 – Contact between Huff and Tarquini
Lap 11 – Muller passed Michelisz for 2nd.
Lap 12 – Basseng & Thompson passed Barth for 11th & 12th.