Rob Huff secured his fifth victory of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship to extend his Championship lead, whilst Yvan Muller was given a post-race 30 second penalty for contact with Alain Menu, effectively dropping the Frenchman out of title contention.
Click here for the full Round 22 results.
Having started seventh on the grid, Huff worked his way up the order and was then in the right place at the right time as Yvan Muller and Alain Menu collided and the Swiss driver spun out of the lead. Muller was later given a post-race 30 second penalty for the incident, dropping him to 13th and meaning the reigning champion scored no points in either of the day’s races.
At the start, pole position starter Tom Coronel made the best start to lead into turn one with Stefano D’Aste following him having made a flying start from fifth on the grid. Norbert Michelisz looked to challenge for third but contact with Alex MacDowall forced the Hungarian to the back.
Coronel held the lead until the fourth lap when Menu and then Muller took the position from Coronel with Huff demoting the Dutchman around the outside of turn one on the following lap.
Huff inherited the lead at turn one on lap 8 after Muller looked to pass Menu but spun his Swiss team-mate after attempting to abort the move. The incident was confirmed to be under investigation and the following lap Muller let Menu back past. No penalty was announced during the race for Muller but a penalty of 30 seconds was applied after the race.
Huff meanwhile was driving into the distance and secured his fifth victory of the season by 1.1s from Muller and Menu in third, with Coronel leading home a trio of BMW 320TC’s.
D’Aste secured his second Yokohama Independents’ victory of the weekend to close the gap to Michelisz heading to Macau, despite completing the race with the driver’s side door open on his BMW. The top five was completed by the runner-up in the Independents, Mehdi Bennani in the Proteam Motorsport BMW 320TC.
Tarquini, having started second, finished seventh (which became sixth) as a legacy of the Italian’s poor start, followed by Colin Turkington, who had to recover from a tough opening lap. The Northern Irishman eventually took seventh on the final lap from Tom Boardman, who finished eighth ahead of the second ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC of Alberto Cerqui.
Honda’s Tiago Monteiro initially missed out on giving the new Civic four points finishes in a row, however with Muller’s penalty he once again took a point for tenth.
Huff heads to Macau 35 points clear of Menu, with Muller 41 points behind Huff as a result of scoring no points in the races. The Frenchman had entered the weekend equal on points with Huff. In the Yokohama Independents’ Michelisz leads the way with Oriola and D’Aste close behind.
Rounds 23 and 24 take place on Sunday 18th November around the streets of Macau.