Thed Björk makes it four different manufacturer wins from four at Monza

Thed Björk won the second race of the day at Monza from pole position, finishing ahead of Honda’s Tiago Monteiro, as the two drivers begin to build a gap in the drivers’ standings.

The Swedish driver started from pole position, but lost out to the fast-starting Honda of Tiago Monteiro at the start, but the Swede was able to retake the lead from Monteiro at the Parabolica at the end of the second lap.

Björk then began to pull away from Monteiro, who was defending from Münnich Citroën driver Rob Huff to hold on to second, followed by the Volvo of Nicky Catsburg, the Honda of Norbert Michelisz, and the third Volvo of Néstor Girolami.

Race 1 winner Tom Chilton was running in eighth place before a drive problem forced him to stop at the exit of Ascari, which meant the safety car was deployed and bunched up the field.

When the race resumed, Björk began to pull away in the lead from Monteiro, who was still defending from Huff and Catsburg, while Michelisz fell behind and was in his own battle with Girolami.

Björk held on to comfortably take his second victory in the WTCC, with Monteiro taking key points in the championship with second, while Rob Huff scored a successful haul of points from the weekend with third, moving up to joint-fifth in the drivers’ standings.

Nicky Catsburg finished right behind the pair in fourth, while on the final lap, Néstor Girolami got a run on Norbert Michelisz at the Parabolica and pulled alongside the Hungarian to snatch fifth at the finish by just 0.001 seconds.

Mehdi Bennani finished in seventh in his SLR Citroën, with the Chevrolet of Esteban Guerrieri, the Lada of Yann Ehrlacher and the third SLR Citroën of John Filippi completing the top ten.

The next round of the WTCC takes place at the Hungaroring outside of Budapest in two weeks’ time.