Yvan Mulller takes first win of the season
Yvan Muller has taken the win in the first race of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship. The Frenchman led the race from start to finish, ahead of three of his team mates. Nicola Larini made the Chevrolet Cruze best of the rest, as he finished the race in fifth, ahead of the BWM-drivers Augusto Farfus and Sergio Hernández.
At the start of the race it is Yvan Muller who instantly takes the lead. He is followed by Jordi Gené and Rickard Rydell, who has a great start from fifth on the grid.
After the front cars have come through the chicane, it’s Jörg Müller who tries to make up for his bad start, but hits the side of Andy Priaulx going into a corner. As a consequence, Priaulx runs into Alain Menu, and the three cars spear of onto the grass. Müller and Menu hit the tyre barrier and have to return to the pits, Priaulx can continue with relatively little damage. He is however down in 15th.
On the second lap the first start between Nicola Larini and Sergio Hernández over 7th and 8th place starts, when Hernández takes a look on the inside at the end of the main straight.
A lap later Félix Porteiro tries to take back nineth position from Rob Huff, who took it from the Spaniard at the start. But as Porteiro gets passed, he receives a small nudge in the back from Huff a corner later and goes off onto the grass. He looses two places in the process, and rejoins just ahead of Tom Coronel.
At the end of lap 4 it’s the first small off for Tiago Monteiro, as he runs wide in the last corner. At the same time, Tarquini tries to overtake his team mate Rickard Rydell going into the first corner, but doesn’t succeed.
On lap 5, Sergio Hernández overtakes Nicola Larini for seventh, but is immediately re-taken by Larini. As the front runners pass the finish line to start lap 6, Stefano D’aste has a big impact with the tires, after he put his back wheel on the grass and lost control. The safety car comes out to make sure the marshalls can safely remove D’Aste’s car.
At the same time, Rob Huff pulls of at the main straight with a broken throttle cable.
On lap ten the safety car releases the field again, and is lucky it doesn’t have to come out straight away. Nicola Larini pushes the back of Augusto Farfus on the main straight, which causes the Brazilian driver to almost loose control. Fortunately, he bumps into the car of Tiago Monteiro, which enables Farfus to get his car in a straight line again.
When the three drivers dive into the first corner, it’s Monteiro who comes out ahead of Larini and Farfus, making it a complete top 5 for SEAT again.
But this only lasts untill lap 14, when Nicola Larini passes Monteiro, because the SEAT driver just overshoots the curb stone. Farfus tries to follow the Chevrolet, but doesn’t succeed straight away. But he doesn’t have to wait for long for another chance. At the end of the lap Monteiro runs wide again, and allows Farfus and Hernández to pass.
At the back of the field, Kristian Poulsen and Marin Colak touch, causing the pair to spin off the track. The safety car doesn’t come out again, and Yvan Muller can easily continue his way to his first victory of the year. He is followed on a considerable distance by Jordi Gené, Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini.
Despite the incidents he has been involved in, Félix Porteiro manages to take the win in the independents category. He finishes in tenth overall, just ahead of Tom Coronel.
Again Dutchman Jaap van Lagen is the best Lada driver. He finishes the race in 15th, 3.2 seconds behind Franz Engstler. His team mates Shapalov and Ladygin finish in 17th and 18th respectively.
