Huff does the double at Monza

Rob Huff became only the third driver in the WTCC’s history to win both races today, further extending his lead in the championship, whilst Yvan Muller moves up to second after two second places.

Tiago Monteiro had a sluggish start from pole allowing Rob Huff ahead into the first corner. Monteiro managed to hold on to second place ahead of a fast starting Kristian Poulsen, but by the end of the first lap Muller had driven past both Poulsen and Monteiro into second place, and the two Chevrolets broke away from the pack.

Norbert Michelisz was making good progress, passing the ROAL Motorsport BMW of Tom Coronel at the Parabolica for fifth place at the end of lap two, Poulsen on lap five and then Tiago Monteiro for the final podium spot on lap five. However, the two made slight contact after Michelisz’s pass which dropped Michelisz down the order and let the two BMWs of Kristian Poulsen and Tom Coronel ahead of Monteiro, with Poulsen holding on to third until the end of the race to score his first ever podium finish.

Alain Menu made great progress from the back, working his way up to finish fifth, whilst up front the two Chevrolets were hard at it again. The reigning champion fought hard lap after lap to try and pass Huff, locking up at the Parabolica and almost sending Huff of track, but Rob held the car and kept the position, with Muller receiving a warning for the error.

Huff went on to take the win and extend his championship lead to 120 points, 36 points ahead of Muller, with Alain Menu dropping to third in the standings.

On the final lap, Javier Villa drove past Franz Engstler’s Liqui-Moly Team Engstler BMW to take eighth place in a photo finish, with Villa’s car judged to have been ahead by 0.002 seconds.

SUNRED driver Fredy Barth is under investigation for two incidents. One with Mehdi Bennani on lap two in which the BMW suffered heavy rear-end damage, and for a later incident with Yukinori Taniguchi of Bamboo Engineering.

Tiago Monteiro and Norbert Michelisz are also under investigation for their coming together on lap five, which dropped the two drivers down the order. Monteiro recovered to finish fourth, and Michelisz seventh after both drivers were in contention for the final podium position.

Tom Coronel looked set for a good result until a right-rear puncture on the final lap took him out of fifth place. The Dutchman tried to get the car to the line, but would only be classified 15th and picked up no points from the race.

The next race is at the Hungaroring in three weeks time.