Villa crashes out with broken suspension

Javier Villa lost a few points to Kristian Poulsen in the independents’ trophy after crashing out at the Turn 6 chicane when he broke his suspension, and will start last for race two.

The Spaniard was making progress through the field, although falling behind Kristian Poulsen at the start, he passed Fredy Barth on the opening lap, then got ahead of Bamboo Engineering driver Darryl O’Young on lap three, and then Franz Engstler on lap six before hitting the kerbs hard at Turn 6 on the following lap and retiring.

“In the chicane on the second kerb the front-left suspension broke and we went off,” Villa told TouringCarTimes.

“We were running very quick. We have the fastest lap of the independents’, which is very important,” said Villa, who still picks up a point in the independents’ standings as a result which keeps him ahead of Norbert Michelisz.

The incident between SUNRED’s Fredy Barth and Javier Villa is under investigation by the stewards, with Villa explaining the incident from his perspective.

“I went inside, he tried to go outside and touched and hit with me, not me with him and he spun.”

“It happened to me at the next chicane, I went around the outside, but had to stop, as sometimes (when) you try to go around the outside at the chicanes it’s nearly impossible.”

Because of the heavy rear-end damage to Villa’s BMW 320 TC, the car has broken Parc Fermé conditions, and will start at the back with Aleksei Dudukalo, who was also damaged when he collided with the spun car of Fredy Barth.

Yokohama Independents’ Trophy standings after Round 11 (Provisional)