Muller wins race two as Villa loses out on home victory

Yvan Muller took another victory at Valencia in a race featuring another controversial incident, with Tom Coronel and Javier Villa clashing for the lead handing Chevrolet a 1-2-3 result.

Yvan Muller now pulls out a 16 point lead over Rob Huff, who finished second, with Alain Menu completing the podium.

At the start, Franz Engstler bogged down from pole position and was narrowly missed by a fast starting Michel Nykjaer behind him on the grid. Too fast starting it turned out, as the Dane was given a drive through penalty which dropped him to 15th.

Tom Coronel launched into the lead in the ROAL Motorsport BMW, with Javier Villa close behind in the Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC. Norbert Michelisz overtook Michel Nykjaer for third and the three BMWs lead the way in the early stages.

Yvan Muller and Rob Huff worked their way past Nykjaer before the SR Leon served his drive through and kept in touch with the leading BMW trio.

On lap nine, Javier Villa finally made his move on Tom Coronel, tapping the rear of the Dutchman’s BMW at Turn 3 and passing for the lead to the cheers of his home crowd. His lead was short lived however, as Coronel lunged back at the Spaniard into Turn 4, with the two making contact. Villa was flung into the gravel and Coronel fell back with Michelisz forced to slow, allowing Yvan Muller through and into the lead.

Michelisz stayed close to Muller for the remainder of the race, challenging the points leader on the final lap, but a mistake on the last corner allowed Rob Huff through into second. Michelisz tried for the switch back but lost the rear of his BMW and spun around, handing Alain Menu third and Chevrolet a 1-2-3 result from what was set to be a BMW 1-2-3 just five laps earlier.

Michelisz recovered to finish seventh overall, but behind Kristian Poulsen who takes another Yokohama Independents’ class win, and leads the trophy standings with 99 points with Michelisz on 95 and Franz Engstler third on 82.

In the overall drivers’ standings, Yvan Muller now leads the championship on 333 points, with Rob Huff second on 317. Mathematically, only a Chevrolet driver can win the drivers’ championship now, and Chevrolet have also secured the manufacturers’ title with today’s results.

The next round of the championship is in Japan on 23rd October.