Points gap down to 13 points between Muller and Huff

Rob Huff closed in by three points over the weekend on chief Championship rival Yvan Muller in Japan. The two Chevrolet drivers are split by just 13 points as the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship heads to its final two meetings in China and Macau.

Yvan Muller briefly took the lead in race one before having to hand it back to Menu, but suffered with his set-up, struggling to control the car and losing two further spots to Huff and the SUNRED León of Michel Nykjaer to finish fourth.

In race two, Muller entered into a race-long battle with ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel, but was unable to pass the 2009 independents’ champion and had to settle for second.

“Not a bad weekend, although I lost three points to Rob, but it could have been worse”, said Muller.

“In race one, I paid (for) the set-up choice I made, which turned out to be a little bit too aggressive in the attempt to spare the constraint on the front left tyre, which is the one suffering most here. I could not keep Alain behind me and then lost two more positions when I made a little mistake.”

Rob Huff was the only Chevrolet driver to finish on the podium in both races, with second behind Menu in race one and third behind Coronel and Muller in race two, which sees the Englishman take the highest points score of the day. The 31-year-old admits he was fortunate not to be caught up in the race one incident.

“I was lucky that my car was not damaged in the pile up at the start, although there was quite a serious contact with Coronel,” said Huff. “After that the race was pretty straightforward, and I could finish ahead of Yvan.”

Championship Standings after Japan