Alain Menu holds off Tom Coronel for race two win

Alain Menu held off a hard charging Tom Coronel in race two at Valencia to claim the win, with contact on the final lap almost seeing Menu spun out of the lead.

Gabor Wéber’s BMW 320 TC didn’t make the start of the race, stopping on the formation lap, soon followed with more drama when Lukoil SEAT’s Aleksei Dudukalo bogged down from his second row grid spot at the standing start and was narrowly avoided by Norbert Michelisz as the lights went out.

Fantastic starts from the two rear-wheel drive BMWs of Stefano D’Aste and Franz Engstler from pole and fourth on the grid respectively saw Alain Menu down in second behind the BMW pair as they left the first corner.

The field bunched up in the middle of the pack which saw several cars make contact at Turn 5, with Tom Boardman losing out the most in his STR SEAT León, sustaining damage to the front suspension.

Before the first lap was finished, Alain Menu was up to second ahead of Engstler and was bearing down on the leading Wiechers-Sport BMW of Stefano D’Aste.

Tom Coronel passed Franz Engstler for third on lap two, whilst Menu continued to close on D’Aste ahead, making contact with the rear of the BMW to take the lead briefly on lap six before he was repassed by the Italian into the next corner.

Menu passed D’Aste again on the following lap, with Franz Engstler copying Menu’s move into Turn 2 behind, re-passing Coronel for third.

Three laps later a number of drivers including D’Aste, Engstler and Yvan Muller, with Tom Coronel elevated ahead to second place. The Dutchman began to close in on the leading Chevrolet, and the two were right together throughout the final two laps.

Menu pulled across to defend from Coronel on the final lap, with the two making contact propelling the Chevrolet into a slide, but Menu managed to hold on and keep the position ahead of Coronel to take the win by just under a second, with Coronel now under pressure from D’Aste through the final few corners.

The win moves Menu up to second in the standings, 27 points down on Yvan Muller who has 88 points, with Tom Coronel leaving Valencia in third, just three points behind Menu.

The next race meeting is in two weeks on the streets of Marrakech.