Moscow WTCC: Tarquini wins, Lada takes 1-2-4 in wet Race 1
Gabriele Tarquini put on a record-breaking performance for the Russian manufacturer at its home circuit, leading home the team's first 1-2 as the rain hit Moscow Raceway just ahead of the opening race.
Photo by: FIA WTCC
The 2009 champion drove from ninth to first to also score the first win for the Lada Vesta in the WTCC, followed across the finish line by team-mate and Race 2 pole-sitter Nicky Catsburg.
The three Ladas started eighth, ninth and tenth for the opening race courtesy of the reversed grid, while Honda’s Tiago Monteiro started from pole in the Honda Civic ahead of the two Citroens of Mehdi Bennani and Yvan Muller.
As the field headed out on to the formation lap, the rain returned to the Moscow Raceway circuit, forcing a 15-minute delay allowing the teams to change to wet tyres.
When the race was restarted, Monteiro led the way into Turn 1, with Muller moving up to second in the factory Citroen.
But it soon became clear the Honda was still struggling with its wet set-up, with the Portuguese driver falling down the order.
As such, Muller was leading the race ahead of Bennani and team-mate Jose Maria Lopez at the end of the first lap, but Tarquini was already up to fourth and was showing strong pace in the wet conditions.
Tarquini passed Lopez at the final corner at the end of lap two, with minor contact made between them, an incident which remains under investigation, while the Italian’s Lada’s team-mates Catsburg and Hugo Valente were also working their way forward, with Catsburg up to fifth by the end of lap three.
Tarquini overtook Bennani’s privateer Citroen on lap three and set about chasing his friend and former team-mate Yvan Muller for the lead, taking the position from the Frenchman at the end of lap five.
From that point on, the Italian went on to build up to an eight second lead in the slippery conditions.
Muller made it much harder for Catsburg to pass, holding off the Dutchman for several laps, before the 28-year-old finally made it past the four-time champion on lap nine.
However, Catsburg had no time to close down the gap to teammate Tarquini for the finish.
Lopez lost fourth to the other Lada of Valente, and the Frenchman had to settle for that spot, the gap to Muller too large to overcome in the final laps.
Lopez finished fifth and extended his points lead over Bennani to 102 points, with Muller closing to 110 points off in the standings in third.
The best-placed Honda in the race was that of Monteiro, who crossed the line sixth ahead of team-mate Rob Huff, with the top Chevrolet that of Munnich Motorsport’s James Thompson, who finished in eighth position and was also the first of the independents’ trophy drivers.
The 17-lap main race follows with Lada well placed for another strong result, starting 1-2-3 on the grid with Catsburg on pole ahead of Tarquini and Valente.
Opening race results:
Pos | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Gabriele Tarquini | Lada Vesta WTCC | 29:39.384 |
2 | Nicky Catsburg | Lada Vesta WTCC | +4.782 |
3 | Yvan Muller | Citroen C-Elysée WTCC | +16.062 |
4 | Hugo Valente | Lada Vesta WTCC | +23.683 |
5 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen C-Elysée WTCC | +28.092 |
6 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Civic WTCC | +28.803 |
7 | Rob Huff | Honda Civic WTCC | +29.266 |
8 | James Thompson | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | +30.164 |
9 | Mehdi Bennani | Citroen C-Elysée WTCC | +35.037 |
10 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Civic WTCC | +43.985 |
11 | John Filippi | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | +47.000 |
12 | Tom Coronel | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | +51.753 |
13 | Fredrik Ekblom | Volvo S60 WTCC | +53.227 |
14 | Tom Chilton | Citroen C-Elysée WTCC | +59.620 |
15 | Ferenc Ficza | Honda Civic WTCC | +1:01.302 |
16 | Grégoire Demoustier | Citroen C-Elysée WTCC | +1:04.878 |
R | Thed Björk | Volvo S60 WTCC |
Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes
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