The qualifying heats of the second round of the WTCC culminated with the advantage of Citroen drivers and Lada — both with respect to the first and second race.
Winner of the best time qualifying Yvan Muller (Citroen) and runner Nicky Katsburg (Lada) staked out the first row of the grid of the second race.
A show tenth and ninth result Southeast Valens (Lada) and Mehdi Bennani (Citroen) in accordance with the principles of reciprocal lattice were at the head of the peloton in the first race.
However, to convert high qualification results in equally high final place could not be Russian team riders.
In the first race Valent almost immediately fell from first to fourth place, behind Bennani, Tiago Monteiro (Honda) and his team-mate Gabriele Tarquini Lada. In the course of the South arrival and Gabriele managed to collide, causing the Frenchman fell back outside the top ten, but the Italian missed ahead of Rob Huff.
However, the drivers factory Citroen team left behind Tarquini — Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller were unable to break through the defenses of an experienced rider.
Victory in the first race won Tiago Monteiro, in two and a half seconds ahead of Mehdi Bennani. He closed the top three winners Rob Huff. The best representatives of Lada — it turned out Tarquini — became the fourth. Nicky Katsburg and South Valent finished only 11th and 12th positions respectively.
The second race also has not been without accident involving yellow Vesta. At the start of Jose Maria Lopez (Citroen) walked his teammate Yvan Muller, who in turn ran into Nicky Katsburga of Lada. However, this clash auknulos Frenchman himself — first, he fell back to third place, missing forward Nicky, then he walked Tiago Monteiro and finally he was faced with Rob Huff.
Katsburg, in turn, went on the attack on Lopez walked around it and come out on top! At first Jose Maria did not even think about how to carry out counter-attack — for it immediately started hunting Monteiro. However, two laps to go the Argentinian was able to catch up with Lada driver and beat him in the fight for the lead, and after Nicky is missed more and Monteiro.
As a result of the victory in the second race went to Jose Maria Lopez. Tiago Monteiro finished second and retained the lead in the championship, and Nicky Katsburg closed the top three winners. For Lada drivers Gabriele Tarquini and South Valenta second run was not the best way — the Italian finished in 14th position, and the Frenchman did not get to finish.
The next stage of the World Championship WTCC will take place on April 24 in Hungary.
Photo: www.fiawtcc.com
