WTCC 2010 - Brands Hatch, UK, race report

18 Jul 10

BMW’s Andy Priaulx secured victory on his home track in race two of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) weekend, held at Brands Hatch, UK, on 16-18 July 2010.

Saturday’s qualifying session was dominated by Chevrolet, with Yvan Muller securing pole for the first race of the weekend, after setting the fastest lap of 1:32.481, ahead of team-mate Rob Huff, who qualified second in 1:32.678. Alain Menu set the third fastest lap in 1:32.828 to put his Chevrolet Cruze on the second row of the grid for race one.

Starting on pole in race one, Muller led the race from start to finish to claim his third win of the season, crossing the finishing line 0.296 seconds ahead of Huff. After starting third, Menu maintained his position until the last lap, when a technical issue forced him to slow down and let BMW’s Colin Turkington through for the third place.

Race two was dominated by BMW”s Andy Priaulx, who started race two on pole, after finishing race one in eighth. His team-mate Agusto Farfus managed to pass him at the start to take the lead of the race, but not for long as Priaulx managed to take the lead on the second lap.  During the overtaking manoeuvre Menu dived inside Farfus and in the resulting collision, the Brazilian spun and Turkington and Tarquini took advantage, passing for second and third respectively.

The championship fight is also very close. Muller leads with 199 points and has a margin of 23 over Tarquini, while Priaulx is a further 30 points behind. And Huff cannot be discounted, lying 69 points behind the leader.