» WTCC Italy: Muller wins – and spins – in Race 2

Yvan Muller has claimed back-to-back wins in the season-opening round of the World Touring Car Championship, claiming victory in an entertaining and hard-fought race at Monza – the Frenchman recovered from a high-speed spin to lead a Chevrolet 1-2-3.

With the race’s standing start taking place with Norbert Michelisz on pole, the Hungarian did an excellent job to keep the chasing pack at bay for most of the race, despite the performance disadvantage he had with his BMW.

Eventually, however, the Hungarian was passed by Muller with a neat move at the Parabolica. Shortly after, Michelisz appeared to hit some debris, and faded to finish in eighth place.

But the action got going even before the race was underway, with SEAT losing a few key runners before the first lap had been completed. Aleksei Dudukalo was stricken with more engine and throttle woes, while Race 1’s Independent Trophy winner, Pepe Oriola, would start from the pit-lane in his Tuenti Racing SEAT.

On the second lap, the three Chevrolets were busy slipstreaming one another in their dispute over fifth place. Muller received the gentlest of taps from Huff, which was enough to completely destabilise the rear of his Cruze, sending him pirouetting onto the grass with a wild spin.

Muller spins; Tarquini crashes out in sympathy

He quickly rejoined as Huff took to the escape road in avoidance, but Gabriele Tarquini crashed out in sympathy and his race was over.

Having regained his composure, Muller set about working his way through the field and eventually chasing down Michelisz for the lead, hotly pursued by his RML team-mates and Tom Coronel in the ROAL Motorsports BMW, who tucked himself into the all-blue slipstream to finish fourth.

Fifth place and an emotional Independent Trophy win went to hometown driver Stefano D’Aste, who pipped Franz Engstler to the position by just 0.6 seconds; the pair was closely followed by WTCC debutant Alex MacDowell in the Bamboo Engineering Chevrolet.

2012 FIA WTCC Race of Italy – Race 2 Final Classification (10 laps):

	Driver	Team	Result	YIT
1.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	20:07.643
2.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.307
3.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.613
4.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 0.993
5.	Stefano D’Aste	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	+ 6.125	Y
6.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 6.705	Y
7.	Alex MacDowell	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 7.247	Y
8.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 10.238	Y
9.	Alberto Cerqui	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 12.663	Y
10.	Rickard Rydell	Chevrolet Sweden Cruze 1.6T	+ 14.066
11.	Gábor Wéber	Zengõ Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 14.202	Y
12.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León 1.6T	+ 14.575	Y
13.	James Nash	Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC	+ 18.279	Y
14.	Mehdi Bennani	Proteam Racing BMW 320TC	+ 18.775	Y
15.	Andrea Barlesi	SUNRED Engineering SEAT León TDi	+ 24.880	Y
16.	Tom Chilton	Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC	+ 25.586
17.	Isaac Tutumlu	Proteam Racing BMW 320TC	+ 35.129	Y
18.	Tiago Monteiro	Tuenti Racing SEAT León TDi	+ 1 lap
19.	Pasquale di Sabatino	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 2 laps	Y
	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil Racing SEAT León 1.6T	1 lap
DNF.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	1 lap	Y
DNF.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil Racing SEAT León 1.6T	0 laps	Y
DNS.	Darryl O’Young	Special Tune Racing SEAT León 1.6T		Y
	FASTEST RACE LAPS
	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:59.000
	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	1:59.608	Y