» WTCC: Muller earns Monza clean sweep

Yvan Muller has capped of a perfect opening weekend of racing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, claiming maximum points at the end of the weekend with victory in the second race at Monza.

In soaking conditions, the Frenchman charged through from tenth on the grid to the lead by the fifth lap of the race, and from that point he was never challenged, winning by 2.4 seconds from fellow Chevrolet runner Michel Nykjær finished second and also claimed the Independent Trophy class win on his full-time return to the championship.

Muller’s charge was impressive. As conditions closed in on the high-speed circuit and in rapidly fading light, Muller rocketed off the line and was fourth by the end of the opening lap.

By the end of the fourth lap, he’d climbed into second place, and quickly set about overhauling early race leader Gabriele Tarquini. The Honda driver made a small mistake exiting the Ascari chicane a lap later, and that was all the invitation Muller needed to take the lead and cruise to victory.

Tarquini, Nykjær and WTCC debutant Marc Basseng staged an entertaining battle for second place over the remaining laps, with the trio running nose-to-tail in a classic slipstreaming duel.

Nykjær managed to slip into second and break free of the remaining pair in the final laps, leaving Tarquini and Basseng to scrap for the final podium spot. Ultimately Tarquini prevailed, crossing the line a scant 0.087 seconds ahead of the very impressive Basseng, with a fast-closing Tom Chilton right behind them in fifth place.

Chilton had climbed up from ninth place on the grid, losing out on the chance of a podium after spending several laps stuck behind fellow Chevrolet runner and former teammate James Nash.

Behind Chilton came Pepe Oriola, Nash, Tiago Monteiro, Stefano D’Aste (who started from the back of the grid) and Rob Huff, who started from the pit lane.

The series will now decamp and cross the Mediterranean into Morocco, which will play host to the second round of the championship on the tough Marrakech street circuit in a fortnight’s time.

2013 FIA WTCC Race of Italy – Race 2 Final Classification (10 laps):

	Driver	Team	Result	YIT
1.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	23:27.254
2.	Michel Nykjær	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 2.482	Y
3.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 4.994
4.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 5.081
5.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 5.612
6.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 6.755	Y
7.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 14.445	Y
8.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 20.573
9.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC	+ 23.722	Y
10.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 25.442
11.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 37.126
12.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 41.394	Y
13.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 43.904	Y
14.	Fredy Barth	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	+ 45.921	Y
15.	Fernando Monje	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 50.678	Y
16.	Tom Boardman	Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC	+ 53.591	Y
17.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 59.157	Y
18.	Jean-Philippe Dayraut	ANOME BMW 320TC	+ 1:06.537	Y
19.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 1:26.721	Y
20.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 1 lap	Y
21.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 1 lap	Y
22.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 1 lap
	Not Classified		Result
NS.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	DNS
NS.	Aleksei Dudukalo	LADA Sport Granta	DNS