» WTCC: Huff back on the top of the podium!

Rob Huff has claimed his first win of the 2013 FIA WTCC season – and the first-ever win for the new Münnich Motorsport team – with victory in an exciting second race today at the Hungaroring.

Starting from third place for Race 2, the Englishman leapt into second place by Turn 1 behind the fast-starting Mehdi Bennani, whose rear-wheel-drive BMW leapt off the line in the standing start.

Behind the leading pair, there was chaos once again, although this time the pace made it to Turn 3 before the fender-bending ensued. This time it was triggered by former teammates Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini, with the former turning across the latter and tipping the Italian into the barriers.

The hapless Tarquini ricocheted off the Armco and back on to the circuit where he was collected by the unsighted Franz Engstler.

The safety car was immediately triggered so marshals could clean up the mess and the medics could attend to both Tarquini and Engstler, who complained of bruising and neck pain. Both were taken to the local military hospital, with Tarquini kept under observation overnight as a precaution.

The race was restarted on the fifth lap, and the opportunistic Huff immediately leapt into action, passing the Moroccan around the outside of Turn 1 to take the lead. The pair were locked nose-to-tail for the rest of the race, with Huff winning by less than half-a-second.

For Bennani, the result represented the best finish of his career at a circuit where he has always performed. The Proteam BMW driver was overjoyed to be on the podium, and back-to-back Independent Trophy wins moved him into fourth in the Yokohama standings.

It was a strong race for the Independent runners, with the Bamboo Engineering duo of Alex MacDowall and James Nash keeping fellow Chevrolet runner at Race 1 winner Yvan Muller at bay to round out the top-five.

Tom Coronel finished in sixth place after an exciting battle with Tom Chilton, while Norbert Michelisz finished just behind in eighth place at his home race.

2013 FIA WTCC Race of Hungary – Race 1 Final Classification (12 laps):

	Driver	Team	Result	YIT
1.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	29:35.971
2.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 0.426	Y
3.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 4.043	Y
4.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 4.465	Y
5.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 4.783
6.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 5.490
7.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 6.835
8.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 7.232
9.	Michel Nykjær	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 8.413	Y
10.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 8.663	Y
11.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC	+ 10.180	Y
12.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	+ 14.305
13.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 14.886
14.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 20.289	Y
15.	Tom Boardman	Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC	+ 23.547	Y
16.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 24.227	Y
17.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 25.395
18.	Fernando Monje	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 26.536	Y
19.	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 31.352	Y
20.	Mikhail Kozlowskiy	LADA Sport Granta	+ 32.330
21.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 32.710	Y
22.	Fredy Barth	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	+ 3 laps	Y
	Not Classified		Result
DNF.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	0 laps
DNF.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	0 laps	Y