» WTCC: Nash claims breakthough win!

James Nash has secured his – and the Bamboo Engineering team’s – first ever World Touring Car Championship win in today’s second race at the Salzburgring, keeping points leader Yvan Muller at bay in another exciting twelve-lap race at the Austrian circuit.

Having narrowly missed out on a win in a race-long battle with Michel Nykjær in today’s opening race, Nash was a picture of determination in Race 2.

But is almost went pear-shaped as soon as the lights went out at the standing start, failing to convert his pole position into the lead when he was overtaken on the run into Turn 1 by Norbert Michelisz’s Zengõ Motorsport Honda.

He kept his cool, and used the Chevrolet’s superior top speed along the back straight to blast by the Hungarian and retake the lead, which he held on to for the rest of the race.

Behind him, Michelisz led the other Honda runners Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini, but Tarquini wasn’t as well hooked up as his fellow Civic racers and fell down the order to finish eighth.

Defending WTCC title-holder Rob Huff made a terrific start, but he was one of several drivers to fall victim to the customary Chevrolet charge – led again by Nykjær and Yvan Muller – and was quickly overhauled by the rapid Chevrolet pair.

As he managed in Race 1, Muller once again tore through the field. He passed Nykjær for fifth place on the fourth lap and blasted by Pepe Oriola for fourth a lap later with another clinical move at the end of the back straight.

On the eighth lap, he eased ahead of Monteiro for the final spot on the podium, and then claimed second place from Michelisz on the penultimate lap.

Ultimately, he didn’t have enough laps in the bag to challenge Nash for the lead and the win, but few would begrudge the 27-year-old his triumph.

For the first time in WTCC history, Independent Trophy drivers had claimed the top step of the podium in each race, underlining the improved competitiveness of the privateer runners in this year’s field.

For Muller, a double-podium and a low-scoring weekend for his main title rival Tarquini was reward enough: the Frenchman extended his championship lead to a hefty 80 points over the Italian, while Nash’s bumper points haul moved him into third place overall.

2013 FIA WTCC Race of Austria – Race 2 Final Classification (12 laps):

	Driver	Team	Result	YIT
1.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	17:36.853	Y
2.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 1.438
3.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 1.818
4.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 3.483
5.	Michel Nykjær	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 4.064	Y
6.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 4.574	Y
7.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 7.898	Y
8.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 9.025
9.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 9.483
10.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 9.859
11.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 13.627
12.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	+ 14.145
13.	Fredy Barth	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	+ 14.556	Y
14.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 14.857	Y
15.	Mikhail Kozlowskiy	LADA Sport Granta	+ 15.155
16.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 16.223	Y
17.	Fernando Monje	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 27.497	Y
18.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 41.749	Y
19.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 46.282	Y
	Not Classified		Result
NC.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	6 laps
DNS.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC		Y
DNS.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC		Y
DNS.	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC		Y