 RACE
2
Sardelli did not make the grid following his Race 1 accident. For the second time in a row, Balzan was the pole sitter on the reversed grid, while Jörg Müller, following his exclusion, was pushed to the back and left his fourth spot empty. Molenaar took the start from the pit lane, because the Carly Motors crew couldn’t complete the repairs on his car before the pit lane exit was closed. Tarquini started from the outside of the front row and managed to take the lead from Giovanardi and Priaulx. Balzan almost stalled his engine and collided with Huisman, they both were forced out of the race. On lap 2, Giovanardi overtook Tarquini and managed to jump into the lead for the first time since he drives for BMW. Dirk Müller and García were fighting for fourth place, their cars clashed and the Spaniard went into a 360-degree spin, while Müller dropped to sixth behind Colciago and Gené. However he immediately moved up to fifth again, overtaking Gené. On lap 3 Priaulx stole the second place from Tarquini and closed on Giovanardi. While he was shouldering his way through the field, Jörg Müller collided again with Larini in a fight for the tenth place and was given a drive through penalty. On lap 4 Tarquini went wide in a corner, which enabled Dirk Müller to stick on his car’s tail and finally pass him for third position. On lap 5 Priaulx jumped into the lead overtaking Giovanardi. On lap 6 Rydell broke into the point positions, stealing the eighth place from Ruberti, who was leading the Independents’ race. On lap 7 Jörg Müller came back to the pits and retired as the engine temperature went up. In the final laps, García managed to pass both Rydell and Gené moving up to seventh position. Cayrolle attacked Ruberti for the independents’ lead, they had a clash and finally the Italian was able to score his first win of the season in the privateers class. It was also the first ETCC
victory for Andy Priaulx, who crossed the line ahead of Giovanardi and
Dirk Müller, who were classified second and third with only two tenths
splitting them. It was also the first ETCC win for Bart Mampaey’s RBM team.
Tarquini claimed an important fourth place for the title fight, followed
by his team-mates Larini and Colciago, while García and Gené
earned the points for the seventh and eight places.
From pole position García sprints to take the lead at the start, chased by Dirk Müller, Priaulx, Giovanardi, Jörg Müller, Larini, Tarquini and Huisman. During the first lap Tarquini overtook Huisman for seventh, while Rydell went off the track after a collision and retired, the front right suspension of his Volvo collapsed. Another clash between Ruberti,Cayrolle and Molenaar resulted in the Dutchman out of the race and the Frenchman losing one lap in the pits for repairs. Giovanardi overtook Priaulx and moved to third place, leaving the Briton facing attacks from Jörg Müller. Larini benefitted of the situation and passed both to jump into fourth position. On lap 3, Dirk Müller stole the lead from García, while Jörg Müller overtook Larini for fourth, but the Italian stroke back and recovered his position on the following lap. The fight between them turned to red-hot, when Tarquini stuck on the BMW’s tail. During the fourth lap, Larini and Müller collided, the Italian span and was hit by Tarquini. Both the Alfa cars rejoined the race, but lost several positions. Balzan took advantage from the incident, moving to fifth position, but lost it to Jörg Müller on lap 5 and find himself duelling with Huisman for the leadership in the Independents trophy. On lap 6 Couto and Sardelli collided and pulled out. After he had dropped to tenth position, Tarquini overtook Gené for ninth and Colciago for eighth. On lap 7 Huisman managed to pass Balzan, who also lost seventh position to Tarquini. Dirk Müller scored his second wind of the season, closely followed by García, while Giovanardi managed to maintain his third place by a very narrow margin despite Priaulx’s attack. Jörg Müller, Huisman (first of the independents), Tarquini and Balzan claimed the remaining positions in the points, but after the end of the race the Stewards excluded Jörg Müller for causing the fourth-lap incident. |
