2011 World Touring Car Championship

[OverTake.gg]

Yvan Muller and Rob Huff encored their Race 1 result, finishing first and second again in the second race at Donington Park. Chevrolet point men had to recover from their 10[SUP]th[/SUP] and 9[SUP]th[/SUP] positions on the starting grid and were given a big help by the competitors in front of them who were involved in a series of collisions during the first laps. These collisions eliminated Tiago Monteiro and Michel Nykjær and delayed Colin Turkington, Tom Coronel and Javier Villa.

Just like in Portugal, Muller and Huff were also involved in a controversial action that saw the Frenchman hitting the back of his rival’s car and taking advantage for moving ahead. An action that is currently investigated by the Stewards.

Franz Engstler claimed third position (and victory in the Yokohama Trophy), his best result ever in the championship. The German racer managed to stay off the incidents and rejected Coronel’s assaults in the final laps.

Last weekend in Oschersleben Franz Engstler won his first WTCC race on his home event, making himself a belated present for his 50th birthday and also obtaining the first victory for the BMW 1.6-litre turbo engine. At the end of an exciting race, Engstler crossed the line ahead of Alain Menu and Gabriele Tarquini, a podium full of experience that had the better of the young exuberance of Norbert Michelisz who threw a probable victory to the winds by spinning from the lead.

 

[catboy]

track WIP

I'm developing the track
can look here (mypage) http://www.mj-multimedia.net/2011/08/internacional-guangdong-circuit/

but I need good pictures for 3D modeling of buildings in the box and the benches

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Qualification starts now on Eurosport 2! Lets see if they can keep the cars on the track during this session. The grip seems to have completely gone after the rain yesterday

 

[Ivo Simons]

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

First race in 60 minutes.

Dahlgren was fastest this morning during the warmup. Impressive when you realize the guy hasnt driven on this track before. Could be a pleasant surprise today as his car is very light compared to the Chevy's

 

[Trebor901]

its not the first race yet, according to eurosport the first race is live at 1:45pm uk time

 

[Ivo Simons]

Yeah the first race is not Live.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Not live?

 

[Trebor901]

really?! eurosport have it listed as Live FIA WTCC eurosport really are slacking this year on WTCC coverage

 

[Ivo Simons]

I see no Live icon behind the 30 min race.
Or maybe i am wrong. Will see in 30 min.

http://tv.eurosport.nl/tvschedule.shtml

 

[Trebor901]

WTCC is awful now, you have team mates taking chunks out of each other because the team cant keep control on them and i dont think theres one car that hasnt got some sort of damage on it.

 

[Ivo Simons]

Haha Michelisz is such a stupid driver always. Spinning in the last corner
Coronels move was maybe not nice. But Villa started to drive dirty a corner before. One thing i really hate is that stupid tapping on the rear to push someone wide. So Villa got what he deserved.

 

[István Milbich]

Haha Michelisz is such a stupid driver always.

Ivo!
Do not go to Hungary in the next few years.

 

[Ivo Simons]

Haha i know.
But he gets in these situations alot. Where he wants to much.

 

[István Milbich]

Haha i know.
But he gets in these situations alot. Where he wants to much.

His great talent, little experience.
The team is inexperienced, low budget
no opportunity to test out the race weekend.
Have to show up to meet the above, in order to be competitive, so there some fault

 

[Maurice Hurkmans]

Haha Michelisz is such a stupid driver always. Spinning in the last corner
Coronels move was maybe not nice. But Villa started to drive dirty a corner before. One thing i really hate is that stupid tapping on the rear to push someone wide. So Villa got what he deserved.

+ 1. Not so clever of Tommy, but i guess that was the only shot Tom had to regain the lead after the "push to pass" of Villa. Unlucky it did not succeed.....but i was very pleased to see Mr. Villa getting stranded in the gravel

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

What the hell was Tom doing

 

[Robert Wiesenmüller]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree completely.
Villa's move was hard, Coronel's move was brainless.

Coronel is a huge disappointment this year after the good start in Brazil, sadly just like last year. Let's not forget, Villa is in his first season of touring car racing, same car and he was clearly faster. And also the first BMW win was taken by Engstler.
He was so good back with GR Asia, what happened?
Seems like he is everybody's darling and a lot of people complain about Tarquini and Muller. But at least they manage to keep their own position when they make aggressive moves.

 

[Ivo Simons]

You cant say Coronel is disappointing when he is the 4th in the Standings and the first non Factory car after the Chevy's....
That Villa was quicker in Race 2 doesnt mean he is quicker always. Believe he is 11th in the standings with close to 100 points behind Coronel.

I agree the move was not smart but Villa also shouldnt have made those dirty tap moves. I really hate that in WTCC.
And overall Coronel is a very clean driver. This is the first time in a very very long time Coronel was involved in such accident. Where for example the Chevy guys take out eachother out in every race.

 

[OverTake.gg]

Yvan Muller claimed a crucial victory in Valencia’s first race, which enabled him to oust his Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff from the leadership in the Drivers’ Championship.

Huff was forced to recover after being involved in a collision with Monteiro and Menu; the Briton managed to salvage a fifth place, however he now finds himself nine points behind Muller.
Menu and Monteiro are currently under investigation for the incident with Huff.

Gabriele Tarquini risked to upset Chevrolet; the Italian took a great start to jump into the lead at the first corner. However some misfiring problems forced him to slow down and eventually to stop.
Tom Coronel inherited the last spot on the podium, narrowly beating Kristian Poulsen who won the Yokohama Trophy.

The fight for fifth position was extremely exciting, with Huff emerging as the winner, closely followed by Javier Villa, Norbert Michelisz, Tiago Monteiro, Robert Dahlgren and Stefano D’Aste.

Yvan Muller also came on top of the second race of the day, thanks to a series of mistakes made by the BMW drivers.

With only four laps to go Tom Coronel, Javier Villa and Norbert Michelisz looked set to score a BMW 1-2-3, leaving the Chevrolet men out of the podium for the first time in the season.
And suddenly everything changed. Coronel and Villa clashed while fighting for the lead, Michelisz spun at the last corner and this presented Chevrolet another 1-2-3 finish.
A crucial result, because it gave Chevrolet the mathematical certainty of both the 2011 Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ World titles.

Now it’s just a matter of knowing who among Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu will be crowned champion. However, the Frenchman has moved an important step forward taking the lead in the standings.

Just like in the first race Kristian Poulsen won the Yokohama Trophy, and he also had to thank Michelisz for spinning out of the lead on the last lap.

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