Muller charges to second Monza win

Yvan Muller completed his perfect start to the 2013 World Touring Car Championship by coming through from 10th to win the second race at Monza.

The Frenchman made a rapid start and was fourth by the end of the first lap.

Moves on Michel Nykjaer at Lesmo 2 and then on Marc Basseng around the outside of Curva Grande elevated him to second by the fourth lap, while a mistake by Gabriele Tarquini at Ascari earned him the lead heading into Parabolica one lap later.

Muller rapidly extended that to a comfortable two-second margin, allowing him to manage the gap for the rest of the race.

Nykjaer, Tarquini and Basseng remained locked in a race-long battle for the final two podium spots.

Nykjaer eventually managed to edge clear and claim second in the first event of his NIKA team’s new programme.

Behind him a furious scrap between Tarquini and Basseng was finally settled in the Honda man’s favour, the pair crossing the line separated by just 0.087 seconds.

As they quarelled Tom Chilton, who had fought his way up from ninth on the grid, closed in. The Briton, runner-up in race one, ran out of time and finished half a second down the road in fifth.

Pepe Oriola, who like Chilton had spent much of the race trying to find a way past James Nash, grabbed sixth.

Nash was seventh, but is under investigation from the stewards following his dogged defence.

Tiago Monteiro picked up his second top-10 finish in eighth, just ahead of Stefano D’Aste – who had crashed heavily in the opener – and Rob Huff.

The defending champion had elected to start from the pitlane in order to fix a braking issue on his Munnich SEAT, but still managed to pick his way through the field and round out the top 10.

Muller now leads the championship on 55 points, ahead of RML Chevrolet team-mate Chilton on 38.

Results to follow

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/touring-cars/wtcc/muller-charges-to-second-monza-win

Maurício Gugelmin Dan Gurney Hubert Hahne Mike Hailwood Mika Häkkinen