2010 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil

The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC HSBC Race of Brazil) was a World Touring Car Championship round held at Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba near Curitiba, Brazil on 7 March 2010. It was the opening round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the fifth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Brazil. The two races were won by Yvan Muller of Chevrolet and Gabriele Tarquini of SR-Sport

Brazil 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil
Race details
Date7 March, 2010
LocationCuritiba, Brazil
CourseAutódromo Internacional de Curitiba
3.695 kilometres (2.296 mi)
Race One
Laps 16
Pole position
Driver France Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML
Time 1:23.725
Podium
First France Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML
Second United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet RML
Third Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet RML
Fastest Lap
Driver United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet RML
Time 1:33.904
Race Two
Laps 14
Podium
First Italy Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport
Second Spain Jordi Gené SR-Sport
Third Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet RML
Fastest Lap
Driver Italy Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport
Time 1:25.803

Background

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Reigning manufacturer's champion SEAT withdrew from the series for the 2010 season. Former SEAT Sport drivers Gabriele Tarquini, Tiago Monteiro and Jordi Gené transferred to new team SR-Sport, run by SUNRED Engineering. BMW reduced their team from five cars to two, with Augusto Farfus joining Andy Priaulx at BMW Team RBM. Chevrolet continue to run three cars, with Yvan Muller replacing Nicola Larini in their line-up. Lada were absent from the opening round of the season. Fredy Barth made his WTCC debut for SUNRED, while Harry Vaulkhard and Darryl O'Young made their first appearances with new team bamboo-engineering.

This was also the first round for the new points system introduced in Formula One. The winning driver would score 25 points, with points going down to tenth place. Points would therefore be awarded 25–18–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1.[1]

Report

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Testing and free practice

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BMW Team RBM driver Farfus was fastest in Friday's test session with Chevrolet driver Alain Menu second and Farfus' teammate Priaulx third. Tarquini was the fastest SR–Sport driver in sixth, his teammate Jordi Gené stopped early on with steering problems.[2]

BMW stayed on top in free practice one on Saturday morning, with 1–2 with Farfus first and Priaulx second. Huff was the fastest Chevrolet while newcomer and privateer Norbert Michelisz was the lead SEAT. The session was stopped early when Vaulkhard brought out the red flags with three minutes remaining.[3]

SR–Sport and Tarquini was quickest in free practice two, less than five hundredths of a second ahead of Farfus. Priaulx was third and Muller was fourth in the fastest of the Chevrolets. The leading independent was Franz Engstler while Vaulkhard took to the track near the end of the session after repairs to his car following his practice one crash.[4]

Qualifying

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Chevrolet dominated the first qualifying session of the season. Rob Huff was fastest in Q1 ahead of teammates Alain Menu and Yvan Muller.

Muller set the fastest time in Q2, clinching pole position, while Menu and Huff were third and fourth. SR-Sport's Jordi Gené separated the Chevrolet's by setting the second fastest time. Gabriele Tarquini was fifth, ahead of the BMW's of Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus, which had set the pace in the testing and practice sessions earlier in the weekend.[5]

Warm-Up

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After rain fell overnight, the Sunday morning warm–up session took place on a drying track. Priaulx was fastest while pole sitter Muller was fourth. The session was cut short when Tom Coronel went off the track with two minutes remaining.[6]

Race One

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A torrential downpour shortly before the start of the race led to the first two laps of the race being run behind the safety car. As Muller led the field through the opening corners after they were released, Gené ran wide and lost places to Huff and Menu, before running wide again and dropping to tenth.

Muller led his teammates home for a Chevrolet 1-2-3 on his debut for the team. Reigning champion Tarquini finished fourth, ahead of Andy Priaulx. Augusto Farfus finished sixth after a battle with Tom Coronel that saw the Dutchman drop to eighth behind a recovering Gené. Fredy Barth finished ninth on his world championship debut, after passing Norbert Michelisz on the penultimate lap. Sergio Hernández was top Independent in 13th overall, after starting at the back of the field. He took advantage of contact between class leaders Stefano D'Aste and Darryl O'Young to win.[7]

Race Two

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Tarquini led an SR–Sport 1–2 ahead of Gené. Tarquini had fought off an attack from Priaulx at the first corner, causing the BMW driver to head to the pits for repairs. Gené led the race until lap three until he was passed by Tarquini and the two distanced from the Chevrolet trio of Huff, Menu and Muller. Huff then ran wide and got back on track ahead of Farfus, Huff defended to stay ahead until the finish. Hernández was the winning independent while Priaulx and Coronel were the only two retirements, pole sitter Coronel having retired after contact with Huff on the first lap.[8]

Results

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Name Team Car C Q1 Q2
1 6   Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:23.923 1:23.725
2 4   Jordi Gené SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.157 1:23.757
3 8   Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:23.730 1:23.829
4 7   Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:23.630 1:23.833
5 1   Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.125 1:23.834
6 11   Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 1:24.034 1:23.955
7 10   Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 1:24.006 1:23.981
8 17   Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.516 1:24.161
9 2   Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.558 1:24.325
10 5   Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.019 1:24.926
11 3   Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.562
12 18   Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.983
13 26   Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 1:25.153
14 20   Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti Y 1:25.328
15 21   Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 1:25.486
16 15   Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1:25.547
17 25   Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 1:25.826
18 19   Harry Vaulkhard bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti Y 1:25.841
19 16   Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1:27.567

Race 1

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Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6   Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 26:57.181 1 25
2 7   Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +1.053 4 18
3 8   Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +5.582 3 15
4 1   Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +7.136 5 12
5 11   Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 16 +11.625 6 10
6 10   Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 16 +12.098 7 8
7 4   Jordi Gené SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +14.379 2 6
8 2   Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +14.647 9 4
9 18   Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +18.773 12 2
10 5   Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +20.359 10 1
11 3   Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +21.691 11
12 17   Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +22.645 8
13 25   Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 16 +34.973 19
14 15   Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 16 +38.092 16
15 20   Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti Y 16 +44.692 14
16 19   Harry Vaulkhard bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti Y 16 +50.005 17
17 26   Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 16 +50.742 13
18 21   Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 16 +1:20.825 15
Ret 16   Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 5 Race incident 18
  • Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2

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Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 14 20:13.311 5 25
2 4   Jordi Gené SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 14 +1.276 2 18
3 8   Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 14 +5.407 6 15
4 6   Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 14 +5.985 8 12
5 7   Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 14 +8.295 7 10
6 10   Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 14 +8.596 3 8
7 3   Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 14 +10.419 11 6
8 17   Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 14 +11.808 12 4
9 5   Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 14 +17.576 10 2
10 25   Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 14 +24.244 13 1
11 15   Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 14 +24.643 14
12 21   Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 14 +30.072 18
13 19   Harry Vaulkhard bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti Y 14 +30.923 16
14 26   Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 14 +40.328 17
15 20   Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti Y 14 +40.481 15
16 18   Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 14 +1:09.780 9
Ret 2   Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1 Race incident 1
Ret 11   Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 0 Race incident 4
DNS 16   Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 0 Did not start 19
  • Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

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  1. ^ Meissner, Johan (27 February 2010). "New point system for WTCC". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Farfus tops first test in Brazil". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. ^ Hudson, Neil (6 March 2010). "BMW ahead in Saturday first practice". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  4. ^ English, Steven (6 March 2010). "Tarquini tops final Curitiba practice". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  5. ^ http://www.fiawtcc.com/html/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.1.201036224126.pdf Archived 2010-10-28 at the Wayback Machine Qualifying Report
  6. ^ Hudson, Neil (7 March 2010). "Priaulx tops warm-up at drying Curitiba". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  7. ^ http://www.fiawtcc.com/html/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.1.20103722221.pdf Archived 2010-10-28 at the Wayback Machine Race Report
  8. ^ English, Steven (7 March 2010). "Tarquini wins Curitiba race two". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
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World Touring Car Championship
Previous race:
2009 Guia Race of Macau
2010 World Touring Car Championship season Next race:
2010 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco
Previous race:
2009 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil
FIA WTCC Race of Brazil Next race:
2011 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil