Chev heads touring car stakes
2010-03-08 09:18
Author: Peter Burroughes
Old hands Yvan Muller (Chevrolet Cruze) and Gabriele Tarquini (Seat Leon) took the two wins at the opening round of the World Touring Car Championship in Curitiba in Brazil on Sunday and share the lead in the drivers’ standings with 37 points each.
Race one saw a Chevrolet lock-out of the podium with Muller leading home Robert Huff and Alain Menu in a race that started behind the safety car following a torrential downpour. Tarquini was fourth ahead of the leading BMW of Andy Priaulx.
Tarquini and team-mate Jordi Gene gave Seat a 1-2 in race two, which was run in dry and sunny conditions, ahead of Menu, Muller and Huff. Local hero Augusto Farfus was sixth in both races, giving BMW scant reward for a weekend that saw them dominate for all but the two races. He and team-mate Priaulx clashed in race two, eliminating the Englishman from the contest.
Menu is third in the championship with 30 points, ahead of Huff (28) and Gene (24). Chevrolet leads the manufacturers’ standings with 70 points to Seat’s 66 and BMW’s 40.
