2009 FIA WTCC Race of France

France  2009 FIA WTCC Race of France
Round details
Round 4 of 12 in the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season at Circuit de Pau in Pau, France.
Date 17 May, 2009
Location Pau, France
Course Circuit de Pau
2.769 km
Race One
Laps 19
Pole position
Driver Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany
Time 1:22.473
Podium
First United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet
Second Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany
Third Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany
Fastest Lap
Driver Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain
Time 1:24.005
Race Two
Laps 18
Podium
First Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet
Second Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany
Third United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet
Fastest Lap
Driver Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany
Time 1:23.448

The 2009 FIA WTCC Race of France was the fourth round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season and the fifth running of the FIA WTCC Race of France. It was held on 17 May 2009 at the temporary Circuit de Pau street circuit in Pau, France. It was the headline event of the 2009 Pau Grand Prix. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Robert Huff winning race one and Alain Menu winning race two. The second race was notable for a collision between race leader Franz Engstler and the safety car at the end of the first lap.

Background

Yvan Muller had established an outright lead in the drivers' championship after the previous round in Morocco, twelve points clear of SEAT Sport team mate Gabriele Tarquini. Félix Porteiro was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

SUNRED Engineering expanded to three cars for the Pau event, Tom Coronel was joined by Tom Boardman who returned after missing the previous round and former European Touring Car Championship driver Éric Cayrolle.[1] With both George Tanev and Vito Postiglione being forced to miss the round, Scuderia Proteam Motorsport ran just one car for independents' championship leader Porteiro.[2] Local French GT Championship regular Laurent Cazenave joined Wiechers-Sport for the weekend alongside full-time driver Stefano D'Aste.[3]

Report

Free practice

Jörg Müller was fastest in the first practice session, Augusto Farfus was second and Yvan Muller was third. Alain Menu was the fastest Chevrolet driver in sixth. The petrol SEAT cars were mainly faster than the SEAT Sport run diesel cars. Marin Čolak, Coronel and Boardman finished the session seventh, eighth and ninth ahead of Jordi Gené, Tiago Monteiro and Rickard Rydell.[4]

BMW were quickest once again in free practice two, Andy Priaulx was quickest for BMW Team UK. He was ahead of morning pacesetters Müller and Farfus while Coronel in fourth was the fastest independent. Menu was fifth for Chevrolet and the fastest factory SEAT was Rydell fourteenth, one place behind the Lada of Jaap van Lagen.[5]

Qualifying

Priaulx claimed his first pole position since the 2006 Guia Race of Macau. The BMW Team UK man was among the front runners during both practice sessions and qualifying and put in a time of 1:22.462 in Q2. He demoted BMW team-mate Farfus by just 11 thousandths of a second. Coronel defied odds in taking part in Q2 after the front of his car was severely damaged in Q1. However, attention from his team and he lined up in third place.

While it was a BMW at the top of the timesheet for the majority of the Q1, on the last lap Huff and Chevrolet stormed through with a 1:22.900 stealing the quickest time away from Priaulx by 0.042 of a second. Jörg Müller (1:22.960) and Farfus (1:23.201) went into Q2 as third and fourth best. Coronel was sitting fifth at the end of Q1. However, at this time his team was repairing his car for Q2 after he incurred damage with seven minutes remaining. Leading man Huff’s team-mates Larini and Menu both made the cut after claiming the sixth and seventh best times. Independent drivers Porteiro and Engstler along with Sergio Hernández made up the top ten, narrowly denying Alessandro Zanardi and D’Aste progression into Q2. All the five SEAT Sport turbodiesel cars remained out of the Q2 for the first time.

In Q2, Coronel was the man to beat for the opening half of the session after he clocked a 1:22.917. However, Farfus knocked the Dutchman off provisional pole by a sturdy four tenths of a second. The Brazilian’s time of 1:22.473 seemed good enough to set him up at the front for Race 1 until Priaulx bettered it by just 0.011 seconds. Coronel’s time secured third place on the gird alongside Jörg Müller. A trio of Chevrolets followed from fifth to seventh; Huff (1:23.097), Menu (1:23.128) and Larini (1:23.282).[6]

Warm-Up

Pole sitter Farfus was fastest in the warm–up session on Sunday morning with Jörg Müller second and Priaulx third.

Race One

Huff took his second win in three races for Chevrolet. The Briton got a great start from third and overtook Farfus who hit some oil and went wide at Pont Oscar on lap 2. Huff led the pack for the remaining 17 laps with Farfus and Jörg Müller having to settle for second and third despite applying constant pressure on the front man. Perseverance paid out for Priaulx who crossed the line fourth, having passed Menu on lap 12.

Spaniard Hernández made good progress in the second half of the race to secure fifth place overall with fellow countryman Porteiro winning the independent category in sixth overall, however he was eventually excluded by the stewards for hitting Coronel. Engstler inherited the independents’ victory and sixth place, while Menu came home eighth to start race two on pole.[7]

Race Two

Chevrolet achieved their fourth consecutive win and this time it was Menu on the top podium spot. He was joined by team-mate Huff who crossed the line third and Farfus from BMW Team Germany took second place just as in race one. The race was suspended when Engstler collided with the safety car. During the first lap Porteiro hit Hernández with the later not being able to rejoin. Porteiro was given a drive-through penalty.

Jörg Müller and Priaulx also made contact with each other in lap one. While Priaulx continued and crossed the line fourth, Müller received a drive-through penalty for pitting during the suspension of the race and finished 18th. Zanardi stormed through the pack to achieve fifth place and SEAT Sport men Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller scored points in sixth and seventh. The race ended under the red flags with one lap remaining after Cayrolle and Larini, who were battling for eighth spot, were involved in a collision.

Results

Qualifying

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Q1 Q2
1 8 Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:23.201 1:22.473
2 7 Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:22.960 1:23:051
3 25 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1:23.625 1:24.442
41 11 United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:22.900 excluded
51 6 United Kingdom Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 1:22:942 excluded
61 21 Netherlands Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:23.375 excluded
71 14 Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:23.425 excluded
81 12 Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:23.516 excluded
91 23 Spain Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 1:23.577 excluded
101 10 Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:23.768 excluded
11 9 Italy Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:23.806
12 28 Croatia Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:23.815
13 30 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:23.929
14 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.118
152 27 Italy Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 1:24.196
16 4 Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.284
17 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.506
18 33 France Laurent Cazenave Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 1:24.621
19 29 France Éric Cayrolle SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:24.742
20 5 Portugal Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.874
213 1 France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:24.894
22 18 Netherlands Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:24.925
23 26 Denmark Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1:25.280
24 22 United Kingdom Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:25.299
25 19 Russia Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:25.457
26 20 Russia Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:26.054
^1 Robert Huff, Andy Priaulx, Tom Coronel, Nicola Larini, Alain Menu, Félix Porteiro and Sergio Hernández had all their times in Q2 deleted for exceeding the engine rev limit on their cars.[8]
^2 Stefano D'Aste had his four fastest lap times in Q1 deleted for exceeding the engine rev limit on his car.[8]
^3 Yvan Muller had his fastest lap time in Q1 deleted for exceeding the engine rev limit and the maximum supercharged air pressure on his car.[8]

Race 1

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 11 United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 19 27:10.540 4 10
2 8 Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 19 +0.261 1 8
3 7 Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 19 +0.892 2 6
4 6 United Kingdom Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 19 +1.105 5 5
5 10 Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 19 +1.943 10 4
6 25 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 19 +9.544 3 3
7 12 Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 19 +9.550 8 2
8 21 Netherlands Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 19 +11.050 6 1
9 22 United Kingdom Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 19 +23.983 22
10 29 France Éric Cayrolle SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 19 +31.504 17
11 1 France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 19 +32.037 19
12 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 19 +32.485 15
13 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 19 +33.322 14
14 5 Portugal Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 19 +34.067 18
15 26 Denmark Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 19 +34.823 21
16 4 Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 19 +36.815 25
17 20 Russia Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 19 +54.020 26
18 30 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 19 +54.870 13
19 28 Croatia Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 18 +1 Lap 12
Ret 18 Netherlands Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 13 Power steering 20
Ret 27 Italy Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 12 Race incident 24
NC 9 Italy Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 12 +7 Laps 11
Ret 33 France Laurent Cazenave Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 4 Clutch 16
NC 14 Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 2 +17 Laps 7
Ret 19 Russia Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 0 Race incident 23
DSQ 23 Spain Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 19 Disqualified 9

Race 2

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 18 52:22.260 1 10
2 8 Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 18 +0.351 7 8
3 11 United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 18 +3.066 8 6
4 6 United Kingdom Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 18 +3.325 5 5
5 9 Italy Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 18 +16.153 20 4
6 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 18 +17.728 12 3
7 1 France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 18 +19.686 11 2
8 29 France Éric Cayrolle SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 18 +22.425 10 1
9 14 Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 18 +22.581 21
10 26 Denmark Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 18 +23.297 15
11 5 Portugal Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 18 +28.247 14
12 4 Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 18 +29.778 16
13 18 Netherlands Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 18 +34.095 24
14 33 France Laurent Cazenave Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 18 +38.990 23
15 20 Russia Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 18 +44.402 17
16 28 Croatia Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 18 +52.439 19
17 23 Spain Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 17 +1 Lap 3
18 7 Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 17 +1 Lap 6
19 21 Netherlands Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 15 +3 Laps 26
Ret 30 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 11 Race incident 18
Ret 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 10 Race incident 13
Ret 19 Russia Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 9 Driveshaft 25
Ret 25 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1 Race incident 2
Ret 22 United Kingdom Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1 Race incident 9
Ret 10 Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 0 Race incident 4
DNS 27 Italy Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 0 Did not start 22

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 France Yvan Muller 45
3 2 Brazil Augusto Farfus 39
1 3 Italy Gabriele Tarquini 34
2 4 United Kingdom Robert Huff 32
2 5 Sweden Rickard Rydell 30

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings
Pos Driver Points
1 1 Germany Franz Engstler 71
1 2 Spain Félix Porteiro 68
3 Netherlands Tom Coronel 56
4 Italy Stefano D'Aste 25
1 5 United Kingdom Tom Boardman 23

Manufacturers' Championship standings
Pos Manufacturer Points
1 Spain SEAT 107
2 Germany BMW 91
3 United States Chevrolet 82
4 Russia Lada 29

References

  1. "SUNRED adds third car for Pau". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 11 May 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  2. "Proteam down to one for Pau". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 14 May 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. Meissner, Johan (6 May 2009). "Laurent Cazenave joins Wiechers Sport". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  4. English, Steven (16 May 2009). "Jorg Muller fastest in first Pau practice". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  5. English, Steven (16 May 2009). "Priaulx leads final practice at Pau". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  6. http://www.fiawtcc.com/2009/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.4.200951795641.pdf Qualifying Report
  7. http://www.fiawtcc.com/2009/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.4.2009517225639.pdf Race Report
  8. 1 2 3 "ROUNDS 7 & 8 – PAU, FRANCE QUALIFYING UPDATE" (PDF). fiawtcc.com (Eurosport). 17 May 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2013.

External links

World Touring Car Championship
Previous race:
2009 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco
2009 World Touring Car Championship season Next race:
2009 FIA WTCC Race of Spain
Previous race:
2008 FIA WTCC Race of France
FIA WTCC Race of France Next race:
2014 FIA WTCC Race of France
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