2009 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco

Morocco  2009 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco
Round details
Round 3 of 12 in the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season at Marrakech Street Circuit in Marrakech, Morocco.
Date 3 May, 2009
Location Marrakech, Morocco
Course Marrakech Street Circuit
4.540 km
Race One
Laps 12
Pole position
Driver United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet
Time 1:49.789
Podium
First United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet
Second Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport
Third Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport
Fastest Lap
Driver United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet
Time 1:50.833
Race Two
Laps 13
Podium
First Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet
Second France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport
Third United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet
Fastest Lap
Driver Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet
Time 1:51.017

The 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco (formally the 2009 FIA WTCC HSBC Race of Morocco) was the third round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season. It was held on 3 May 2009 at the Marrakech Street Circuit in Marrakech, Morocco. It was the inaugural running of the FIA WTCC Race of Morocco.

The two races were won by Chevrolet's Robert Huff and Nicola Larini, the former taking the first win for the Chevrolet Cruze in the World Touring Car Championship.

Background

After the previous round in Mexico, Yvan Muller was tied at the top of the drivers' standings with SEAT Sport teammate Rickard Rydell. Félix Porteiro had established a 23 point lead over Tom Coronel in the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

The WTCC saw its first North African driver participate in an event when Mehdi Bennani joined the grid in an Exagon Engineering run SEAT León 2.0 TFSI.[1] Scuderia Proteam Motorsport expanded to three cars for Morocco to run a BMW 320si for Vito Postiglione.[2] Tom Boardman requested a new car which wouldn't have been reading for the Moroccan event so he elected to skip the round and focus on returning for the Race of France.[3]

Report

Testing and free practice

Yvan Muller topped the times as the WTCC cars took to the Marrakech Street Circuit for the first time in Friday's test session. He was closely followed by Chevrolet's Alain Menu and SEAT Sport team mate Rydell.[4]

SEAT Sport stayed on top in free practice one on Saturday morning, forming a SEAT 1–2–3–4–5 with Menu sixth. Coronel in seventh was the fastest independent driver and Jörg Müller in eighth was the fastest factory BMW car, Nicola Larini and Stefano D'Aste rounded out the top ten.[5]

Yvan Muller topped the afternoon session with SEATs filling the top six places. Menu was sixth ahead of Huff and the fastest BMW was that of independent driver Franz Engstler.[5]

Qualifying

Chevrolet's Huff beat practice pace setters SEAT in qualifying to claim pole position, the first for the new Cruze car. Gabriele Tarquini started second and Yvan Muller third. Despite setting the second fastest lap, Menu was demoted to 10th because the Stewards disallowed his Q2 qualifying times after his car did not restart following a mandatory visit to the weighing bay.

In Q1, SEAT had company at the top of the qualifying timesheet in the form of Chevrolet. While Tiago Monteiro initially made claim to pole with a 1:51.086, Menu (1:50.271), Larini (1:50.723) and Huff (1:50.817) stole the top spots. The end of the session saw Andy Priaulx miss his braking point at turn 1 and clash with Hernández who had come off his line to let Zanardi through. Due to the fact he received external aid to restart, Priaulx was not permitted to take part in Q2 and therefore qualified ninth following Menu's penalty. All of the LADA drivers remained out of Q2. Despite not making Q2, Moroccan driver Mehdi Bennani put in a strong performance to qualify 14th overall and second of the Independents.

In Q2, the session ended prematurely for Jörg Müller who suffered a rear left puncture after six minutes. He did not post a competitive qualifying time and lined up eighth for Race 1. The pack was tight and at one point during the session just four tenths of a second split the top six. On the last lap Huff charged to the front with a 1:49.789. Tarquini clocked a 1:50.086 on his last lap to secure a front-row place and Muller's best time was 1:50.156. Muller lined up third followed by Jordi Gené, Larini and Monteiro. Engstler qualified as best Independent and BMW driver in seventh, while Menu's qualifying session ended when he hit the wall at turn 2 on his last lap.[6]

Warm-Up

Yvan Muller topped the warm–up session on Sunday morning with fellow SEAT drivers Gené second, Coronel third, Tarquini fourth and Monteiro fifth. Jörg Müller was the leading BMW while pole sitter Huff was eighth.[7]

Race One

Robert Huff converted his pole into a win for Chevrolet, the first for the new Cruze car in its fifth race. Huff led the field from the start to finish with Gabriele Tarquini behind him the whole way to take second. Jordi Gené overtook Yvan Muller on the penultimate lap to secure third. Farfus' team-mate Jörg Müller was the fastest BMW and his eighth place finish meant pole in Race 2. Fellow BMW driver Alessandro Zanardi retired from the race on lap four.

The safety car was deployed at the end of the first lap after an incident involving Müller, Alain Menu and Rickard Rydell resulted in Rydell being squeezed into the wall at turn two and incurring race-ending damage to his car.

Moroccan driver Mehdi Bennani was best Independent in ninth overall, while Augusto Farfus was challenged hard by Tom Coronel for 12th position, but in the end, Coronel made a mistake at turn 11 on lap 10 and lost the battle.[8]

Race Two

The second race saw Nicola Larini celebrate his first ever WTCC win. Yvan Muller took second place ahead of Race 1 winner Robert Huff. Jörg Müller led until lap eight when he went wide at turn 15 allowing Larini, Muller and Huff through. The BMW Team Germany driver eventually finished fourth ahead of Tarquini, Farfus and Monteiro. Franz Engstler took the final point in eighth as well as the Independent win. Andy Priaulx was in contention for points until lap 11 where he missed the braking point at turn 7 – he retired to the pits on the next lap.

Mehdi Bennani also went straight at the same point on lap 11 but continued to finish 10th and third independent. The safety car was deployed for two laps at the start after Hernández's car was stranded in an unsafe place.

Results

Qualifying

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Q1 Q2
1 11 United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:50.817 1:49.789
2 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:51.033 1:50.086
3 1 France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:50.924 1:50.156
4 4 Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:51.294 1:50.266
5 14 Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:50.723 1:50.372
6 5 Portugal Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:51.086 1:50.770
7 25 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1:51.750 1:51.643
8 7 Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:51.593 2:35.400
9 6 United Kingdom Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 1:51.508 no time set
10 12 Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:50.271 excluded
11 9 Italy Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:51.753
12 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:51.806
13 8 Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:51.945
14 30 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:52.008
15 23 Spain Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 1:52.148
16 21 Netherlands Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:52.271
17 26 Denmark Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 1:52.401
18 28 Croatia Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 1:52.504
19 10 Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:52.622
20 27 Italy Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 1:52.733
21 18 Netherlands Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:53.001
22 19 Russia Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:53.510
23 24 Bulgaria George Tanev Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 1:53.636
24 31 Italy Vito Postiglione Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 1:53.711
25 20 Russia Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:54.046

Race 1

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 11 United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 12 24:04.240 1 10
2 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 12 +1.729 2 8
3 4 Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 12 +5.583 4 6
4 1 France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 12 +7.044 3 5
5 5 Portugal Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 12 +7.410 6 4
6 14 Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 12 +8.577 5 3
7 12 Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 12 +9.043 10 2
8 7 Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 12 +9.839 8 1
9 30 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 12 +10.398 14
10 6 United Kingdom Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 12 +11.011 9
11 25 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 12 +12.857 7
12 8 Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 12 +17.033 13
13 23 Spain Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 12 +27.755 15
14 10 Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 12 +28.287 19
15 28 Croatia Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 12 +31.487 18
16 27 Italy Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 12 +34.793 20
17 19 Russia Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 12 +34.929 22
18 31 Italy Vito Postiglione Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 12 +42.413 24
19 24 Bulgaria George Tanev Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 12 +43.944 23
20 18 Netherlands Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 12 +55.021 21
21 21 Netherlands Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 12 +1:01.896 16
22 20 Russia Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 11 +1 Lap 25
Ret 26 Denmark Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 4 Race incident 17
Ret 9 Italy Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 3 Radiator 11
Ret 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 0 Race incident 12

Race 2

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 14 Italy Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 27:29.960 3 10
2 1 France Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +1.399 5 8
3 11 United Kingdom Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +1.778 8 6
4 7 Germany Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 13 +2.728 1 5
5 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +3.068 7 4
6 8 Brazil Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 13 +3.991 12 3
7 25 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 13 +6.779 11 2
8 21 Netherlands Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 13 +11.084 21 1
9 30 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 13 +15.644 9
10 23 Spain Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 13 +31.913 13
11 19 Russia Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 13 +33.688 17
12 28 Croatia Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSI Y 13 +39.038 15
13 27 Italy Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si Y 12 +1 Lap 16
14 18 Netherlands Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 12 +1 Lap 20
15 6 United Kingdom Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 11 +2 Laps 10
16 12 Switzerland Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 10 +3 Laps 2
17 20 Russia Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 9 +4 Laps 22
Ret 31 Italy Vito Postiglione Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 5 Race incident 18
Ret 26 Denmark Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 0 Race incident 24
Ret 24 Bulgaria George Tanev Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si Y 0 Race incident 19
Ret 10 Spain Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 0 Race incident 14
Ret 4 Spain Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 0 Electrical 6
DNS 9 Italy Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 0 Did not start 25
DNS 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 0 Did not start 23
DSQ 5 Portugal Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 Disqualified 4

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 France Yvan Muller 43
2 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini 31
1 3 Sweden Rickard Rydell 30
1 4 Spain Jordi Gené 24
2 5 Brazil Augusto Farfus 23

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Spain Félix Porteiro 64
1 2 Germany Franz Engstler 51
1 3 Netherlands Tom Coronel 42
4 Italy Stefano D'Aste 25
5 Morocco Mehdi Bennani 17

Manufacturers' Championship standings
Pos Manufacturer Points
1 Spain SEAT 93
2 Germany BMW 64
3 United States Chevrolet 51
4 Russia Lada 24

References

  1. Meissner, Johan (17 March 2009). "Mehdi Bennani joins Exagon at Marrakech". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  2. English, Steven (10 April 2009). "Proteam to run third car in Morocco". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  3. Meissner, Johan (30 April 2009). "Tom Boardman skips Marrakech". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  4. Meissner, Johan (1 May 2009). "Muller ahead of Menu at Marrakech". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  5. 1 2 English, Steven (2 May 2009). "SEAT dominates Marrakech practice". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  6. http://www.fiawtcc.com/2009/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.3.200952223750.pdf Qualifying Report
  7. Casillo, Pietro (3 May 2009). "SEAT back on top in the warm up". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  8. http://www.fiawtcc.com/2009/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.3.200953195029.pdf Race Report

External links

World Touring Car Championship
Previous race:
2009 FIA WTCC Race of Mexico
2009 World Touring Car Championship season Next race:
2009 FIA WTCC Race of France
Previous race:
none
FIA WTCC Race of Morocco Next race:
2010 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco
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