Race 1 : Muller keeps his cool in the heat

30.06.13
In the heat of Porto, Yvan Muller took yet another victory – his fifth of the season –to further extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

After qualifying on pole position, Muller took a lights-to-flag win ahead of his RML teammate Tom Chilton, who finished second. The top four was an all-Chevrolet affair, with Michel Nykjaer finishing third and Pepe Oriola fourth. Nykjaer was also the highest-placed finisher in the Yokohama Trophy.

After Tiago Montiero pulled up with turbocharger failure in Free Practice yesterday, Gabriele Tarquini suffered the same fate in the other Castrol Team Honda car. As some comfort for the team, Monteiro - competing in front of a large home crowd - rewarded the fans by recovering from 17th to ninth.
 
Besides Tarquini, several other drivers failed to finish the race. Norbert Michelisz made contact with the wall on the second lap and pulled up, while a bizarre incident on lap 9 saw the BMW of Franz Engstler make contact with the rear of a marshal’s pickup truck that was on its way to recover Tarquini’s car. Fredy Barth then spun while trying to avoid Engstler’s car and the pickup, which brought out the safery car for two laps.