The FIA WTCC Race of Spain 2009 was the fifth round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season and the fifth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Spain. It was held on 31 May 2009 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, near Valencia in Spain. The first race was won by Gabriele Tarquini for SEAT Sport and the second race was won by Augusto Farfus for BMW Team Germany.

Background SEAT Sport driver Yvan Muller was leading the drivers' championship coming into the event, BMW driver Farfus was six points behind in second and Gabriele Tarquini was a further five points behind. Franz Engstler was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy with Félix Porteiro second.

Having missed the previous round at Pau due to damage sustained at the Race of Morocco, Vito Postiglione returned to the championship with Scuderia Proteam Motorsport.

After a disappointing performance at Pau, the SEAT León TDIs were given a 0.2 bar increase in boost pressure for the Race of Spain to return the diesels to competitive form.

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Free Practice Yvan Muller set the pace in the opening free practice session, the increase in boost pressure for the TDI engine produced a SEAT 1–2–3 result. Tom Coronel was the leading petrol car, Nicola Larini was the leading Chevrolet car and the heavier BMWs were led by Farfus in ninth.

SEAT stayed on top in the second practice session, this time courtesy of Tiago Monteiro. Farfus was second for BMW and Larini was third for Chevrolet. Jaap van Lagen did not participate in the session, as the engine was changed in his LADA Sport Lada 110 2.0. The session was interrupted with a red flag when Jordi Gené went off the circuit and left gravel on the track.

Qualifying Tarquini set pole position on his final timed lap, to achieve his first pole since the 2007 Race of Germany. SEAT Sport locked out the first two rows of the grid at their home event with Yvan Muller second, Gené third and Monteiro fourth. SEAT driver Rickard Rydell was fastest in Q1 at the head of a 1–2–3 for the marque, while Farfus was the only BMW to escape Q1. All three Chevrolet drivers progressed to Q2 while both LADAs lined up near the back of the grid. With SEAT claiming the first four positions in Q2, Farfus separated them from the leading Chevrolet of Alain Menu. SUNRED Engineering's Tom Coronel was the only independent driver to make it into Q2, and he lined up tenth for the first race.

Warm-Up Rydell was fastest in Sunday morning warm up session with pole sitter Tarquini thirteenth.

Race One Yvan Muller made a good start to take the lead from Tarquini straight away, while Monteiro also passed Tarquini to finish second. Having dropped out in Q1, triple champion Andy Priaulx battled through from fourteenth to fifth while the leading BMW of Farfus had a difficult race amongst the SEATs. He recovered after Gené pushed him wide, he then dropped down to seventh when he was involved in a tangle with Rydell, Menu and Gené but he then climbed up the order to claim fourth. This was helped by Jörg Müller dropping two places at the final corner. Coronel was the independent winner having finished seventh while further down the order, BMW Team Italy-Spain driver Sergio Hernández and Wiechers-Sport's Stefano D'Aste battled over the eighth place which would become pole position for race two, with Hernández coming out victorious.

Race Two The second race saw a 1–2 finish for BMW Team Germany, with Farfus winning and Jörg Müller second. Jörg Müller had started from third and took the lead of the race which he held until the third lap, when Farfus assumed the race lead. The leading pair distanced themselves from the rest of the field which was being led by Tarquini and Priaulx in the battle for the third and final podium spot. Ultimately, it was Tarquini to finish third, to deny BMW a 1–2–3 finish. Coronel started on the front row but could not match the start of the rear-wheel drive BMW of pole sitter Hernández. Coronel finished tenth and Hernández sixth, while D'Aste took the independent win with ninth place.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 1 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.888 1:44.414 2 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.516 1:44.646 3 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.790 1:44.826 4 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.542 1:44.896 5 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:45.638 1:45.080 6 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:45.681 1:45.314 7 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:46.038 1:45.440 8 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.424 1:45.538 9 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:45.854 1:45.702 10 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:45.949 no time set 11 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:46.126 12 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:46.221 13 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:46.250 14 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 1:46.331 15 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:46.426 16 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 1:46.525 17 30 Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:46.615 18 28 Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:46.633 19 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:47.439 20 31 Vito Postiglione Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:47.462 21 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:47.547 22 20 Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:47.901 23 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:48.492 24 19 Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:48.530 107% time: 1:52.823 — 18 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 12:23.222

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 23:13.675 2 10 2 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +1.884 4 8 3 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +4.157 1 6 4 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 13 +5.364 5 5 5 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 13 +5.855 14 4 6 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 13 +5.943 11 3 7 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +8.096 10 2 8 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 13 +12.106 13 1 9 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 13 +13.301 16 10 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +15.846 15 11 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +16.461 9 12 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 13 +22.528 12 13 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +23.038 8 14 30 Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +25.385 17 15 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +26.381 6 16 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +32.002 21 17 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +33.042 19 18 28 Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +33.730 18 19 31 Vito Postiglione Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +34.781 20 20 20 Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 13 +38.341 24 21 18 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 12 +1 Lap 25 22 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 12 +1 Lap 7 Ret 19 Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 7 Engine overheating 23 Ret 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1 Race incident 22 Ret 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 0 Race incident 3 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 13 23:16.075 5 10 2 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 13 +0.540 3 8 3 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +5.426 6 6 4 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 13 +5.884 4 5 5 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 13 +6.676 12 4 6 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 13 +7.178 1 3 7 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +11.169 8 2 8 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +11.569 7 1 9 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 13 +13.052 9 10 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +16.936 2 11 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +17.978 22 12 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +20.965 15 13 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +23.139 11 14 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +23.635 13 15 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +24.470 10 16 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +29.515 16 17 31 Vito Postiglione Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +32.556 19 18 28 Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +33.721 18 19 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +34.859 17 20 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +35.793 23 21 20 Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 13 +36.289 20 22 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +43.503 21 23 30 Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +43.550 14 24 19 Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 13 +46.540 24 Ret 18 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 3 Oil pressure 25 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 57 2 Augusto Farfus 54 3 Gabriele Tarquini 46 2 4 Andy Priaulx 35 1 5 Robert Huff 32

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Tom Coronel 82 1 2 Franz Engstler 80 3 Félix Porteiro 80 4 Stefano D'Aste 44 5 Tom Boardman 28

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 SEAT 136 2 BMW 120 3 Chevrolet 96 4 Lada 35

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

References

External links Results Booklet PDF at MST Systems