The 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Mexico (formally the 2009 FIA WTCC HSBC Race of Mexico) was the second round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season. It was held on 22 March 2009 at the Autódromo Miguel E. Abed near Puebla, Mexico. It was the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Mexico.
The two races were won by SEAT Sport's Rickard Rydell and Yvan Muller.
Background After the first round of the year in Brazil, defending champion Yvan Muller was tied on points with SEAT Sport teammate Gabriele Tarquini at the top of the drivers' championship. Scuderia Proteam Motorsport's Félix Porteiro was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.
Report
Testing and free practice The test session on Friday saw joint championship leader Yvan Muller go fastest. BMW drivers Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx set the pace early on before SEAT drivers Rickard Rydell and Tarquini went quicker. With a minute before the end of the session, Muller set the fastest time. Porteiro was the fastest independent driver in sixth while none of the Chevrolet drivers got into the top ten with Nicola Larini the fastest of the trio in twelfth.
Rydell led the opening free practice session on Saturday morning, the first of a SEAT 1–2–3–4. Farfus was the fastest BMW in fifth and Larini was the fastest Chevrolet down in thirteenth. Robert Huff was unable to set a time due to an oil leak on his Chevrolet Cruze.
The second free practice session saw Rydell go quickest once again. The BMWs of Farfus and Jörg Müller were second and third ahead of the SEAT Sport pair of Yvan Muller and Tarquini. The final two factory SEATs were Tiago Monteiro and Jordi Gené were eighth and thirteenth respectively.
Qualifying Augusto Farfus, Andy Priaulx and BMW pushed to the limit and interrupted SEAT’s domination that lasted since the test session in Curitiba. Farfus won pole position, posting the fastest time of the session with a lap of 1:37.981, the first driver to break the 1:38 wall so far. He beat Priaulx by only 0.045 seconds, while Gabriele Tarquini saved SEAT’s honour claiming third position with a one-tenth gap. BMW and SEAT cars equally shared the ten positions giving access to Q2. Although they sat in the pits until halfway through the session, all five SEAT Sport drivers managed to make the top-ten, with Gabriele Tarquini in second with a gap of 0.065 seconds after having clocked a provisional fastest lap at 1:38.047.
Félix Porteiro topped the Independents again and also managed to advance to Q2 setting the 10th fastest lap at 1:38.972. Chevrolet and LADA drivers remained all out of Q2; Nicola Larini missed the top-ten by 18 thousandths of a second, while Jaap van Lagen’s session ended prematurely because of an engine leak. In Q2, Yvan Muller was the first to post a quick lap at 1:37.924, but the reigning world champion was immediately ousted by Farfus with the time of 1:37.682. Jordi Gené, Félix Porteiro, Sergio Hernández and Andy Priaulx were the last to join the session. In the dying seconds Priaulx managed to jump into second with a lap of 1:37.727, a time which resisted to Tarquini’s last attempt that was worth third place (1:37.793). Porteiro completed a lap of 1:38.525 that gave him a brilliant eighth position on the grid for Race 1.http://www.fiawtcc.com/2009/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.2.20093226381.pdf Qualifying Report
Warm-Up Pole sitter Farfus topped the times in Sunday morning's warm–up session, ahead of Priaulx and Rydell.
Race One Rickard Rydell forced his way through the BMW front row to claim SEAT’s third consecutive victory in three rounds. Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx put a lot of pressure on the Swedish driver and eventually settled in second and third respectively, the first podium results for BMW in the season so far. While SEAT and BMW men were fighting for the top positions, Nicola Larini managed to defend his eighth place, scoring the first point for the new Chevrolet Cruze. Félix Porteiro won the Independents’ class once again, recovering from the 14th position where he had fallen after being involved in a collision at the start.http://www.fiawtcc.com/2009/uploadedFiles/PDF/RP.2.20093232255.pdf Race Report
Race Two The second race was another SEAT vs BMW fight. The reigning world champion Yvan Muller claimed his second victory of the season as he managed to keep at bay the former world champion Andy Priaulx. Jordi Gené took the lead at the start, but then, in a breathtaking succession of overtaking manoeuvres, Jörg Müller, Tarquini, Yvan Muller, Priaulx, Rydell and Farfus overturned the order completely. Müller and Tarquini however, had to leave the company after they clashed on lap 6 and slipped down. All the three Chevrolet cars completed the race, with Larini’s in tenth position, and so did the LADA cars, with Jaap van Lagen’s in 17th. Porteiro claimed a fourth consecutive win in the Independents’ trophy.
Results
Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 1 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:37.981 1:37.682 2 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 1:38.230 1:37.727 3 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.047 1:37.793 4 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.411 1:37.874 5 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.386 1:37.924 6 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.698 1:38.213 7 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:38.375 1:38.287 8 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:38.872 1:38.525 9 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.250 1:38.749 10 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:38.434 1:38.952 11 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:38.890 12 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:39.174 13 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:39.294 14 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:39.400 15 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:39.551 16 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 1:39.745 17 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:40.296 18 28 Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:40.346 19 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:40.436 20 24 George Tanev Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:40.795 21 20 Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:41.249 22 19 Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:41.611 23 18 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 1:42.089 EX 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY Excluded
— Kristian Poulsen had his qualifying times deleted after failing to stop at the weighing point after the session.
Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 26:40.728 4 10 2 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 16 +1.508 1 8 3 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 16 +1.986 2 6 4 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +4.620 5 5 5 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 16 +5.717 7 4 6 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +9.473 3 3 7 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +19.399 9 2 8 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +22.794 11 1 9 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 16 +24.725 10 10 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +25.990 8 11 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +28.400 6 12 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +30.289 16 13 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 16 +33.765 12 14 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +33.952 17 15 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 16 +34.302 15 16 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 16 +45.954 19 17 18 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 16 +46.557 23 18 19 Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 16 +57.945 22 19 20 Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 13 +3 Laps 21 Ret 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 11 Suspension 14 NC 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 6 +10 Laps 13 Ret 28 Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 0 Race incident 18 Ret 24 George Tanev Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 0 Mechanical 20 Ret 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 0 Race incident 24 Bold denotes Fastest lap.
Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 26:41.014 5 10 2 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 16 +0.459 6 8 3 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +1.240 8 6 4 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 16 +1.973 7 5 5 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 16 +5.819 9 4 6 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 16 +6.281 13 3 7 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +11.755 2 2 8 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +12.189 3 1 9 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +15.513 10 10 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +16.593 1 11 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +21.037 14 12 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +22.795 21 13 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 16 +22.987 4 14 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +23.644 20 15 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 16 +24.218 15 16 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +25.331 12 17 18 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 16 +39.330 17 18 24 George Tanev Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +39.790 23 19 20 Viktor Shapovalov LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 16 +44.302 19 20 19 Kirill Ladygin LADA Sport LADA 110 2.0 16 +48.976 18 21 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 14 +2 Laps 16 22 28 Marin Čolak Čolak Racing Team Ingra SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 12 +4 Laps 22 Ret 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 7 Race incident 24 Ret 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 0 Race incident 11 Bold denotes Fastest lap.
Standings after the event
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 30 2 2 Rickard Rydell 30 2 3 Augusto Farfus 20 2 4 Gabriele Tarquini 19 2 5 Jordi Gené 18
Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Félix Porteiro 53 2 Tom Coronel 30 3 Franz Engstler 25 3 4 Stefano D'Aste 18 1 5 Tom Boardman 17
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 SEAT 67 2 BMW 49 1 3 Chevrolet 10 1 4 Lada 9
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.
References
External links Results Booklet PDF at MST Systems