The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Spain (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC DHL Race of Spain) was the ninth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Spain. It was held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia, Spain on 19 September 2010. The two races were won by SR-Sport drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro.

Background Coming into the final European round of the season, Chevrolet RML driver Yvan Muller was leading the drivers' championship and Sergio Hernández was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

Marc Carol joined the field in a SEAT Customers Technology run SEAT León 2.0 TFSI. Carol had last raced in the World Touring Car Championship at the 2005 FIA WTCC Race of Spain. Fabio Fabiani didn't return after the Race of Germany.

Report

Free practice BMW Team RBM's Augusto Farfus was fastest in the opening practice session on Saturday morning, beating the lead Chevrolet of Alain Menu. Gabriele Tarquini was the leading SEAT in fifth while Carol was the quickest independent driver on his return to the WTCC.

SR–Sport's Tom Coronel set the pace in the final practice session, edging out Menu by a tenth of a second. Kristian Poulsen was both the leading independent and BMW driver in seventh.

Qualifying Tarquini took pole position in qualifying for the first race on Sunday, beating the Chevrolet of Robert Huff. Fredy Barth had been the fastest driver in the first element of qualifying, beating the works Chevrolet drivers. Norbert Michelisz suffered an engine failure during Q1, finishing thirteenth while Franz Engstler ended his session in the gravel after setting a time good enough for fourteenth. Andy Priaulx narrowly made it through to Q2, finishing the session tenth at the expense of Michel Nykjær.

Tarquini set his pole time early on while later fast laps from Huff and Muller saw them finish second and third ahead of Menu who was hampered with gearbox problems. Tiago Monteiro and Coronel, who would take a ten place grid penalty for an unscheduled engine change. Jordi Gené, Barth and the works BMW pair of Priaulx and Farfus completed the top ten.

Warm-Up Michelisz led Sunday morning's warm–up session with pole sitter Tarquini half a second behind.

Race One Tarquini led away from pole position while further down, Priaulx moved up from ninth to sixth. Muller easily got ahead of Huff to take second place in opening laps while Barth and Farfus were battling over who would start on the front row for race two. Menu had dropped down the order to claim the reversed grid pole as Barth repeatedly tapped Farfus' rear bumper. The BMW eventually went wide, giving sevenths place to Barth. At the front, Tarquini took the win with Muller second and Huff third. Gené was fourth, Priaulx finished fifth and Monteiro was sixth. Poulsen was twelfth and won the independents' class.

Race Two Menu started on pole position and was followed by Barth, the two were then passed up each side by Monteiro on the outside and Priaulx on the inside. Priaulx and Menu then collided, allowing Monteiro to assume the lead and Barth took second place. Priaulx attempted another move on Menu at turn three but the Chevrolet took the normal line through the corner, the pair collided and Menu spun. Priaulx was delayed but Muller took the opportunity to pass both of them and take third, he then took second from Barth when the Swiss SEAT driver slowed with a puncture. Priaulx was left to battle with Tarquini for third, with Tarquini coming out on top. At the end of the race, Monteiro took the win with Muller second and Tarquini third. Poulsen was the Yokohama Trophy winner.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 1 1 Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:44.727 1:44.111 2 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:44.937 1:44.193 3 6 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:44.922 1:44.258 4 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:44.710 1:44.439 5 3 Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:44.869 1:44.468 6 2 Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:44.789 1:44.525 7 4 Jordi Gené SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:44.897 1:44.773 8 18 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:44.604 1:45.070 9 10 Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 1:44.823 1:45.205 10 11 Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 1:45.313 1:45.416 11 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.339 12 24 Kristian Poulsen Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:45.607 13 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:45.741 14 39 Marc Carol SEAT Customers Technology SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:45.837 15 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 1:46.017 16 25 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:46.116 17 21 Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 1:46.419 18 15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:46.717 19 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:46.783 20 72 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 1:46.997 21 16 Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:47.344

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 23:11.124 1 25 2 6 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +0.513 3 18 3 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +6.318 2 15 4 4 Jordi Gené SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +9.949 6 12 5 11 Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 13 +10.544 9 10 6 3 Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +11.666 5 8 7 18 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +13.734 7 6 8 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +14.521 4 4 9 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +16.586 10 2 10 2 Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +17.217 16 1 11 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +17.929 12 12 24 Kristian Poulsen Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +18.434 11 13 39 Marc Carol SEAT Customers Technology SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +22.095 13 14 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 13 +25.535 14 15 15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +29.318 18 16 16 Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +32.595 21 17 72 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 13 +37.004 20 18 10 Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 13 +1:37.389 8 19 25 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 11 +2 Laps 15 Ret 21 Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 6 Driveshaft 17 Ret 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 4 Race incident 19 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 23:29.770 3 25 2 6 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +0.719 7 18 3 1 Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +3.455 8 15 4 11 Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 13 +3.785 4 12 5 4 Jordi Gené SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +4.183 5 10 6 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +4.982 6 8 7 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +7.248 9 6 8 10 Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 13 +7.825 18 4 9 2 Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +9.024 10 2 10 24 Kristian Poulsen Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +10.125 12 1 11 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +13.356 1 12 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +15.226 11 13 39 Marc Carol SEAT Customers Technology SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +15.789 13 14 15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +15.954 15 15 25 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +18.716 20 16 21 Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 13 +27.455 19 17 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 13 +29.011 14 18 72 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 13 +32.972 17 19 16 Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +33.636 16 Ret 18 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 7 Brakes 2 DNS 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 0 Did not start 21 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 265 2 Andy Priaulx 240 3 Gabriele Tarquini 236 4 Robert Huff 196 2 5 Tiago Monteiro 158

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Sergio Hernández 118 4 2 Kristian Poulsen 87 1 3 Stefano D'Aste 86 1 4 Darryl O'Young 85 5 Franz Engstler 81

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 569 1 2 SEAT Customers Technology 524 1 3 BMW 491

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

References

Results Booklet PDF at MST Systems

External links World Touring Car Championship official website