The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Japan (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC Kenwood Race of Japan) was the tenth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit near Mimasaka, Japan on 31 October 2010. The first race was won by Robert Huff of Chevrolet RML and race two was won by Colin Turkington of Team Aviva-COFCO.

The final results were not released until two weeks later due to an appeal by Chevrolet RML against the use of sequential gearboxes by BMW Team RBM. An FIA investigation found the use of the gearboxes to be illegal and both of the factory BMW drivers were stripped of all points earned at the event, meaning Augusto Farfus was stripped of his race two victory and the win was handed to Turkington. The decision also resulted in Yvan Muller of Chevrolet RML securing his second world drivers' championship, his first with Chevrolet.

Background After the Race of Spain, Muller was leading the drivers' championship with now only Andy Priaulx, Gabriele Tarquini and Huff able to beat him to the title. Sergio Hernández was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

SEAT León Eurocup driver Michaël Rossi made his World Touring Car Championship debut with SR-Sport, replacing regular driver Jordi Gené for event. Liqui Moly Team Engstler added a third car for local driver Yoshihiro Ito, joining Franz Engstler and Andrei Romanov. Wiechers-Sport expanded to two cars to run Masataka Yanagida in addition to full-time driver Mehdi Bennani. Scuderia Proteam Motorsport added Japanese racer Nobuteru Taniguchi and Taiwanese driver Kevin Chen. Turkington and West Surrey Racing returned to the championship, now racing under the Team Aviva–COFCO banner for the final two rounds of the season. Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing returned for their second event of the year with Swedish Touring Car Championship runner–up Robert Dahlgren behind the wheel. Macanese driver Henry Ho joined the grid with the Ho Kun Chei / Sports & You Asia team.

Report

Testing and free practice Huff and Muller led a Chevrolet 1–2 in the test session on Friday with Alain Menu in fourth separated from his teammates by the BMW of Andy Priaulx. bamboo-engineering's Darryl O'Young in eighth was the fastest independent with returnee Dahlgren in ninth.

Farfus topped the first free practice session on Saturday, half a second ahead of Dahlren's Volvo. Menu was the leading Chevrolet in third with Huff fourth and Norbert Michelisz the fastest SEAT in fifth. Kristian Poulsen was the leading independent runner.

SR–Sport driver Tom Coronel was fastest in free practice two with Huff second and Tiago Monteiro third. Engstler was the top independent driver.

Qualifying

Priaulx headed a BMW 1–2 in qualifying with RBM teammate Farfus starting alongside him on the front row. Turkington had set the pace in the first part of qualifying, beating the factory BMW pairing. All the championship contenders made it through to Q2 in addition to Turkington, Farfus, Michelisz, Engstler and debutant Rossi. Dahlgren was among those to drop out in Q1, while the Wiechers–Sport drivers had their times removed for accessing data from their car in parc ferme at the end of the session.

At the end of Q2, Priaulx and Farfus had locked out the front row for BMW Team RBM with Huff the next of the title challengers in third. Turkington ended up fourth on his return to the WTCC ahead of Michelisz and Tarquini. Championship leader Muller was eighth while Rossi and Engstler rounded out the top ten.

Warm-Up Menu was the fastest driver in Sunday morning's warm–up session with Monteiro second and Coronel third, pole sitter Priaulx was fourteenth. Dahlgren was unable to take part as he required an engine change, incurring a ten–place grid drop for race one.

Race One

The race started behind the safety car due to the severe wet conditions, Priaulx led away when the race was started on lap three. Huff passed Farfus immediately to take second place. Monteiro and Engstler slipped off the track at the first corner. Fredy Barth and Poulsen clashed further around the lap, Poulsen spun and took Stefano D'Aste with him. Huff and he eventually passed Priaulx on lap five. Muller was climbing up from eight on grid and made his way up to third place by the end of the race. Farfus had dropped down to fourth and was engaged in a close battle with Tarquini, who on lap six slid into the gravel trap at Williams and returned to the track in eighth place with only minor damage. At the end of the race, Huff was first with Priaulx second and Muller third. Yukinori Taniguchi was the Yokohama Trophy winner in eleventh.

The results of the successful appeal by Chevrolet to the FIA over the use of sequential gearboxes by the BMW Team RBM drivers meant Priaulx and Farfus were later disqualified. This promoted the bamboo–engineering drivers into the points with Yukinori Tanaguchi ending up ninth and O'Young tenth. Michelisz was promoted to third to take the first podium finish of his WTCC career.

Race Two

Michel Nykjær started on pole position for race two and led until lap nine when he slid off the track. Tarquini took over the lead of the race but went straight on at the Hobbs turn two laps later and retired, putting him out of championship contention. Farfus then assumed the lead of the race. His teammate Priaulx had spun into retirement after three laps, Yokohama Trophy leader Hernández did likewise after eleven laps. At the end of the race, Farfus took the win with Turkington holding off Muller to second. Nykjær ended up seventh while O'Young in tenth was the independents' winner.

After Chevrolet's appeal over the use of sequential gearboxes was taken into account and the BMW Team RBM drivers had been disqualified, Farfus lost the win and the victory was handed to Turkington, his first in the WTCC. Muller moved up to second and secured the drivers' championship title while Huff took the final podium position.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 1 11 Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 1:37.623 1:36.972 2 10 Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 1:37.455 1:37.408 3 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:37.690 1:37.441 4 29 Colin Turkington Team Aviva-COFCO BMW 320si 1:37.264 1:37.495 5 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:37.707 1:37.577 6 1 Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:37.725 1:37.727 7 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:37.805 1:37.844 8 6 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:37.767 1:37.913 9 73 Michaël Rossi SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:37.809 1:38.387 10 15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:37.786 1:38.605 11 3 Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:37.904 12 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:37.904 13 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 1:38.056 14 41 Robert Dahlgren Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing Volvo C30 1:38.128 15 24 Kristian Poulsen Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:38.156 16 18 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.171 17 2 Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:38.190 18 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:38.540 19 25 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:38.728 20 72 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 1:38.747 21 16 Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:39.098 22 44 Yoshihiro Ito Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:39.584 23 43 Nobuteru Taniguchi Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:39.891 24 45 Kevin Chen Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:39.997 25 51 Henry Ho Ho Chun Kei / Sports & You Asia BMW 320siY 1:40.681 EX 21 Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY Excluded EX 46 Masataka Yanagida Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY Excluded

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 31:46.668 3 25 2 6 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +4.931 8 18 3 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +9.742 5 15 4 29 Colin Turkington Team Aviva-COFCO BMW 320si 16 +11.310 4 12 5 1 Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +13.876 6 10 6 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +14.901 12 8 7 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +30.022 7 6 8 41 Robert Dahlgren Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing Volvo C30 16 +31.077 24 9 72 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 16 +1:13.148 19 4 10 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 16 +1:15.995 13 2 11 25 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +1:17.546 18 1 12 43 Nobuteru Taniguchi Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +1:17.857 22 13 15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +1:19.035 10 14 2 Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +1:22.055 16 15 24 Kristian Poulsen Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +1:26.602 14 16 21 Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +1:30.373 26 17 46 Masataka Yanagida Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +1:30.957 27 18 51 Henry Ho Ho Chun Kei / Sports & You Asia BMW 320siY 15 +1 Lap 25 19 44 Yoshihiro Ito Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 15 +1 Lap 21 Ret 45 Kevin Chen Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 9 Race incident 23 NC 16 Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 9 +7 Laps 20 Ret 73 Michaël Rossi SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 6 Race incident 9 Ret 3 Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 2 Race incident 11 Ret 18 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 2 Race incident 15 Ret 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 2 Race incident 17 DSQ 11 Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 16 Disqualified 1 DSQ 10 Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 16 Disqualified 2 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 29 Colin Turkington Team Aviva-COFCO BMW 320si 16 33:48.074 3 25 2 6 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +0.724 6 18 3 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +1.822 8 15 4 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 16 +2.826 9 12 5 41 Robert Dahlgren Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing Volvo C30 16 +3.165 10 6 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +4.174 1 10 7 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +5.432 4 8 8 2 Tom Coronel SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +5.901 21 6 9 20 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 16 +7.061 12 4 10 15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +7.613 15 2 11 24 Kristian Poulsen Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +7.806 16 1 12 73 Michaël Rossi SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +8.271 24 13 18 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 16 +9.309 26 14 46 Masataka Yanagida Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +10.628 18 15 16 Andrei Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +10.698 23 16 72 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet LacettiY 16 +13.036 11 17 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +13.679 27 18 43 Nobuteru Taniguchi Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +27.107 14 19 21 Mehdi Bennani Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +31.104 17 20 45 Kevin Chen Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 15 +1 Lap 22 21 51 Henry Ho Ho Chun Kei / Sports & You Asia BMW 320siY 13 +3 Laps 19 Ret 25 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 11 Race incident 13 Ret 1 Gabriele Tarquini SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 10 Race incident 2 Ret 3 Tiago Monteiro SR-Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 10 Race incident 25 Ret 44 Yoshihiro Ito Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 7 Race incident 20 DSQ 10 Augusto Farfus BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 16 Disqualified 5 DSQ 11 Andy Priaulx BMW Team RBM BMW 320si 3 Disqualified 7 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 301 1 2 Gabriele Tarquini 246 1 3 Andy Priaulx 240 4 Robert Huff 236 1 5 Alain Menu 167

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings