The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Portugal was the seventh round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Portugal. It was held on 3 June 2012 at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal. The first race was won by Yvan Muller for Chevrolet and the second race was won by Alain Menu, also for Chevrolet.

Background Coming into the event, Yvan Muller was the championship leader on 206 points ahead of Robert Huff on 198 and Menu on 175 points. Pepe Oriola was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

James Thompson and TMS Sport made their last scheduled appearance of the season with the Lada Granta WTCC. Tom Boardman switched to the new SEAT turbocharged engine, having run the TDi engine since Spain.

For the Race of Portugal weekend, Menu would be playing the role of comic book character Michel Vaillant. His Chevrolet Cruze raced in special Vaillante colours and Menu himself wore a special race suit and dyed his hair to look like the French comic book racer.

Report

Free Practice Lukoil Racing Team's Gabriele Tarquini set the pace in the first free practice session, nearly half a second ahead of the Chevrolet of Yvan Muller. Thompson put the TMS Sport Lada in 10th.

It was a Chevrolet 1-2-3 in the second practice session, with Yvan Muller topping the timing pages ahead of Menu and Huff.

Qualifying Tarquini took his second pole position of the season with Yvan Muller second for Chevrolet and Norbert Michelisz third for Zengő Motorsport. The race two reversed grid would see Tuenti Racing Team's Pepe Oriola starting on position with Menu starting second. The session was stopped early on when Tom Chilton suffered a suspension failure, he and his team mate James Nash would form an all Ford back row.

Warm-Up Muller went fastest in Sunday morning's warm-up session ahead of Chevrolet team mates of Huff and Menu.

Race One Muller overtook Tarquini on the outside into turn one to take the lead, while further down the field, Aleksei Dudukalo and Gábor Wéber made contact and ended up in the gravel. Both drivers were able to get back on track and return to the pits. Muller held on to take the win ahead of Tarquini and Huff, with Michelisz the winning independent after coming home in fourth. Menu had climbed up to fifth position while the only remaining non-SEAT engined León of Tiago Monteiro spent much of the race defending his seventh place.

Race Two A near repeat of race one saw the Chevrolet of Menu overtake pole sitter Oriola before the first corner. Further back, Mehdi Bennani made contact with Stefano D'Aste which earned him a suspended grid penalty. Tarquini had been defending from the Chevrolets of Muller and Huff when he took too much kerb, allowing Muller through. Huff and Tarquini made contact, spinning the Italian out of the race while Muller spun at his own accord. ROAL Motorsport's Alberto Cerqui took advantage of Muller's off to take fifth, a position that was later switched on the main straight. Menu took the victory ahead of podium debutant Oriola with Tom Coronel third.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 Points 1 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 1:54.809 1:53.966 5 2 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:54.982 1:54.232 4 3 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.242 1:54.598 3 4 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:54.985 1:54.932 2 5 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:55.430 1:54.982 1 6 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.413 1:55.036 7 27 Gábor Wéber Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.740 1:55.087 8 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 1:55.471 1:55.088 9 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:55.163 1:55.114 10 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.380 1:55.323 11 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 1:55.607 1:55.488 12 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.703 1:55.618 13 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:55.811 14 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:55.842 15 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:55.891 16 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 1:55.892 17 69 James Thompson TMS Sport Lada Granta WTCC 1:55.926 18 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:56.080 19 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:56.260 20 12 Pasquale Di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:56.499 21 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:56.554 22 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:57.117 Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 21:20.620 2 25 2 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 11 +0.336 1 18 3 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 +0.951 4 15 4 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 11 +6.699 3 12 5 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 +13.669 9 10 6 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 11 +17.053 5 8 7 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 11 +20.172 8 6 8 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 11 +20.422 6 4 9 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 11 +21.134 10 2 10 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 11 +21.723 15 1 11 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 11 +22.453 16 12 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 11 +26.142 13 13 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 11 +29.066 14 14 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 11 +29.813 19 15 12 Pasquale Di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 11 +34.752 20 16 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 11 +42.163 22 17 69 James Thompson TMS Sport Lada Granta WTCC 10 +1 Lap 17 18 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 9 +2 Laps 18 Ret 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 7 Collision 21 Ret 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 7 Collision 11 Ret 27 Gábor Wéber Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 4 Collision 7 Ret 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 2 Collision 12 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Michel Vaillant (Alain Menu) Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 21:34.180 2 25 2 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 11 +3.200 1 18 3 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 11 +5.160 6 15 4 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 +6.961 7 12 5 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 +8.280 9 10 6 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 11 +8.626 5 8 7 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 11 +15.007 15 6 8 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 11 +15.874 3 4 9 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 11 +16.264 13 2 10 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 11 +18.128 8 1 11 69 James Thompson TMS Sport Lada Granta WTCC 11 +19.832 21 12 27 Gábor Wéber Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 11 +23.542 4 13 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 11 +28.326 14 14 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 11 +28.581 17 15 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 11 +30.552 20 16 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 11 +50.602 12 17 12 Pasquale Di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 10 +1 Lap 19 18 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 10 +1 Lap 16 19 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 8 +3 Laps 10 Ret 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 7 Set Up 22 Ret 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 3 Collision 11 Ret 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 2 Collision 18 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 245 2 Robert Huff 227 3 Alain Menu 210 4 Tom Coronel 140 5 Gabriele Tarquini 134

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Pepe Oriola 106 2 Norbert Michelisz 96 3 Stefano D'Aste 73 4 Franz Engstler 58 1 5 Alex MacDowall 50

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 578 2 BMW Customer Racing Teams 389 3 SEAT Racing Technology 370

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

References

External links