The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil was the eighth round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the FIA WTCC Race of Brazil. It was held on 22 July 2012 at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba in Pinhais, Brazil. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Yvan Muller winning race one and Robert Huff winning race two.

Background In the break prior to the event, Chevrolet announced they were pulling out of the World Touring Car Championship at the end of the season. This would leave Muller, Huff and Alain Menu without drives for the 2013 season. It was Yvan Muller who was leading the championship coming into Brazil on 245 points ahead of Huff and Menu. Pepe Oriola was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

In the weeks prior to Brazil, Honda also announced their 2013 driver lineup. Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro would join the works team for the following season, with Monteiro also driving for them in the final three events of the 2012 season.

Pasquale di Sabatino, recovering from bronchitis and pneumonia was ruled out of competing by doctors. Michel Nykjær substituted for the Italian driver at bamboo-engineering for the weekend.

Report

Free Practice Muller led a Chevrolet 1–2–3 in free practice one with Tarquini in fourth ahead of the bamboo-engineering Chevrolet duo of Michel Nykjær and Alex MacDowall.

Muller topped the times once again in the second free practice session ahead of both his Chevrolet teammates. Behind them it was the future Honda duo of Tarquini and Monteiro in front of the bamboo-engineering drivers.

Qualifying After leading both free practice sessions, Muller took his third pole position of the season with Menu second and Huff third. Nykjær lined up fourth on his return to the WTCC with Tarquini the leading non-Chevrolet driver in fifth. Norbert Michelisz finished 10th in Q2 to take the reversed grid pole position for race two.

Warm-Up Muller led a Chevrolet 1–2–3–4 in Sunday morning's warm-up session with Tarquini the fastest non-Chevrolet car.

Race One The three Chevrolet cars led from the start and had an easy race with the exception of third placed Huff who had to defend from the SEAT of Tarquini. A coming together on the second lap forced both Monteiro and Alberto Cerqui into retirement. Tarquini finished fourth behind the works Chevrolet cars, led by Muller and ahead of the bamboo-engineering pair of Nykjær and MacDowall. Nykjær celebrated his return to the WTCC as the winning independent driver. Michelisz finished ahead of Oriola in the independents' race which would see him close in the Yokohama Trophy title lead. A last lap coming together between Stefano D'Aste and Franz Engstler for fifteenth landed D'Aste with a 30-second penalty after the race, dropping him to seventeenth.

Race Two Michelisz started on pole position for the second race and he held the lead until half distance when he got passed by Tarquini, Huff, Menu and Muller on the same lap. Huff and Menu were then able to overtake the Italian driver and use him as a buffer between themselves and championship leader Muller. A coming together between ROAL Motorsport's Cerqui and Lukoil Racing Team's Aleksei Dudukalo forced the BMW to crash into the pit wall and retirement. At the flag Huff and Menu formed a Chevrolet 1–2 with Tarquini third and Muller missing out on a podium in fourth. Michelisz finished fifth as the winning independent as Oriola watched on from the pits having retired from the race, his Yokohama Trophy lead lost to the Zengő Motorsport driver.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 Points 1 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:22.824 1:22.289 5 2 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:22.877 1:22.444 4 3 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:23.473 1:22.592 3 4 17 Michel Nykjær bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:23.567 1:22.765 2 5 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 1:23.764 1:22.947 1 6 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:22.726 1:23.086 7 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:23.994 1:23.366 8 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 1:24.212 1:23.500 9 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:23.736 1:23.516 10 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:23.984 1:23.622 11 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:24.065 1:23.630 12 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 1:24.271 1:23.927 13 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:24.293 14 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:24.360 15 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:24.528 16 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:24.601 17 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:24.652 18 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:24.700 19 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:24.902 20 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:24.986 21 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 1:25.121 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 15 22:05.549 1 25 2 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 15 +0.398 2 18 3 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 15 +0.933 3 15 4 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 15 +2.767 5 12 5 17 Michel Nykjær bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 15 +5.656 4 10 6 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 15 +6.639 6 8 7 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +13.850 7 6 8 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 15 +15.552 9 4 9 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 15 +15.721 10 2 10 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 15 +19.896 18 1 11 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +20.552 11 12 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 15 +29.405 12 13 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 15 +31.621 15 14 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 15 +35.093 19 15 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 15 +38.976 17 16 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +46.613 14 17 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 15 +1:01.675 21 18 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 15 +1:05.411 20 19 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +2 Laps 16 NC 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 9 +6 Laps 13 Ret 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 1 Collision 8 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 16 23:49.750 8 25 2 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 16 +1.099 9 18 3 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 16 +1.496 6 15 4 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 16 +1.758 10 12 5 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 16 +4.958 1 10 6 17 Michel Nykjær bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 16 +12.849 7 8 7 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 16 +14.072 2 6 8 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 16 +14.477 12 4 9 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 16 +15.506 3 2 10 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 16 +16.263 11 1 11 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 16 +16.552 5 12 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 16 +19.243 16 13 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 16 +19.785 21 14 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 16 +26.411 18 15 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 16 +30.662 19 16 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 15 +1 Lap 20 17 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +3 Laps 14 Ret 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 8 Collision 13 Ret 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 4 Gearbox 4 Ret 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 2 Collision 15 Ret 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1 Mechanical 17 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 287 2 Robert Huff 270 3 Alain Menu 250 1 4 Gabriele Tarquini 162 1 5 Tom Coronel 150

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Norbert Michelisz 111 1 2 Pepe Oriola 106 3 Stefano D'Aste 75 1 4 Alex MacDowall 63 1 5 Franz Engstler 58

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 673 2 BMW Customer Racing Teams 430 3 SEAT Racing Technology 425

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

References

External links