The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of the United States was the ninth round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the maiden running of the FIA WTCC Race of the United States. It was held on 23 September 2012 at the Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, United States.

Background Coming into the event after the two-month break after Brazil, it was Yvan Muller was leading the championship 17 points ahead of his nearest rival and teammate Robert Huff. Norbert Michelisz was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

In the days leading up to the event, two new drivers were entered. Italian driver Felice Tedeschi was entered by Proteam Racing to drive the BMW 320 TC which had last been raced at Morocco in the hands of Isaac Tutumlu.

Robb Holland became the first American driver to compete in the WTCC when he filled in for the financially troubled Pasquale di Sabatino at bamboo-engineering.

Report

Free Practice Alex MacDowall set the fastest time in Friday's shortened free practice session which saw Proteam debutant Tedeschi roll his car. The accident ruled him out of the rest of the event.

Chevrolet's Yvan Muller set the fastest time in Free Practice 1 with the Ford of Tom Chilton second. Wiechers-Sport driver Stefano D'Aste had an off-track excursion late in the session, covering the track with dust which resulted caught out both Darryl O'Young and MacDowall and brought out the red flag to allow the track to be cleaned. Holland made his way out onto the track in the Chevrolet Cruze for the last five minutes having awaited the arrival of a new FIA approved helmet to arrive.

Lukoil Racing Team's Gabriele Tarquini was the fastest driver in Free Practice 2 ahead of the works Chevrolet of Muller and Tiago Monteiro's SUNRED León. Having been second fastest in the morning session, Chilton was tenth behind teammate James Nash. The fastest BMW was the Zengő Motorsport car of Michelisz in twelfth.

Qualifying Alain Menu secured pole position for Chevrolet's home race with Tarquini second ahead of Muller and Huff. Muller was fastest at the end of the interrupted Q1 session having spent much of the session trading fastest times with SEAT driver Tarquini. Tarquini's teammate, Aleksei Dudukalo brought out the red flag when he beached his car having gone off at turn one. ROAL Motorsport's Tom Coronel missed out on Q2 having spun on his final attempt, both Team AON drivers missed out on Q2 despite having been quick in practice. It had looked like Tarquini would set the fastest time in Q2 with Muller and Huff having failed to beat his time, but Menu took pole position on his final lap at the end of the session.

Warm-Up Muller led a Chevrolet 1-2-3 in the morning warm-up session with Tarquini the fastest non-Chevrolet runner.

Race One The action started on the first lap with Menu defending from Tarquini and forcing the Lukoil Racing driver off the track at the second corner. Further down the field moments later there was a pileup Stefano D'Aste, Darryl O'Young, Tom Chilton, Aleksei Dudukalo, Fernando Monje and Alberto Cerqui which forced the latter three into retirement. At the front, Muller and Huff were able to pass their teammate Menu who was then forced back into the pitlane after slowing with a power steering issue. Tom Coronel and Mehdi Bennani had an eventful couple of laps when the pair collided not once but twice, the second contact forcing the Moroccan into a spin and down the order. Just two laps from the end, Pepe Oriola stalled on the pit straight where his car was protected by waved yellows until the end of the race. Muller took the win ahead of Huff and Michelisz in third.

Race Two The reversed grid race saw D'Aste start from the pole position and he led away from the start. Bennani inherited the lead half way round the first lap when D'Aste spun off leaving three BMWs leading. Muller and Huff overtook Michelisz to take third and fourth while on the following lap, Monje crashed at turn five where his car was left for the rest of the race. The order at the front didn't change until lap four when Bennani spun on his own, handing the lead to Franz Engstler. The stranded Proteam BMW brought out the safety car two laps later, by which time Muller spun Engstler out of the lead for whiche he later earned himself a drive through penalty. The race restarted on lap eight when Coronel, continuing his charge through the field from the back of the grid, took eight place from Tom Boardman. Muller served his penalty on lap nine and Huff inherited the lead, the British driver now had to defend well from the BMW of Michelisz. On the final lap, Charles Ng was black flagged for ignoring an earlier black and orange flag for loose bodywork on his car. Huff took the win with Michelisz second and Tarquini third.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 Points 1 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:46.182 1:45.232 5 2 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 1:45.947 1:45.468 4 3 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:45.556 1:45.539 3 4 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:45.710 1:45.572 2 5 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:46.828 1:46.558 1 6 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:46.939 1:46.578 7 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 1:46.643 1:46.594 8 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:46.842 1:46.761 9 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 1:46.889 1:47.004 10 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 1:46.717 1:47.263 11 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:46.976 1:47.851 12 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:46.976 no time 13 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:47.000 14 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:47.050 15 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:47.149 16 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:47.167 17 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:47.380 18 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:47.434 19 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:47.436 20 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:47.546 21 29 Robb Holland bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:48.179 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 13 23:34.369 3 25 2 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +0.564 4 18 3 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +5.444 5 15 4 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 13 +8.847 2 12 5 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +11.803 6 10 6 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 13 +12.422 7 8 7 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 13 +15.707 8 6 8 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 13 +16.341 20 4 9 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 13 +17.304 10 2 10 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +25.823 19 1 11 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +30.314 9 12 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 13 +34.388 17 13 29 Robb Holland bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +40.092 21 14 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 13 +46.184 16 15 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 13 +47.864 14 16 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 10 +3 Laps 18 17 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 9 +4 Laps 13 18 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 9 +4 Laps 1 NC 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 8 +5 Laps 15 Ret 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 1 Collision 11 Ret 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 0 Collision 12 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 15 29:19.176 7 25 2 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 15 +0.320 6 18 3 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 15 +1.199 9 15 4 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 15 +3.718 10 12 5 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 15 +7.571 18 10 6 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 15 +8.207 4 8 7 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 15 +12.682 5 6 8 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +13.847 17 4 9 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 15 +14.220 1 2 10 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 15 +15.643 3 1 11 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +18.811 21 12 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +21.656 15 13 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 15 +21.997 11 14 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 15 +23.467 8 15 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 15 +24.319 16 16 29 Robb Holland bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 15 +25.184 19 17 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 15 +30.630 20 18 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 15 +41.557 12 Ret 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 3 Collision 2 Ret 88 Fernando Monje Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 1 Collision 14 DSQ 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 15 Disqualified 13 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 315 2 Robert Huff 315 3 Alain Menu 267 4 Gabriele Tarquini 193 5 Tom Coronel 164

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Norbert Michelisz 134 2 Pepe Oriola 109 3 Stefano D'Aste 85 4 Alex MacDowall 79 5 Franz Engstler 68

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 761 2 BMW Customer Racing Teams 486 3 SEAT Racing Technology 472

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

References