The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the third round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the FIA WTCC Race of Italy. It was held on 15 May 2011 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy.

Both races were won by Robert Huff of Chevrolet RML. Kristian Poulsen claimed his maiden WTCC podium finish in race two when he finished third.

Background After the previous round in Belgium, Huff was leading the drivers' championship by one point over Chevrolet team mate Alain Menu. Poulsen was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

Turkish driver Ibrahim Okyay returned to championship driving a Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport run naturally aspirated BMW 320si, having last competed in the 2008 season.

Report

Testing and free practice Yvan Muller set the pace in Thursday's opening test session, beating the BMWs of Poulsen and Tom Coronel. SUNRED Engineering did not take part in the session having run their own private test the previous day.

Huff topped the opening free practice session on Saturday morning, a tenth quicker than the SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini. Franz Engstler ended up in the gravel trap at the parabolica during the session.

Muller led a Chevrolet 1–2–3–4 in the final free practice session, leading Huff, Menu and the independent Chevrolet Cruze of Darryl O'Young. Marchy Lee lost control of his DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TC at Lesmo and collided with the barriers, while Mehdi Bennani spun himself into the gravel at the same corner.

Qualifying Huff continued his dominance of qualifying in 2011 to take his third pole position of the season, edging out team–mates Muller and Menu to lead a Chevrolet 1–2–3. Huff set his best lap in Q1 after the checkered flag fell, putting him ninth and into the second session. Tiago Monteiro was tenth in Q1 to take pole position for race two.

Muller set the pace at the start of Q2 but Huff went quickest on his first flying lap. Behind the Chevrolet trio, Michelisz lined up fourth alongside Menu on the second row as the leading independent driver. Monteiro, O'Young, Poulsen, Coronel, Bennani and Tarquini completed the top ten. Tarquini was taken to the medical centre for checks after the session when the left window in his car shattered.

Warm-Up Warm–up took place on a damp track on Sunday morning, pole sitter Huff set the fastest time. Some drivers found the conditions tricky and took the first corner escape road, while Monteiro was called to the stewards' office for cutting a corner in sector three on his best lap.

Race One Huff had led from pole position and was followed by Muller and Menu. A gap left by Muller towards the end of the first lap allowed Menu to take second place and the Swiss driver then set about catching the leader. Later on in the race, Muller was catching Menu and on the last lap the pair collided. Muller tagged Menu's car sending the second placed car into one of the barriers on the final lap. This left the last podium position open, Michelisz was running third but Monteiro got a better run through the last corner and by the line, Monteiro came out three–hundredths of a second ahead. Huff, Muller and Monteiro filled the podium places with Michelisz fourth as the winning independent and Coronel fifth. Yokohama Trophy leader Poulsen was sixth. The Lukoil-SUNRED pair of Tarquini and Aleksei Dudukalo were the only retirements.

Race Two Monteiro started on the reversed grid pole but race one winner Huff passed him at the start to lead into the first corner. He was followed by Muller, who later bumped into the rear of Huff's car under braking for the Parabolica. The contact meant Huff got out of shape but stayed on track. Muller was shown the bad sportsmanship flag after the incident. Huff and Muller made it a Chevrolet 1–2 for both races and Poulsen took third and his first podium finish in the WTCC, Coronel had been in contention for the position until he slowed with a delaminated tyre. Monteiro ended up fourth and Menu was fifth having started the race from the back. Coronel ended the race fifteenth.

After the race, Muller was given a ten–place grid penalty, suspended for two rounds for causing the collision with Huff.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 1 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 2:00.515 1:59.034 2 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 2:00.382 1:59.131 3 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 2:00.279 1:59.433 4 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team BMW 320 TCY 1:59.961 1:59.458 5 18 Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 2:00.549 1:59.574 6 9 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 2:00.030 1:59.866 7 11 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 2:00.005 2:00.010 8 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:59.907 2:00.244 9 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 2:00.287 2:00.930 10 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 2:00.511 2:01.073 11 20 Javier Villa Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 2:00.803 12 74 Pepe Oriola SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 2:00.861 13 12 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 2:00.912 14 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 2:00.971 15 10 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 2:01.534 16 30 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Racing Volvo C30 2:01.823 17 7 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 2:02.008 18 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 2:02.009 19 65 Marchy Lee DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 2:04.088 20 35 Urs Sonderegger Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 2:04.682 21 13 Ibrahim Okyay Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320siY 2:04.790 22 21 Fabio Fabiani Proteam Racing BMW 320siY 2:08.789

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 9 18:07.398 1 25 2 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 9 +1.291 2 18 3 18 Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 9 +4.239 5 15 4 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team BMW 320 TCY 9 +4.269 4 12 5 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 9 +4.499 8 10 6 11 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 9 +5.509 7 8 7 9 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 9 +10.506 6 6 8 20 Javier Villa Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 9 +10.798 11 4 9 12 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 9 +11.492 13 2 10 7 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 9 +15.366 17 1 11 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 9 +18.439 9 12 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 9 +18.873 14 13 10 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 9 +19.286 15 14 74 Pepe Oriola SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 9 +20.070 12 15 30 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Racing Volvo C30 9 +30.709 16 16 13 Ibrahim Okyay Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320siY 9 +58.046 21 17 35 Urs Sonderegger Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 9 +59.018 20 18 21 Fabio Fabiani Proteam Racing BMW 320siY 9 +1:25.422 22 19 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 8 +1 Lap 3 20 65 Marchy Lee DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 8 +1 Lap 19 Ret 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 5 Race incident 10 Ret 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 2 Race incident 18 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 9 18:10.032 2 25 2 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 9 +0.242 4 18 3 11 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 9 +3.559 8 15 4 18 Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDI 9 +6.211 1 12 5 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 9 +8.896 6 10 6 9 Darryl O'Young bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 9 +10.089 7 8 7 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő-Dension Team BMW 320 TCY 9 +10.780 9 6 8 20 Javier Villa Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 9 +11.054 11 4 9 12 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 9 +11.056 13 2 10 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI 9 +12.800 3 1 11 10 Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 9 +19.420 15 12 74 Pepe Oriola SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 9 +21.519 12 13 30 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Racing Volvo C30 9 +23.532 16 14 65 Marchy Lee DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 9 +27.912 19 15 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 9 +28.095 10 16 13 Ibrahim Okyay Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320siY 9 +48.069 21 17 35 Urs Sonderegger Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 9 +52.972 20 18 21 Fabio Fabiani Proteam Racing BMW 320siY 9 +1:27.890 22 19 7 Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 7 +2 Laps 17 20 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 7 +2 Laps 5 Ret 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 1 Race incident 18 DNS 17 Michel Nykjær SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TDIY 0 Did not start 14 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Robert Huff120 2 2 Yvan Muller84 1 3 Alain Menu79 1 4 Tiago Monteiro58 2 5 Gabriele Tarquini52

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kristian Poulsen 45 4 2 Norbert Michelisz 33 1 3 Darryl O'Young 33 2 4 Javier Villa 33 2 5 Michel Nykjær 24

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 242 2 SR Customer Racing 150 3 BMW Customer Racing Teams 132 4 Volvo Polestar Evaluation Team 40

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

References

External links World Touring Car Championship official website