Macau, China, 20 Nov – British driver Rob Huff won the final round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Macau on Sunday, but all eyes were on his Chevrolet team-mate Yvan Muller, from France, who captured the drivers’ crown with a third placed finish
Huff knew he needed to win the race to have a proper chance of the title and, after starting third, he soon set about moving to the head of the field after slotting in behind fast starter Tom Coronel, from Netherland and German Michel Nykjaer on the run down to Lisboa.
Halfway through the lap, Huff dived past Nykjaer to take second place and then he set about closing in on Coronel. On lap three, Huff made his move and raced around the outside of his Dutch rival on the run down to Lisboa.
Behind them, Muller was making progress too from his eighth place on the grid and, after holding fifth on the opening lap, he moved up to fourth on lap three after taking Mehdi Bennani on lap three.
The safety car was then called out after Gary Kwok crashed heavily at Mandarin and, after the restart on lap seven, Huff was able to extend his lead steadily over the remainder of the race to finish 4.6 seconds ahead of Coronel.
Muller eventually finished third after overtaking Nykjaer at Lisboa on lap nine to secure his third FIA WTCC title.
The top three positions remained unchanged until the chequered flag, with the man on the move in the closing stages being Italian Gabriele Tarquini – who overtook Bennani, from Morroco for fifth on lap nine and then grabbed fourth off Nykjaer on the final lap.(MacauNews/Sports)
