Muller Heads Chevy’s Charge To Another 1-2-3 In Morocco
Peter Allen
Chevrolet scored another 1-2-3 finish in Race 2 in Morocco, with reigning world champion Yvan Muller producing a storming drive through the field around the tight street circuit from seventh place on the reverse grid.
James Nash started from pole position, hisTeam Aon crew having fixed the damage sustained in the incident that took him out at the start of race one. There were no such problems for the Brit this time around, as he got away cleanly and retained the lead ahead of Franz Engstler.
Meanwhile, Nash’s teammate Tom Chiltongot a good launch from fourth on the grid but was rather aggressively forced towards the wall and fell down the order, with a fast-starting Tom Coronel inheriting third after starting eighth.
Muller held sixth behind Monteiro andStefano D’Aste, and ahead of teammatesRob Huff and Race 1 Alain Menu. The Chevy trio got ahead of D’Aste on lap two, and past Monteiro and Coronel on lap three.
Lap four saw Engstler succumb to the Chevrolets of Muller and Huff, who then took the lead away from Nash on the following lap.
Menu took Nash’s podium spot away on lap six, and joined his teammates out front.
Nash ran wide into the first chicane which allowed Coronel up the inside of the sweeping left hander, with D’Aste following him through and relegating Nash to sixth.
Pepe Oriola crossed the line narrowly in front of Franz Engstler to take seventh overall behind Nash and the runner-up spot in the Yokohama Trophy behind D’Aste. The SEATs of Monteiro and Darryl O’Youngcompleted the points, the former dropping places when he ran wide at the hairpin that ends the lap before regaining ground.
Chilton was eighth until retiring to the pits with a reported turbo problem with three laps to go. Alex MacDowall slowed and retired on the first lap with broken driveshaft when running inside the top ten. Gabriele Tarquini pulled off into the pits and retired at the end of the warmup lap, with suspension to blame.
Muller’s fourth win from six races this season gives him a 24 point lead over Menu, with Huff a further nine behind. The series makes its first visit to the Slovakiaring in two weeks’ time.
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