WTCC: Rydell wins on comeback

[Plex]

Rickard Rydell claimed a stunning last-corner victory on his World Touring Car Championship comeback for Chevrolet.

Rydell, who started the race on slick tyres in wet conditions, passed teammates Nicola Larini and Alain Menu in the final complex to take his first win WTCC win since 2005.

Larini and Menu, who finished second and third, led the race from the start running on slick tyres, with the SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini holding third ahead of the GR Asia Leon of Tom Coronel.

However, Tarquini suffered badly with overheating tyres as the track dried and faded to seventh, giving Coronel a second top four finish of the weekend.

James Thompson, who finished fourth in race one, came through to fifth ahead of the second-best of the slick-shod drivers, SEAT's Tiago Monteiro.

Swede Robert Dahlgren finished eighth on his WTCC debut in the bioethanol-powered Volvo S60, although as his car was running under national homologation, the final point was awarded to Schnitzer BMW driver Augusto Farfus.

Farfus was the only of the three championship protagonists to score, with team-mate Jorg Muller 10th and Andy Priaulx shuffled back to 13th after all started on slicks.

Yvan Muller, behind the wheel of the new SEAT Leon TDI, retired with a power steering problem after running in the points early on.

Classified:

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Rickard Rydell Chevrolet 23:41.120
2. Nicola Larini Chevrolet + 1.608
3. Alain Menu Chevrolet + 1.856
4. Tom Coronel SEAT + 5.157
5. James Thompson Alfa Romeo + 6.070
6. Tiago Monteiro SEAT + 6.796
7. G.Tarquini SEAT + 8.765
8. Robert Dahlgren Volvo + 8.784
9. Augusto Farfus BMW + 8.907
10. Jorg Muller BMW + 9.106
11. Robert Huff Chevrolet + 10.455
12. M.Jourdain Jr. SEAT + 11.359
13. Andy Priaulx BMW + 12.053
14. Fredrik Ekblom BMW + 12.318
15. A.Zanardi BMW + 15.446
16. Felix Porteiro BMW + 17.910
17. Carl Rosenblad BMW + 25.716
18. Roberto Colciago SEAT + 33.044
19. Stefano D'Aste BMW + 37.613
20. Luca Rangoni BMW + 41.659
21. O.Tielemans Alfa Romeo + 43.947
22. Sergio Hernandez BMW + 44.927
23. P-Y.Corthals SEAT + 50.781
24. Jordi Gene SEAT + 52.236
25. M.Ceresoli SEAT + 52.273
26. Alexander Lvov Honda + 54.306
27. Andrey Smetsky Honda +1:44.258

Not classified:

Driver Make laps
Yvan Muller SEAT 8

Fastest lap: Zanardi, 1:42.432 on lap 13

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