Tarquini world champion

Gabriele Tarquini, at 47, becomes the oldest FIA world champion in the history of motorsport. The Italian, in Macau, managed to keep his advantage over his teammate Yvan Muller in order to succeed him on the list of winners. A solid success for Seat since in the manufacturers' championship, the Spanish brand retained its world title thanks to the performance of its drivers, who were able to resist the BMW armada.

Gabriele Tarquini did the hardest part in the first race, managing to move up to second place at the finish line. With a Chevrolet driver (Robert Huff) as referee since he started from pole, the team strategy between Seat and BMW worked at full speed since Jordi Gené and Tiago Monteiro, better placed at the start than Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller, took strived to deprive BMW drivers of as many points as possible.

The latter then decided to go all out. Jörg Müller and Augusto Farfus slipped to 7th and 8th positions to start on pole for the second race. This maneuver deprived Augusto Farfus of the world title among drivers in this race. BMW would therefore concentrate its efforts on the manufacturers' title.

At the front, Robert Huff managed to maintain his advantage to take victory in the first race, ahead of Gabriele Tarquini. The Italian was able to take four points from Yvan Muller and increase his lead to six points at the top of the championship.

In the second race, BMW's strategy worked perfectly. Augusto Farfus and Jörg Müller led the race and offered the German brand a chance to take the world crown. Behind, Yvan Muller was able to count on Tiago Monteiro to recover third place but needed to do better to get Gabriele Tarquini in the standings.

But, in the lead, the BMW drivers held their double until three laps from the end of the second race, when the red flag was waved following the accident involving Franz Engstler, Felix Porteiro and Andre Couto. The race did not start again and the positions were therefore validated. Gabriele Tarquini, fifth, could jump for joy. The whole Seat clan could even celebrate since the Farfus-J.Müller double was not enough for BMW to claim the manufacturers' title.

Macau has therefore delivered its verdict and, as in 2008, it is Seat which emerges victorious from the races in the former Portuguese province. Yvan Muller, who arrived with the desire to retain his title, was finally taken over by veteran Gabriele Tarquini. “ Gabriele is a friend and a great champion, the Frenchman told Eurosport. There is a lot of respect between us. We experienced great emotions together throughout the season. Of course, I would have preferred to win but even if it means not winning, I prefer that Gabriele be the champion. » A great outing for the 2008 champion.