Yvan Muller rushes towards the title

After a first race in Okayama contested in the rain, the second Japanese round of the WTCC cleared up the positions in the World Touring Car Championship. Yvan Muller (Chevrolet Cruze), Andy Priaulx (BMW 320 si) and Gabriele Tarquini (Seat Leon TDI) saw their positions evolve depending on the racing circumstances.

It is Gabriele Tarquini who seems well placed to perform well in this second Sunday race. Second in the peloton far behind Michael Nykjaer (Seat Leon TDI), the reigning World Champion was lucky to see the safety car come out mid-race. Tarquini can thus get back into Nykjaer's wheels, before the latter goes off-piste, thus giving the controls to the Italian.

Meanwhile, Yvan Muller is not having an ideal start to the race. By attacking Augusto Farfus (BMW 320 si) in the first few kilometers, the Frenchman made a mistake and was overtaken by Andy Priaulx, his most serious rival in the title race. But with the BMWs suffering in the rain, Muller managed to regain his sixth place a few turns later.

For Andy Priaulx, this overtake is the turning point of the weekend, perhaps even of the season. The Briton, attacked by Rob Huff (Chevrolet) and coming back on Norbert Michelisz (Seat Leon TDI), failed to brake and crashed his BMW into the gravel trap. Priaulx knows that he is losing important points for the title, when Muller can breathe a first ?phew? of relief.

Fourth, the Frenchman then wants to score as many points as possible to improve his place in the championship. He then tackles Colin Turkington (BMW 320 si), overtaken by Augusto Farfus, second behind Gabriele Tarquini. But the latter, under pressure from the Brazilian, made a mistake coming out of the corner and retired.

Augusto Farfus took the lead to get his first victory of the season, when Yvan Muller climbed to the third step of the podium, as in the first race. Above all, by seeing his two main opponents abandon during this race, the Frenchman increased his chances of a second world title. But, in Macau, there are many twists and turns and the Alsatian will certainly be very vigilant.