The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Spain was the second round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the eighth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Spain . It was held on 1 April 2012 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. Chevrolet driver Yvan Muller took pole position for the first race, with Wiechers-Sport's Stefano D'Aste on pole for the second race after the top ten qualifiers were reversed. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Muller winning race one and Alain Menu winning race two.

Background After the opening round in Italy, Muller was leading the drivers' championship. D'Aste was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

A continued shortage of the new for 2012 SEAT 1.6T engine meant the cars run by SUNRED Engineering switched to the SUNRED 1.6T engine prior to the Race of Spain. Tiago Monteiro and Andrea Barlesi would switch to the engine and they were joined by series debutant Fernando Monje. Monje joined the championship, having competed in the supporting European Touring Car Cup at Monza. Tom Boardman returned to the championship having been forced to sit out the opening round. With no SEAT 1.6T engine available for him, he took part in the event using the TDI engine.

Report

Free practice Muller led the opening practice session on Saturday morning with Robert Huff second and Menu third. Pepe Oriola was the fastest SEAT León WTCC while Monteiro was the fastest of the three SUNRED engined cars.

Gabriele Tarquini went quickest in the second free practice session in his Lukoil Racing Team SEAT. ROAL Motorsport driver Tom Coronel had set the pace for much of the session until his time was beaten by Huff and then Tarquini in the final five minutes of the session. Charles Ng was given a black flag after getting stuck in a gravel trap on his first flying lap and then continuing in the session after receiving outside help. Six drivers were warned for cutting the apex at the first corner.

Qualifying Muller secured his first pole position of the year in qualifying ahead of Tarquini and Coronel. Oriola took the independents' pole with fourth place. Tarquini had been fastest in the first part of qualifying but Muller had been close to going out in the first element of qualifying. Muller had his best time removed for running too wide but he ended the session eighth after a last minute flying lap. By finishing tenth in second qualifying, D'Aste secured the pole position on the reversed grid in race two. The session was not stopped at any time but after the session, the Lukoil Racing car of Aleksei Dudukalo caught fire in Parc Ferme.

Warm-Up Huff led the warm up session on Sunday morning with pole sitter Muller second fastest.

Race One Muller led from start to finish to secure his third straight victory of the year. Tarquini had got a better launch from the rolling start but Muller was able to defend and from then on Tarquini's main threat was from Coronel behind. Coronel had received a black and white driving standards flag for making contact with Tarquini but continued on to the final podium spot. Huff and Menu climbed up to fourth and fifth respectively at the expense of Oriola, but sixth place was still enough to secure the independents' victory for Oriola. Monteiro was able to finish in the top ten in his SUNRED-powered car while the only car that failed to finish was Dudukalo.

Race Two Menu ended Muller's winning streak in race two by coming home ahead of Coronel and D'Aste. Wiechers-Sport driver D'Aste had led until lap seven when he ran wide and handed the lead to Menu. Both Menu and D'Aste then hit oil two laps later sending them across the gravel at turn ten and promoting Coronel to second. Coronel battled with Menu for the lead in the final laps but held on to take the win by less than a second. Menu's Chevrolet was followed home by four BMW 320 TCs as Norbert Michelisz and Franz Engstler followed Coronel and D'Aste.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 Points 1 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:43.458 1:42.228 5 2 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 1:42.933 1:42.591 4 3 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:43.323 1:42.643 3 4 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:43.340 1:42.829 2 5 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:43.427 1:42.862 1 6 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:43.483 1:42.994 7 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:43.683 1:43.108 8 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:43.230 1:43.410 9 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:42.975 1:43.472 10 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TCY 1:43.850 1:43.544 11 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 1:43.801 1:43.640 12 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCCY 1:43.391 1:43.832 13 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:43.889 14 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:43.951 15 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 1:44.060 16 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:44.126 17 27 Gábor Wéber Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TCY 1:44.316 18 12 Pasquale Di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6TY 1:44.342 19 24 Isaac Tutumlu Proteam Racing BMW 320 TCY 1:44.435 20 88 Fernando Monje SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6TY 1:44.509 21 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:44.702 22 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León TDiY 1:44.703 23 40 Andrea Barlesi SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6TY 1:45.124 24 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCY 1:45.716 Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 22:53.924 1 25 2 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 13 +6.988 2 18 3 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 13 +7.232 3 15 4 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +8.982 5 12 5 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +9.250 9 10 6 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 13 +10.614 4 8 7 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +11.854 6 6 8 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 13 +12.202 7 4 9 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 13 +21.185 11 2 10 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 13 +24.010 12 1 11 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +25.349 10 12 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 13 +30.104 16 13 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +30.282 13 14 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +30.685 15 15 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +31.373 14 16 24 Isaac Tutumlu Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +32.187 19 17 27 Gábor Wéber Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +33.507 17 18 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 13 +34.050 24 19 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 13 +34.372 21 20 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León TDi Y 13 +36.599 22 21 88 Fernando Monje SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 13 +37.377 20 22 12 Pasquale Di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +37.926 18 23 40 Andrea Barlesi SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 13 +51.999 23 NC 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCCY 6 +7 Laps 8 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 23:03.207 2 25 2 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 13 +0.861 8 18 3 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +1.306 1 15 4 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 13 +1.629 5 12 5 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 13 +1.901 4 10 6 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +3.007 6 8 7 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 13 +5.704 7 6 8 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 13 +6.368 10 4 9 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 13 +15.044 9 2 10 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +15.306 15 1 11 24 Isaac Tutumlu Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 13 +19.838 19 12 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 13 +21.166 3 13 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 13 +21.865 11 14 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +23.167 14 15 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 13 +25.024 21 16 12 Pasquale Di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 13 +27.071 18 17 40 Andrea Barlesi SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 13 +50.229 23 18 88 Fernando Monje SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 13 +1:04.377 20 19 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 10 +3 Laps 24 Ret 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 8 Suspension 16 Ret 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 4 Overheating 12 Ret 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 1 Suspension 13 Ret 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León TDi Y 0 Accident 22 DNS 27 Gábor Wéber Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 0 Clutch 17 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 88 1 2 Alain Menu 61 1 3 Tom Coronel 58 2 4 Robert Huff 57 5 Gabriele Tarquini 44

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Pepe Oriola 31 1 2 Stefano D'Aste 28 2 3 Norbert Michelisz 27 4 Franz Engstler 25 2 5 Alex MacDowall 16

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 173 1 2 BMW Customer Racing Teams 108 1 3 SEAT Racing Technology 101

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

External links Results Booklet PDF at FIAWTCC.com Valencia Race Report PDF at FIAWTCC.com