Huff storms to victory in Macau

Date published : 22 Nov 2009 - 04:36:18

Rob Huff took a commanding victory for Chevrolet in the first World Touring Car race in Macau on Sunday - as runner-up finisher Gabriele Tarquini moved a step closer to capturing the drivers' title.Huff led away cleanly at the rolling start as fellow front-row starter Andy Priaulx hit trouble - falling back into the pack and then clouting the wall at the exit of the first kink as he tried to fight off his rivals.Priaulx's problems allowed Tiago Monteiro to move up to second spot, with Tarquini charging through the order from seventh to third by the time the cars braked into Lisboa Bend.Huff opened up a cushion over Monteiro until lap eight, when the Portuguese SEAT driver slowed down - handing second place to Tarquini.Third place eventually went to Jordi Gene, who finished ahead of Alain Menu and Yvan Muller now the only man capable of stopping Tarquini taking the world title, six points behind.Monteiro dropped to sixth to give an extra place to fellow ORECA SEAT driver Muller, while the BMWs of Jorg Muller and Augusto Farfus also slowed on the final lap - giving two further places to Muller - to secure the front row of the grid for the day's second race.Priaulx's accident on the first lap resulted in major damage to the right front of his car, but he was able to return to the pits for repairs rejoining the action just before the chequered flag.Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Robert Huff Chevrolet 23m02.627s 2. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 7.952s 3. Jordi Gene SEAT 8.996s 4. Alain Menu Chevrolet 10.328s 5. Yvan Muller SEAT 13.534s 6. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 15.517s 7. Jorg Muller BMW 15.782s 8. Augusto Farfus BMW 15.967s 9. Alex Zanardi BMW 16.301s10. Sergio Hernandez BMW 16.527s11. Rickard Rydell SEAT 16.618s12. Nicola Larini Chevrolet 18.476s13. Tom Coronel SEAT 21.356s14. Felix Porteiro BMW 21.961s15. Tom Boardman SEAT 29.923s16. Franz Engstler BMW 30.468s17. Kristian Poulsen BMW 44.647s18. Norbertu Taniguchi BMW 46.571s19. Takayuki Aoki BMW 56.298s20. Henry Ho BMW 1m23.908s21. Kit Meng Lei BMW 2m02.061s22. Jo Merszei BMW 2m02.321s23. Jaap van Lagen Lada +2 laps24. Liu Lic Ka BMW +2 laps25. Andre Couto SEAT +2 lapsRetirements Andy Priaulx BMW 2 laps