WTCC in Valencia
The World Touring Car Championship had its fifth meeting of the season today in Cheste and SEAT achieved another success claiming the top three positions in the first race with Yvan Muller as the winner, followed by Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini.
The weekend has been extremely profitable for the Spanish make, keeping the leadership both in the drivers and manufacturer’s overall standings; a place they haven’t left since the beginning of the season after five victories and eleven podium finishes.
Once again, team spirit has been the most efficient weapon of SEAT, since the perfect coordination of their drivers and engineers allowed to claim the top four positions in yesterday’s qualifying practices.
This privileged situation gave them the chance to dominate the 
first race clearly. Muller overtook Tarquini in the first turn and a few laps later, it was Monteiro who put himself on second position, to keep this order until the chequered flag.
In the second race, Tarquini managed to finish third again after a close fight with Andy Priaulx during which they swapped positions several times. Starting from behind, Muller and Monteiro finished among the top eight, thus scoring important points for the championship.
Jordi Gené had an accident in the first corner which left him out of the first race, forcing him to start the second race from the back. However, he managed to recover and finish in eleventh position. Rickard Rydell was also involved in the incident but with less fortune and was not able to score in any of the races.
Ranking
1st race :
1. Yvan Muller (SEAT León TDI), les 13 tours en 23’ 13’’ 675, moy. 134,48 km/h
2. Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI), à 1’’ 884
3. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI), à 4’’ 157
4. Augusto Farfus (BMW), à 5’’ 364
5. Andy Priaulx (BMW), à 5’’ 855
6. Jorg Müller (BMW), à 5’’ 943
7. Tom Coronel (SEAT León TFSI), à 8’’ 096, 1er des Indépendants
…
13. Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI), à 23’’ 038
14. Mehdi Bennani (SEAT León TFSI), à 25’’ 385
etc…
Best lap : Yvan Muller, en 1’ 45’’ 735, moy. 136,36 km/h.
2de race :
1. Augusto Farfus (BMW), les 13 tours en 23’ 16’’ 075, moy. 134,25 km/h
2. Jorg Müller (BMW), à 0’’ 540
3. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI), à 5’’ 426
4. Andy Priaulx (BMW), à 5’’ 884
5. Alessandro Zanardi (BMW), à 6’’ 676
6. Sergio Hernandez (BMW), à 7’’ 178
7. Yvan Muller (SEAT León TDI), à 11’’ 169
8. Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI), à 11’’ 569
…
10. Tom Coronel (SEAT León TFSI), à 16’’ 936
11. Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI), à 17’’ 978
…
14. Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI), à 23’’ 635
etc…
Best lap : A. Farfus (BMW), en 1’ 45’’ 974, moy. 136,05 km/h.
General ranking
Constructors:
1. SEAT, 136 pts
2. BMW, 120
3. Chevrolet, 96
4. Lada, 35.
Drivers :
1. Yvan Muller (SEAT León TDI), 57 pts
2. Augusto Farfus (BMW), 54
3. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI), 46
12. Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI), 13
