The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Spain (formally the 2010 FIA WTCC DHL Race of Spain) was the ninth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Spain. It was held at the

Circuit Ricardo Tormo Circuit Ricardo Tormo, also known as ''Circuit de Valencia'' and officially named ''Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo'', is a motorsport race track located in Cheste (Valencian Community, Spain) and built in 1999. The track is n ...

near

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on 19 September 2010. The two races were won by

SR-Sport Sunred (short for ''Sun Race Engineering Development S.L.'') is a Spanish-based auto racing team and constructor. They are best known for competing in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing History While in the past Sunred had participated in ...

drivers

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He h ...

and

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

Background

Coming into the final European round of the season, Chevrolet RML driver

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...

was leading the drivers' championship and Sergio Hernández was leading the

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Independents' Trophy.

Marc Carol Marc Carol Ybarra (born 14 February 1985) is a Spanish auto racing driver. Career Carol competed in the Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia in 2001, where he finished fourth.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/4249/career/ Career statistics at Driver Databa ...

joined the field in a SEAT Customers Technology run SEAT León 2.0 TFSI. Carol had last raced in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

at the 2005 FIA WTCC Race of Spain.

Fabio Fabiani Fabio Fabiani (born 13 October 1974 in Ravenna) is an Italian auto racing driver. Moto Bike Career He started in Italian Sport Production Championship in 1994 moving to Italian 125cc in 1995. After Military Service in 1996 he raced in the Itali ...

didn't return after the Race of Germany.

Report

Free practice

BMW Team RBM Racing Bart Mampaey (formerly Juma Racing) is a racing team based in Mechelen, Belgium that runs the BMW Team RBM operation in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Previously the team had been racing in the European Touring Car Championship and Wo ...

Augusto Farfus Augusto Farfus Jr. (born 3 September 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He lives in Monaco. Early years Born in Curitiba, Farfus first tasted racing in minibike races and won the local championshi ...

was fastest in the opening practice session on Saturday morning, beating the lead

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice ...

was the leading

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

in fifth while Carol was the quickest independent driver on his return to the WTCC. SR–Sport's

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...

set the pace in the final practice session, edging out Menu by a tenth of a second.

Kristian Poulsen Kristian Poulsen (born 18 November 1975) is a Danish auto racing driver, who currently competes in touring car racing. Career He made his debut in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2008 with a part season. For 2009 he will compete a ful ...

was both the leading independent and BMW driver in seventh.

Qualifying

Tarquini took pole position in qualifying for the first race on Sunday, beating the Chevrolet of

Robert Huff Robert Peter "Rob" Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the ...

Fredy Barth Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in Lucerne) is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing career Early years Barth started out in karting before stepping up to ...

had been the fastest driver in the first element of qualifying, beating the works Chevrolet drivers.

Norbert Michelisz Norbert Michelisz (born 8 August 1984) is a Hungarian auto racing driver and the 2019 winner of the World Touring Car Cup. Career Early career Michelisz was the 2006 Hungarian Suzuki Swift Cup champion, and in 2007 he won the Hungarian Ren ...

suffered an engine failure during Q1, finishing thirteenth while

Franz Engstler Franz Engstler (born 25 July 1961) is a German auto racing driver. Racing career Born in Kempten im Allgäu, Engstler started racing in the European Hillclimbing Championship and the German Long Distance Cup, which he won. From 1988 he competed ...

ended his session in the gravel after setting a time good enough for fourteenth.

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tou ...

narrowly made it through to Q2, finishing the session tenth at the expense of

Michel Nykjær Michel Nykjær (born 17 September 1979) is a Danish auto racing driver. Nykjær is a two-time European Touring Car Cup winner. Career Early years Between 1989 and 1993 he spent his early racing years in karting. After a break, he returned to mo ...

. Tarquini set his pole time early on while later fast laps from Huff and Muller saw them finish second and third ahead of Menu who was hampered with gearbox problems.

and Coronel, who would take a ten place grid penalty for an unscheduled engine change.

Jordi Gené Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also a ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia Fe ...

, Barth and the works BMW pair of Priaulx and Farfus completed the top ten.

Warm-Up

Michelisz led Sunday morning's warm–up session with pole sitter Tarquini half a second behind.

Race One

Tarquini led away from pole position while further down, Priaulx moved up from ninth to sixth. Muller easily got ahead of Huff to take second place in opening laps while Barth and Farfus were battling over who would start on the front row for race two. Menu had dropped down the order to claim the reversed grid pole as Barth repeatedly tapped Farfus' rear bumper. The BMW eventually went wide, giving sevenths place to Barth. At the front, Tarquini took the win with Muller second and Huff third. Gené was fourth, Priaulx finished fifth and Monteiro was sixth. Poulsen was twelfth and won the independents' class.

Race Two

Menu started on pole position and was followed by Barth, the two were then passed up each side by Monteiro on the outside and Priaulx on the inside. Priaulx and Menu then collided, allowing Monteiro to assume the lead and Barth took second place. Priaulx attempted another move on Menu at turn three but the Chevrolet took the normal line through the corner, the pair collided and Menu spun. Priaulx was delayed but Muller took the opportunity to pass both of them and take third, he then took second from Barth when the Swiss SEAT driver slowed with a puncture. Priaulx was left to battle with Tarquini for third, with Tarquini coming out on top. At the end of the race, Monteiro took the win with Muller second and Tarquini third. Poulsen was the Yokohama Trophy winner.

Results

Qualifying

Race 1

*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.

Race 2

*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.

Standings after the event

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

Results Booklet PDF at MST Systems

External links

World Touring Car Championship official website
{{WTCC race, Name_of_race = FIA WTCC Race of Spain , Year_of_race = 2010 , Previous_race_in_season = 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Germany , Next_race_in_season = 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Japan , Previous_year's_race = 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Spain , Next_year's_race = 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Spain

FIA WTCC Race of Spain