The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the third round of the

2011 World Touring Car Championship season The 2011 World Touring Car Championship season was the eighth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the seventh since its 2005 return. The championship, which was open to Super 2000 cars and Diesel 2000 cars, began with the Race o ...

and the seventh running of the

FIA WTCC Race of Italy The FIA WTCR Race of Italy is a round of the World Touring Car Championship that has taken place in Italy. It will be held at Vallelunga Circuit in 2022 season. In 2021, it was held at the extended version of Adria International Raceway. Before th ...

. It was held on 15 May 2011 at the

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after ...

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Both races were won by

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 ...

of Chevrolet RML.

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 ...

claimed his maiden WTCC podium finish in race two when he finished third.

Background

After the previous round in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, Huff was leading the drivers' championship by one point over

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 ...

team mate

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 ...

. Poulsen 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. Turkish driver

Ibrahim Okyay Ibrahim Okyay (born 1 August 1969) is a Turkish auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Racing career Okyay first entered the WTCC in 2006. He competed in just two races at his home circuit o ...

returned to championship driving a

Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport is a Turkish auto racing team that has competed in the World Touring Car Championship. The team was founded in 2008 to compete in the World Touring Car Championship with driver and team principal Ibrahim Okyay. A second ...

run naturally aspirated

BMW 320si The fifth generation of the BMW 3 Series range of compact executive cars is designated under the model codes E90 (saloon), E91 (estate, marketed as 'Touring'), E92 (coupé) and E93 (convertible). The model was introduced in December 2004, and pr ...

, having last competed in the 2008 season.

Report

Testing and free practice

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 ...

set the pace in Thursday's opening test session, beating the BMWs of Poulsen and

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 ...

SUNRED Engineering 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 ...

did not take part in the session having run their own private test the previous day. Huff topped the opening free practice session on Saturday morning, a tenth quicker than the

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), ...

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 ...

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 up in the gravel trap at the parabolica during the session. Muller led a Chevrolet 1–2–3–4 in the final free practice session, leading Huff, Menu and the independent

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, and ...

Darryl O'Young Darryl Hayden O'Young () is a Canadian-born Hong Kong racing driver. Career Early career O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships. The highlight ...

Marchy Lee Marchy Lee Ying-Kin (Traditional Chinese: 李英健) is a racing driver from Hong Kong. Born in 1976 in Hong Kong, Marchy started his racing career at just 9 years old and has become one of the top racecar drivers in Hong Kong. He is the first ...

lost control of his DeTeam KK Motorsport

BMW 320 TC The BMW 320 TC is a racing car built under Super 2000 specifications, which competed in the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2011 to 2014. The car came into use as a customer car, after BMW ended their WTCC factory program at the end of th ...

at Lesmo and collided with the barriers, while

Mehdi Bennani Mehdi Bennani ( ar, مهدي بناني, born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing. He became ...

spun himself into the gravel at the same corner.

Qualifying

Huff continued his dominance of qualifying in 2011 to take his third pole position of the season, edging out team–mates Muller and Menu to lead a Chevrolet 1–2–3. Huff set his best lap in Q1 after the checkered flag fell, putting him ninth and into the second session. Tiago Monteiro was tenth in Q1 to take pole position for race two. Muller set the pace at the start of Q2 but Huff went quickest on his first flying lap. Behind the Chevrolet trio, Michelisz lined up fourth alongside Menu on the second row as the leading independent driver. Monteiro, O'Young, Poulsen, Coronel, Bennani and Tarquini completed the top ten. Tarquini was taken to the medical centre for checks after the session when the left window in his car shattered.

Warm-Up

Warm–up took place on a damp track on Sunday morning, pole sitter Huff set the fastest time. Some drivers found the conditions tricky and took the first corner escape road, while Monteiro was called to the stewards' office for cutting a corner in sector three on his best lap.

Race One

Huff had led from pole position and was followed by Muller and Menu. A gap left by Muller towards the end of the first lap allowed Menu to take second place and the Swiss driver then set about catching the leader. Later on in the race, Muller was catching Menu and on the last lap the pair collided. Muller tagged Menu's car sending the second placed car into one of the barriers on the final lap. This left the last podium position open, Michelisz was running third but Monteiro got a better run through the last corner and by the line, Monteiro came out three–hundredths of a second ahead. Huff, Muller and Monteiro filled the podium places with Michelisz fourth as the winning independent and Coronel fifth. Yokohama Trophy leader Poulsen was sixth. The Lukoil-SUNRED pair of Tarquini and

Aleksei Dudukalo Aleksey Nikolayevich Dudukalo ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Дудука́ло, p=ɐlʲɪˈksej nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ dʊdʊˈkalə; born 6 October 1976, in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver. He raced in the World Touring ...

were the only retirements.

Race Two

Monteiro started on the reversed grid pole but race one winner Huff passed him at the start to lead into the first corner. He was followed by Muller, who later bumped into the rear of Huff's car under braking for the Parabolica. The contact meant Huff got out of shape but stayed on track. Muller was shown the bad sportsmanship flag after the incident. Huff and Muller made it a Chevrolet 1–2 for both races and Poulsen took third and his first podium finish in the WTCC, Coronel had been in contention for the position until he slowed with a delaminated tyre. Monteiro ended up fourth and Menu was fifth having started the race from the back. Coronel ended the race fifteenth. After the race, Muller was given a ten–place grid penalty, suspended for two rounds for causing the collision with Huff.

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

External links

World Touring Car Championship official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 FIA WTCC Race Of Italy