2012 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco

The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco was the third round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Morocco. It was held on 15 April 2012 at Marrakech Street Circuit in Marrakech, Morocco. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Alain Menu winning race one and Yvan Muller winning race two.

2012 Race of Morocco
Race details
Date15 April, 2012
LocationMarrakech, Morocco
CourseMarrakech Street Circuit
4.545 kilometres (2.824 mi)
Race One
Laps 11
Pole position
Driver Alain Menu Chevrolet
Time 1:43.901
Podium
First Alain Menu Chevrolet
Second Robert Huff Chevrolet
Third Yvan Muller Chevrolet
Fastest Lap
Driver Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing
Time 1:44.617
Race Two
Laps 11
Podium
First Yvan Muller Chevrolet
Second Robert Huff Chevrolet
Third Alain Menu Chevrolet
Fastest Lap
Driver Alain Menu Chevrolet
Time 1:45.161

Background

After Valencia it was Chevrolet driver Yvan Muller who was leading the championship, 27 points clear of his nearest rival Menu who was three points clear of ROAL Motorsport driver Tom Coronel. Pepe Oriola was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.

Having made his WTCC debut at Valencia, Fernando Monje would not return to race at Marrakech in preparation for his return to the European Touring Car Cup at the Slovakiaring.[1] Gábor Wéber would also miss the event due to financial concerns, leaving Norbert Michelisz as the sole driver for Zengő Motorsport.[2]

Report

Free Practice

Lukoil Racing Team's Gabriele Tarquini was fastest in the first free practice session ahead of the Chevrolets of Yvan Muller and Robert Huff. Team AON's Tom Chilton was a surprise fourth fastest, backing up his performance from Fridays test session. Franz Engstler was the fastest of the BMWs.[3]

In the second session it was Menu was topped the times, his teammates Muller and Huff were second and third once again. Tarquini was the fastest SEAT in fourth ahead of Oriola and the Ford Focus of Chilton in sixth.[4]

Qualifying

Menu continued his pace from the second free practice session to take pole position by 0.028s ahead of Huff. Muller and Coronel set benchmark times early on in Q2 but they had to settle for fourth and third respectively. Tiago Monteiro was tenth and looked to take pole position for race two.[5] After Tarquini was removed from qualifying for running an underweight car, James Nash moved up to take pole position for race two.[6][7]

Warm-Up

Yvan Muller was fastest in the Sunday morning warm up session with pole sitter Menu in fourth.[8]

Race One

The Chevrolet trio of Menu, Huff and Muller led away from the start while behind them, Oriola made a great getaway and got ahead of Coronel for fourth. Local driver Mehdi Bennani and James Nash collided at the first turn, forcing both to retire. There was a brief scare for Alex MacDowall when he missed the braking point at turn 5 in his bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze and collected the BMW of Coronel, both escaped any series damage and continued. The safety car was deployed while the stricken Ford of Nash was recovered with the race resuming on lap three. Isaac Tutumlu crashed his Proteam Racing into the wall at turn 4 and retired. On lap 5, Monteiro retired with gearbox problems in his SUNRED León. Menu led a Chevrolet 1-2-3 with Oriola the Yokohama Trophy winner in fourth. Chilton scored Ford's maiden points in the WTCC with a seventh-place finish.[9]

Race Two

Nash led away from pole position while Coronel jumped up from eighth on the grid to third behind Engstler at the first corner. Chilton collected the rear bumper of Monteiro and dropped back down the field. Nash had to defend well from the BMW of Engstler until the German was overtaken by the Chevrolets of Muller and Huff on lap 4. On the following lap the two leading Chevrolets demoted Nash to third, one lap further on Menu also overtook the 2011 British Touring Car Championship Independents' Champion to secure third. Nash succumbed to attacks from Coronel and Stefano D'Aste on lap 9, while his teammate Chilton retired with turbo problems. At the finish, Muller led another Chevrolet 1-2-3 in reverse of the order they finished race one, D'Aste was the winning independent in fourth place and pole sitter Nash eventually finished sixth. After the race, the stewards issued bamboo-engineering driver Pasquale di Sabatino with a 30-second penalty for repeatedly cutting the chicanes, this dropped him from 12th to 15th in the classification.[9]

Results

Qualifying

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Q1 Q2 Points
1 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:43.753 1:43.901 5
2 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:44.973 1:43.929 4
3 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 1:45.000 1:43.968 3
4 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:44.482 1:44.201 2
5 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 1:44.919 1:44.498 1
6 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 1:45.281 1:44.544
7 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:44.638 1:44.681
8 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 1:45.125 1:44.822
9 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 1:44.966 1:44.870
10 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 1:45.137 1:44.982
11 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC Y 1:45.178 1:51.464
12 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 1:45.378 DSQ
13 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 1:45.495 DNQ
14 12 Pasquale di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 1:45.692 DNQ
15 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 1:45.707 DNQ
16 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 1:45.834 DNQ
17 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 1:45.965 DNQ
18 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 1:46.041 DNQ
19 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León TDi Y 1:46.562 DNQ
20 24 Isaac Tutumlu Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 1:47.294 DNQ
21 40 Andrea Barlesi SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 1:47.872 DNQ
4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 2:49.620 DNQ
  • Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

Race 1

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 12 22.28.931 1 25
2 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 12 +1.074 2 18
3 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 12 +1.554 4 15
4 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 12 +2.268 5 12
5 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC Y 12 +5.713 11 10
6 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 12 +8.075 8 8
7 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 12 +9.290 7 6
8 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 12 +16.069 3 4
9 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 12 +17.696 13 2
10 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 12 +19.284 16 1
11 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 12 +26.413 12
12 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 12 +38.647 6
13 40 Andrea Barlesi SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 12 +44.139 20
14 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León TDi Y 12 +48.598 18
15 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 12 +50.097 21
16 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 12 +50.377 22
17 12 Pasquale di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 11 +1 Lap 14
NC 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 7 +5 Laps 9
Ret 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 6 Engine 17
Ret 24 Isaac Tutumlu Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 2 Collision 19
Ret 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 2 Collision 15
Ret 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 0 Collision 10
  • Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2

Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 19:36.836 7 25
2 2 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 +0.381 9 18
3 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 11 +0.970 10 15
4 15 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 11 +2.153 8 12
5 26 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC Y 11 +2.641 11 10
6 14 James Nash Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 11 +5.052 1 8
7 74 Pepe Oriola Tuenti Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 11 +5.589 6 6
8 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 11 +5.610 3 4
9 18 Tiago Monteiro Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T 11 +7.374 2 2
10 20 Darryl O'Young Special Tuning Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 11 +12.861 15 1
11 4 Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC Y 11 +13.587 21
12 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 11 +18.629 20
13 7 Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 11 +29.173 16
14 40 Andrea Barlesi SUNRED Engineering SR León 1.6T Y 11 +31.619 19
15 12 Pasquale di Sabatino bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 11 +44.273 14
16 23 Tom Chilton Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC 8 +3 Laps 4
Ret 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 5 Suspension 13
Ret 16 Alberto Cerqui ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 2 Driveshaft 17
Ret 11 Alex MacDowall bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T Y 0 Driveshaft 5
Ret 3 Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC 0 Suspension 12
DNS 22 Tom Boardman Special Tuning Racing SEAT León TDi Y 0 Withdrew
DNS 24 Isaac Tutumlu Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 0 Collision damage 18
  • Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the race

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

References

  1. Hudson, Neil. "Fernando Monje to miss Morocco". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  2. Hudson, Neil. "Gábor Wéber will also miss Marrakech". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  3. Abbott, Andrew. "Tarquini sets the pace in FP1". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. Abbott, Andrew. "Menu fastest in second practice". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  5. "Menu lands Morocco pole". Sky Sports. BSkyB. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  6. Meissner, Johan. "Tarquini excluded from Marrakech qualifying [updated]". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  7. Meissner, Johan. "James Nash to start on pole position in race two". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  8. Meissner, Johan. "Yvan Muller on top in Marrakech warm up". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  9. "ROUNDS 5 & 6 – MARRAKECH, MOROCCO RACE REPORT" (PDF). World Touring Car Championship. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
World Touring Car Championship
Previous race:
2012 FIA WTCC Race of Spain
2012 World Touring Car Championship season Next race:
2012 FIA WTCC Race of Slovakia
Previous race:
2010 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco
FIA WTCC Race of Morocco Next race:
2013 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco
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