Coming into the first Asian round of the season, Yvan Muller was leading the world drivers' championship. Kristian Poulsen was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.
Huff topped the wet first practice session on Saturday morning. Fabio Fabiani and Kano were black flagged for not having their headlights switched on.[7]
The track was drying in free practice two as Menu set the fastest time, he led a Chevrolet 1–2–3 with Muller second and Huff third. Fredy Barth was the top independent driver in fourth.[8]
Qualifyingedit
Qualifying had started with a threat of rain as Menu took pole position in qualifying with championship leading team–mate Muller second. The first session was stopped twice, firstly when Proteam Racing's Mehdi Bennani got stuck in the gravel at the final corner and then again when Pepe Oriola also went off at the final corner and crashed into the wall. O'Young finished the first session tenth and therefore took the reversed grid pole position for race two where he would be joined on the front row by Coronel. Yukinori Taniguchi was 12th at the end of the session and was the quickest local driver.
All the drivers taking part in the second session set their best times in their early runs. At the end of Q2 Menu was ahead of Muller and Dahlgren. Nykjær was the best placed independent driver in seventh.[9]
Fabiani had again failed to get within 107% of the fastest Q1 time but was not allowed to start the races after an altercation with the stewards as well as having incurred a number of other penalties already. Oriola required an engine change and would therefore take a five–place grid drop in race one while Arai failed to report to scrutineering during Q1 so his qualifying times were removed.[10]
Warm-Upedit
Pole sitter Menu led the warm–up session before the first race, the session came to a close early when Yoshimoto ended up in the gravel.[11]
Race Oneedit
Menu, Muller and Huff at the start of Race One
Menu started from pole position while Dahlgren behind was tagged by Nykjær which saw the Volvo driver spin and come back across the track at the first corner as the rest of the field passed. Coronel and Tarquini then came together which caught out Tiago Monteiro, Javier Villa, Barth and Yoshimoto; Tarquini and Villa were able to continue. The safety car was brought out while the stranded cars were removed, when the race resumed on lap seven it was Muller leading from Menu and Huff. The following lap Menu was able to make a successful pass for the lead, two laps later Muller then made a mistake and dropped behind Huff and Nykjær. Aleksei Dudukalo had a narrow escape when he spun on the exit of the final corner and came close to hitting the pit wall while team–mate Tarquini had recovered to ninth place after his first lap collision. At the end of the race, Menu led a Chevrolet 1–2 with Huff while Nykjær claimed his first outright podium result in third and the independents' victory with it. Muller was fourth while Taniguchi claimed his best result in the championship by finishing seventh behind Turkington. Bennani in eighth resisted a late charge from Tarquini.[12]
Race Twoedit
Race Two winner Tom Coronel on the podium
Rain had started to fall before the start of the race. O'Young started on pole position but he was passed straight away by Coronel as O'Young was tapped by Tarquini and spun. Dahlgren had got through to fourth at the expense of Menu while Muller and Huff were closing in on Coronel. Tarquini was served with a drive–through penalty on lap five for the collision with O'Young, he went into the pits for his penalty before retiring on lap twelve. Having previously attempted a pass on Huff for third, Dahlgren was re–passed by Menu as his Volvo C30 Drive was plagued by a misfiring engine. Coronel beat Muller to the line by inches, Huff was third and Menu was fourth. Dahlgren ended up fifth while Nykjær in sixth was the Yokohama Trophy victor once again.[12]
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.
Referencesedit
^Beer, Matt (26 September 2011). "Rally star Toshi Arai to race for Chevrolet in Suzuka World Touring Car event". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Allen, Peter (5 October 2011). "Charles Ng Joins Engstler For Asian WTCC Rounds". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Meissner, Johan (29 September 2011). "Hiroki Yoshimoto to race for SUNRED in Japan". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Abbott, Andrew (8 October 2011). "Turkington returns for Japan and China". Touring-Cars.net. Andrew Abbott. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Hudson, Neil (3 October 2011). "Masaki Kano to drive for Engstler in Japan". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Allen, Peter (21 October 2011). "Menu Quickest In Testing For WTCC's First Suzuka Visit". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Hudson, Neil (22 October 2011). "Rob Huff quickest in Free Practice 1". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Hudson, Neil (22 October 2011). "Alain Menu on top in final practice in Japan". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Abbott, Andrew (22 October 2011). "Menu takes Suzuka pole". Touring-Cars.net. Andrew Abbott. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^ abHudson, Neil (22 October 2011). "Fabiani not allowed to race as Oriola & Arai drop spots". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^Hudson, Neil (23 October 2011). "Menu on top again in sunny warm-up". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
^ ab(PDF). World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
2011, wtcc, race, japan, tenth, round, 2011, world, touring, championship, season, fourth, running, wtcc, race, japan, held, october, 2011, suzuka, circuit, suzuka, city, japan, race, detailsround, 2011, world, touring, championship, suzuka, circuit, suzuka, c. The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan It was held on 23 October 2011 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City Japan 2011 FIA WTCC Race of JapanRace detailsRound 10 of 12 in the 2011 World Touring Car Championship at Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City Japan Date23 October 2011LocationSuzuka City JapanCourseSuzuka Circuit2 243 kilometres 1 394 mi Race OneLaps25Pole positionDriverAlain MenuChevrolet RMLTime53 443PodiumFirstAlain MenuChevrolet RMLSecondRobert HuffChevrolet RMLThirdMichel NykjaerSUNRED EngineeringFastest LapDriverAlain MenuChevrolet RMLTime54 521Race TwoLaps23PodiumFirstTom CoronelROAL MotorsportSecondYvan MullerChevrolet RMLThirdRobert HuffChevrolet RMLFastest LapDriverRobert DahlgrenPolestar RacingTime54 116 The first race was won by Alain Menu of Chevrolet RML while Michel Nykjaer finished on the podium for the first time in World Touring Car Championship The second race was won by Tom Coronel of ROAL Motorsport Contents 1 Background 2 Report 2 1 Testing and free practice 2 2 Qualifying 2 3 Warm Up 2 4 Race One 2 5 Race Two 3 Results 3 1 Qualifying 3 2 Race 1 3 3 Race 2 4 Standings after the event 5 References 6 External linksBackground editComing into the first Asian round of the season Yvan Muller was leading the world drivers championship Kristian Poulsen was leading the Yokohama Independents Trophy Chevrolet RML added a fourth Chevrolet Cruze for the local rally driver Toshi Arai 1 Formula D driver Charles Ng joined Liqui Moly Team Engstler in a BMW 320si 2 while Hiroki Yoshimoto joined SUNRED Engineering to drive one of their SUNRED SR Leon 1 6Ts 3 Colin Turkington returned to Wiechers Sport having last raced for them at the Race of UK 4 Masaki Kano drove for DeTeam KK Motorsport in their BMW 320 TC 5 Report editTesting and free practice edit Menu led Friday s test session having displaced Polestar Racing s Robert Dahlgren late on Robert Huff who had lost his championship lead at the last round was third with Tiago Monteiro separating him from championship leader Muller Darryl O Young in the bamboo engineering Chevrolet was the quickest independent driver when he ended the session ninth The session had been stopped five minutes in when Norbert Michelisz went off the circuit 6 Huff topped the wet first practice session on Saturday morning Fabio Fabiani and Kano were black flagged for not having their headlights switched on 7 The track was drying in free practice two as Menu set the fastest time he led a Chevrolet 1 2 3 with Muller second and Huff third Fredy Barth was the top independent driver in fourth 8 Qualifying edit Qualifying had started with a threat of rain as Menu took pole position in qualifying with championship leading team mate Muller second The first session was stopped twice firstly when Proteam Racing s Mehdi Bennani got stuck in the gravel at the final corner and then again when Pepe Oriola also went off at the final corner and crashed into the wall O Young finished the first session tenth and therefore took the reversed grid pole position for race two where he would be joined on the front row by Coronel Yukinori Taniguchi was 12th at the end of the session and was the quickest local driver All the drivers taking part in the second session set their best times in their early runs At the end of Q2 Menu was ahead of Muller and Dahlgren Nykjaer was the best placed independent driver in seventh 9 Fabiani had again failed to get within 107 of the fastest Q1 time but was not allowed to start the races after an altercation with the stewards as well as having incurred a number of other penalties already Oriola required an engine change and would therefore take a five place grid drop in race one while Arai failed to report to scrutineering during Q1 so his qualifying times were removed 10 Warm Up edit Pole sitter Menu led the warm up session before the first race the session came to a close early when Yoshimoto ended up in the gravel 11 Race One edit nbsp Menu Muller and Huff at the start of Race One Menu started from pole position while Dahlgren behind was tagged by Nykjaer which saw the Volvo driver spin and come back across the track at the first corner as the rest of the field passed Coronel and Tarquini then came together which caught out Tiago Monteiro Javier Villa Barth and Yoshimoto Tarquini and Villa were able to continue The safety car was brought out while the stranded cars were removed when the race resumed on lap seven it was Muller leading from Menu and Huff The following lap Menu was able to make a successful pass for the lead two laps later Muller then made a mistake and dropped behind Huff and Nykjaer Aleksei Dudukalo had a narrow escape when he spun on the exit of the final corner and came close to hitting the pit wall while team mate Tarquini had recovered to ninth place after his first lap collision At the end of the race Menu led a Chevrolet 1 2 with Huff while Nykjaer claimed his first outright podium result in third and the independents victory with it Muller was fourth while Taniguchi claimed his best result in the championship by finishing seventh behind Turkington Bennani in eighth resisted a late charge from Tarquini 12 Race Two edit nbsp Race Two winner Tom Coronel on the podium Rain had started to fall before the start of the race O Young started on pole position but he was passed straight away by Coronel as O Young was tapped by Tarquini and spun Dahlgren had got through to fourth at the expense of Menu while Muller and Huff were closing in on Coronel Tarquini was served with a drive through penalty on lap five for the collision with O Young he went into the pits for his penalty before retiring on lap twelve Having previously attempted a pass on Huff for third Dahlgren was re passed by Menu as his Volvo C30 Drive was plagued by a misfiring engine Coronel beat Muller to the line by inches Huff was third and Menu was fourth Dahlgren ended up fifth while Nykjaer in sixth was the Yokohama Trophy victor once again 12 Results editQualifying edit Pos No Name Team Car C Q1 Q2 1 8 nbsp Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 53 748 53 443 2 1 nbsp Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 53 893 53 492 3 30 nbsp Robert Dahlgren Polestar Racing Volvo C30 Drive 53 760 53 512 4 2 nbsp Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 53 937 53 520 5 15 nbsp Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 53 943 53 601 6 18 nbsp Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T 53 871 53 798 7 17 nbsp Michel Nykjaer SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 53 725 53 811 8 3 nbsp Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T 53 734 53 824 9 9 nbsp Darryl O Young bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Y 53 956 53 902 10 29 nbsp Colin Turkington Wiechers Sport BMW 320 TC Y 53 672 54 339 11 20 nbsp Javier Villa Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 54 006 12 10 nbsp Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Y 54 070 13 5 nbsp Norbert Michelisz Zengo Dension Team BMW 320 TC Y 54 073 14 11 nbsp Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 54 126 15 4 nbsp Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 54 127 16 12 nbsp Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 54 219 17 7 nbsp Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 54 411 18 88 nbsp Hiroki Yoshimoto SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 54 466 19 74 nbsp Pepe Oriola SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 54 730 20 25 nbsp Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 55 002 21 51 nbsp Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 55 356 22 68 nbsp Masaki Kano DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 55 551 EX1 31 nbsp Toshi Arai Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Excluded 107 time 57 429 21 nbsp Fabio Fabiani Proteam Racing BMW 320si Y 58 023 Bold denotes Pole position for second race 1 Arai failed to report to the weighbridge during qualifying and so his times from the session were deleted 10 Race 1 edit Pos No Name Team Car C Laps Time Retired Grid Points 1 8 nbsp Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 25 25 50 919 1 25 2 2 nbsp Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 25 3 133 4 18 3 17 nbsp Michel Nykjaer SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 25 3 766 7 15 4 1 nbsp Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 25 4 441 2 12 5 11 nbsp Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 25 4 851 14 10 6 29 nbsp Colin Turkington Wiechers Sport BMW 320 TC Y 25 8 601 10 8 7 10 nbsp Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Y 25 13 472 12 6 8 25 nbsp Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 25 13 730 19 4 9 3 nbsp Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T 25 14 045 8 2 10 12 nbsp Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 25 15 950 16 1 11 9 nbsp Darryl O Young bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Y 25 20 833 9 12 68 nbsp Masaki Kano DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 25 25 889 20 13 31 nbsp Toshi Arai Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 25 26 767 21 14 51 nbsp Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 25 39 298 23 15 5 nbsp Norbert Michelisz Zengo Dension Team BMW 320 TC Y 25 44 478 13 16 20 nbsp Javier Villa Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 25 50 554 11 17 4 nbsp Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 25 1 16 031 15 18 74 nbsp Pepe Oriola SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 20 5 Laps 22 Ret 88 nbsp Hiroki Yoshimoto SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 11 Race incident 18 NC 15 nbsp Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 5 20 Laps 5 Ret 7 nbsp Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 2 Race incident 17 Ret 30 nbsp Robert Dahlgren Polestar Racing Volvo C30 Drive 0 Race incident 3 Ret 18 nbsp Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T 0 Race incident 6 Bold denotes Fastest lap Race 2 edit Pos No Name Team Car C Laps Time Retired Grid Points 1 15 nbsp Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC 23 21 10 854 2 25 2 1 nbsp Yvan Muller Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 23 0 558 4 18 3 2 nbsp Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 23 0 840 3 15 4 8 nbsp Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 23 1 576 6 12 5 30 nbsp Robert Dahlgren Polestar Racing Volvo C30 Drive 23 2 057 5 10 6 17 nbsp Michel Nykjaer SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 23 7 397 8 8 7 29 nbsp Colin Turkington Wiechers Sport BMW 320 TC Y 23 7 730 9 6 8 20 nbsp Javier Villa Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 23 8 292 10 4 9 5 nbsp Norbert Michelisz Zengo Dension Team BMW 320 TC Y 23 8 606 12 2 10 11 nbsp Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 23 8 901 13 1 11 12 nbsp Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC Y 23 9 477 15 12 4 nbsp Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 23 15 744 14 13 74 nbsp Pepe Oriola SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 23 22 668 17 14 10 nbsp Yukinori Taniguchi bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Y 23 23 263 11 15 31 nbsp Toshi Arai Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T 23 23 541 21 16 68 nbsp Masaki Kano DeTeam KK Motorsport BMW 320 TC Y 23 25 577 20 17 88 nbsp Hiroki Yoshimoto SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 23 26 926 16 18 25 nbsp Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC Y 23 33 610 18 19 51 nbsp Charles Ng Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si Y 23 34 092 19 Ret 3 nbsp Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T 11 Withdrew 7 Ret 9 nbsp Darryl O Young bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1 6T Y 1 Race incident 1 DNS 18 nbsp Tiago Monteiro SUNRED Engineering SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T 0 Did not start 22 DNS 7 nbsp Fredy Barth SEAT Swiss Racing by SUNRED SUNRED SR Leon 1 6T Y 0 Did not start 23 Bold denotes Fastest lap Standings after the event editDrivers Championship standings Pos Driver Points nbsp 1 nbsp Yvan Muller 363 nbsp 2 nbsp Robert Huff 350 nbsp 3 nbsp Alain Menu 290 nbsp 4 nbsp Tom Coronel 183 nbsp 5 nbsp Gabriele Tarquini 159 Yokohama Independents Trophy standings Pos Driver Points nbsp 1 nbsp Kristian Poulsen 111 nbsp 2 nbsp Norbert Michelisz 100 nbsp 3 3 nbsp Michel Nykjaer 96 nbsp 1 4 nbsp Franz Engstler 88 nbsp 1 5 nbsp Javier Villa 87 Manufacturers Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points nbsp 1 nbsp Chevrolet 810 nbsp 2 nbsp BMW Customer Racing Teams 485 nbsp 3 nbsp SR Customer Racing 435 nbsp 4 nbsp Volvo Polestar Evaluation Team 138 Note Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers standings References edit Beer Matt 26 September 2011 Rally star Toshi Arai to race for Chevrolet in Suzuka World Touring Car event Autosport Haymarket Publications Retrieved 13 March 2013 Allen Peter 5 October 2011 Charles Ng Joins Engstler For Asian WTCC Rounds The Checkered Flag BlackEagleMedia Network Retrieved 13 March 2013 Meissner Johan 29 September 2011 Hiroki Yoshimoto to race for SUNRED in Japan TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB Retrieved 13 March 2013 Abbott Andrew 8 October 2011 Turkington returns for Japan and China Touring Cars net Andrew Abbott Retrieved 13 March 2013 Hudson Neil 3 October 2011 Masaki Kano to drive for Engstler in Japan TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB Retrieved 13 March 2013 Allen Peter 21 October 2011 Menu Quickest In Testing For WTCC s First Suzuka Visit The Checkered Flag BlackEagleMedia Network Retrieved 13 March 2013 Hudson Neil 22 October 2011 Rob Huff quickest in Free Practice 1 TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB Retrieved 13 March 2013 Hudson Neil 22 October 2011 Alain Menu on top in final practice in Japan TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB Retrieved 13 March 2013 Abbott Andrew 22 October 2011 Menu takes Suzuka pole Touring Cars net Andrew Abbott Retrieved 13 March 2013 a b Hudson Neil 22 October 2011 Fabiani not allowed to race as Oriola amp Arai drop spots TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB Retrieved 13 March 2013 Hudson Neil 23 October 2011 Menu on top again in sunny warm up TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB Retrieved 13 March 2013 a b ROUNDS 19 amp 20 SUZUKA JAPAN RACE REPORT PDF World Touring Car Championship Kigema Sport Organisation 23 October 2011 Archived from the original PDF on 4 October 2013 Retrieved 13 March 2013 External links editWorld Touring Car Championship official website World Touring Car Championship Previous race 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Spain 2011 World Touring Car Championship season Next race 2011 FIA WTCC Race of China Previous race 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Japan FIA WTCC Race of Japan Next race 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan amp oldid 1194141400, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
