Monza WTCC: Bjork's Volvo defeats Monteiro's Honda in race two
Polestar Volvo's Thed Bjork took his second World Touring Car Championship victory in the main race at Monza, overcoming a safety car and stern opposition from Tiago Monteiro's Honda
Bjork's rival throughout the weekend Monteiro jumped the polesitting Volvo at the start but the works Honda was unable to pull a significant lead in front.
It took just two laps for Bjork to return to the lead after the Volvo driver got a better exit out of the Ascari chicane and swept past Monteiro at the Parabolica.
Once back in front Bjork quickly extended his lead to 1.5 seconds before a safety car was called out when race one winner Tom Chilton's Citroen C-Elysee stopped at Ascari with a suspected broken driveshaft.
Bjork made an excellent restart following the safety car and again put distance between himself and the chasing Monteiro.
The Honda driver was then pulled back into a battle with the privateer Citroen of Rob Huff, who looked quicker on Monza's long straights.
The 50kg ballast in the Citroens played to Monteiro's advantage and he was able to keep his Honda in front but lost time to the race leader, allowing Bjork to take a dominant win by over two seconds.
Nicky Catsburg's Volvo was a lonely fourth ahead of a photo finish for fifth in which Nestor Girolami stole the place by 0.001s ahead of Norbert Michelisz.
Seventh fell the way of Sebastien Loeb Racing's Mehdi Bennani in front of Campos Racing's Esteban Guerrieri and Yann Ehrlacher's Lada.
SLR's John Filippi took the final points position in 10th after race one polesitter Tom Coronel ran wide at the Lesmos.
The third works Honda of Ryo Michigami had another torrid race, retiring with continued engine problems.
RESULTS - 12 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 23m51.974s |
2 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2.174s |
3 | Rob Huff | Munnich Motorsport | Citroen | 2.779s |
4 | Nicky Catsburg | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 3.269s |
5 | Nestor Girolami | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 6.180s |
6 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 6.181s |
7 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 9.582s |
8 | Esteban Guerrieri | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 11.522s |
9 | Yann Ehrlacher | RC Motorsport | Lada | 11.877s |
10 | John Filippi | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 12.077s |
11 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 12.836s |
12 | Aurelien Panis | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 16.637s |
13 | Kevin Gleason | RC Motorsport | Lada | 19.306s |
- | Daniel Nagy | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | Retirement |
- | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | Retirement |
- | Ryo Michigami | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | Retirement |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Tiago Monteiro | 85 |
2 | Thed Bjork | 70 |
3 | Nicky Catsburg | 50 |
4 | Norbert Michelisz | 46 |
5 | Tom Chilton | 44 |
6 | Rob Huff | 44 |
7 | Esteban Guerrieri | 41 |
8 | Nestor Girolami | 39 |
9 | Mehdi Bennani | 33 |
10 | Tom Coronel | 16 |
11 | John Filippi | 7 |
12 | Yann Ehrlacher | 2 |
13 | Kevin Gleason | 2 |
14 | Daniel Nagy | 1 |
15 | Aurelien Panis | 1 |
16 | Ryo Michigami | 1 |
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