SEAT beats BMW, Honda and Chevrolet in Curitiba

SEAT Sport drivers Yvan Muller and Rickard Rydell held off the BMW Team Germany’s attack of Augusto Farfus and J?oerg Müller, to win the first race in Curitiba.

This was a tough race for the leading two, who in the final laps had to sweat to defend their position as their tyres were wearing out.

But it was even tougher for Chevrolet. On lap 3 Nicola Larini made contact with Robert Huff, who spun in the centre of the racetrack.

Larini could not continue the race, but Huff continued and began to make up ground by overtaking Félix Porteiro, only to pit on lap 8 with rear suspension failure; a late result of the collision.


Alain Menu had also pitted earlier following a shunt and did not resume the race.

Farfus had a poor start falling back to fifth, as he was one of cars to take to the grass at the first corner. However, he quickly made up ground passing Müller on lap 3, and then both of them passed Gabriele Tarquini on lap 8 moving up to fourth and fifth respectively.

For the remainder of the race Farfus chased the leading cars, but on the final lap came under pressure from his team mate and had to defend third place until the finish.



Reigning world champion Andy Priaulx took fifth spot following late overtaking of Tarquini and Jordi Gené. Spaniard Porteiro made up the top eight finishers in the race, overtaking Tom Coronel to take pole position for the next race, with fellow countryman Gené alongside him.

Priaulx's late surge also resulted in the fastest lap completed on lap 10 at the time of 1:25.100.

In the Independents' class pole sitter Pierre-Yves Corthals was the eventual winner and he finished in tenth place overall. It was not an easy race for the Belgian as he had to fight hard with Sergio Hern?ndez who overtook him at the beginning of lap 11. However on the final lap Corthals managed to retake the lead.


Drivers Championship:

1 Yvan Muller (FRA) 14 points
2 Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) 14 points
3 Andy Priaulx (GBR) 13 points
4 J?rg Müller (GER) 11 points
5 Rickard Rydell (SWE) 10 points

Manufacturers Championship:

1 SEAT 32 points
2 BMW 25 points
3 Chevrolet 0 points
4 HONDA 0 points