Race 2 – First for Tiago Monteiro!

Tiago Monteiro (SEAT) finally secures his first success in WTCC by winning the second race in Puebla. Yvan Muller (SEAT) is 4th. The drivers of the Spanish brand occupied the top six positions in the race. See the WTCC Live result

Struck by bad luck since the beginning of the season, Tiago Monteiro (SEAT Sport) finally found success in his path by winning the second race of the Puebla meeting. The Portuguese driver, who joined the Iberian team last year, led the second race from start to finish after making a better start than the Swiss Alain Menu (Chevrolet). He then took advantage of the battle within the pack to break away and win with a significant lead. “It’s incredible, I was really very fast throughout the weekend. It wasn’t easy though, because on this circuit, you have to stay constantly focused,” he noted.

As an experienced driver and a savvy strategist, Rickard Rydell (SEAT Sport) was clever enough to take second place and score significant points in the title race. This was at the expense of Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT Sport), who made a small mistake two laps from the finish. It proved consequential as the Italian driver had to relinquish the lead in the standings to his Swedish teammate, the only member of the Spanish team not to have won a race. “I am happy with my race. I really didn’t expect to leave this difficult circuit with two second places,” he said jubilantly.

And the raid didn’t stop there. Jaime Puig’s men monopolized the top five positions, a first in WTCC history! And by the next meeting in six weeks in Valencia, the outrageous domination of SEAT is sure to raise a question: “Are turbo diesels unbeatable?” Yvan Muller, after experiencing several ups and downs, eventually took fourth place, not without struggling behind Menu or coming close to a track exit. Jordi Gené, for his part, capitalized on others’ mistakes as best he could to finish fifth and complete the dazzling quintet.

For the other rivals, it was only scraps that were offered to them. The Chevrolets couldn’t hold up, as seen with Alain Menu, who was struggling with major grip issues on a track that is already known to be difficult. At the front of the reversed grid, the Swiss driver only managed to finish in seventh place behind an opportunistic Tom Coronel (SEAT SUNRED).

Andy Priaulx (Team BMW UK) and his teammates had slightly less luck than in the first race. The Brit managed to secure a single point. A point that will likely be worth its weight in gold when tallying up at the end of the season. The results from the first two meetings of the season are, in any case, unequivocal: four SEAT drivers occupy the top four positions – Rydell, Tarquini, Muller, and Gené in that order – and the Spanish manufacturer already has a 29-point lead over BMW. Is the championship already decided?

According to Eurosport – the site unable to write until Thursday

Course 2 – Puebla, Mexico – Results

See the WTCC Live Results