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May
21st

WTCC: Huge penalties at the Salzburgring (+video)

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The last two rounds of the World Touring Car Championship in Austria were won by the Chevrolet Cruzes of Michael Nykjaer and James Nash after an epic battle during the qualifying.

FIA WTCC Chevrolet James Nash
James Nash, Chevrolet. (Photo: FIA WTCC)

No less than 12 drivers have been penalized after Saturday's qualifying session. As the Salzburgring is a very fast race track, slipstream played a big role.

As Tom Chilton was the first car of the pack during the final moments of the session, no one wanted to pass him to benefit from his slipstream.

As a result, everybody stayed behind Chilton at low speed, with a pack of cars running at just 40 km/h. That was even more laughable that no car was able to reach the finish line before the chequered flag was dropped, and no one managed to improve his time.



The race stewards decided to hand out massive fines and grid penalties to all 12 drivers, including Yvan Muller who lost the benefit of his pole position, being dropped down to 13th on the grid. Michael Nykjaer inherited the pole position.

FIA WTCC Chevrolet Michel Nykjaer
Michel Nykjaer, Chevrolet. (Photo: FIA WTCC)

Nykjaer was able to maintain his lead during Race 1, and took his second win of the season ahead of James Nash and Yvan Muller, who made a great recovery.

In race 2, James Nash had a great run and claimed his  maiden WTCC win ahead of Muller and Norbert Michelisz's Honda Civic.

Yvan Muller extended his lead on the points table, and is now 80 points ahead of Gabriele Tarquini (Honda).

Race 1:
1 - Michel Nykjaer - Chevrolet Cruze - Nika
2 - James Nash - Chevrolet Cruze - Bamboo - 0"298
3 - Yvan Muller - Chevrolet Cruze - RML - 0"645
4 - Mehdi Bennani - BMW 320 TC - Proteam - 1"586
5 - Alex MacDowall - Chevrolet Cruze - Bamboo - 4"374
Etc.

Race 2:
1 - James Nash - Chevrolet Cruze - Bamboo
2 - Yvan Muller - Chevrolet Cruze - RML - 1"438
3 - Norbert Michelisz - Honda Civic - Zengo - 1"818

4 - Tiago Monteiro - Honda Civic - Honda-Jas - 3"483

5 - Michel Nykjaer - Chevrolet Cruze - Nika - 4"064
Etc.

Championship:
Muller 198 points ; 2. Tarquini 118; 3. Nash 108; 4. Nykjaer 96; 5. Huff and Chilton 77, etc.


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