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Powered byAugust 2011 • issue 46

MULLER CLOSES IN AS ENGSTLER DELIGHTS The FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)

travelled to Oschersleben, Germany, for rounds 15 and 16 of the 2011 season, where Yvan Muller boosted his Drivers’ Championship chase with his fifth win of the year.The reigning WTCC Champion earned pole position in qualifying with a lap time of 1:33.712, ahead of Robert Dahlgren who further enhanced the Volvo’s growing reputation by lapping the 3.696km circuit in 1:34.215.Just as at Donington Park two weeks previously, the heavens opened ahead of Sunday’s races. Chevrolet’s Muller remained undeterred, making a great start while his team-mate and Drivers’ Championship leader Rob Huff passed Dahlgren to take second.Huff pushed Muller during the opening laps until the Briton ran wide, losing valuable time but remaining in second. Meanwhile, Gabriele Tarquini capitalised on Dahlgren making contact with Alain Menu to take third.While Huff eventually caught back up to the race leader, Muller held on to seal his third WTCC victory in succession. Behind them, Tarquini resisted a late attack from Dahlgren to secure the final podium spot.In an action-packed second race, it was Franz Engstler who picked up a shock win. The German made a strong start from pole position to lie second behind Norbert Michelisz, but when the Hungarian racer span out of the lead on lap eight, the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver inherited first place.Despite attention from Chevrolet’s Alain Menu in the closing stages, Engstler took his team’s maiden WTCC win in front of his home crowd. Behind Menu in third was Gabriele Tarquini, who earned his second podium result of the weekend. The WTCC next travels to Valencia, Spain, for the final European round of the season on 3-4 September 2011.

Race 1 Result1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T2. Rob Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T3. Gabriele Tarquini Sunred SR León 1.6T4. Robert Dahlgren Volvo C30 Drive5. Alain Menu Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T6. Stefano D’Aste BMW 320 TC7. Michel Nykjær Sunred SR León 1.6T8. Pepe Oriola Sunred SR León 1.6T

Race 2 Result1. Franz Engstler BMW 320 TC2. Alain Menu Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T3. Gabriele Tarquini Sunred SR León 1.6T4. Tom Coronel BMW 320 TC5. Yvan Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T6. Rob Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T7. Robert Dahlgren Volvo C30 Drive8. Tiago Monteiro Sunred SR León 1.6T

Championship Points1. Rob Huff (GBR) 2892. Yvan Muller (FRA) 2833. Alain Menu (SUI) 2204. Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) 1455. Tom Coronel (NED) 1376. Tiago Monteiro (POR) 1057. Franz Engstler (DEU) 688. Norbert Michelisz (HUN) 66

Race One Rob Huff 1:49.734Race Two Tom Coronel 1:36.185

WTCC Jay-Ten 1. Aleksei Dudukalo (RUS) 752. Fabio Fabiani (ITA) 483. Pepe Oriola (ESP) 47

WHAT’S THE POINT

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Valencia, SpainLap distance: 4.005kmRace distance: 2 x 13 laps

WTCC RACE LAP RECORD:Dirk Müller 1:43.795 BMW 320i 2 October 20052010 WINNERS: Race 1: Gabriele Tarquini SEAT León TDiRace 2: Tiago Monteiro SEAT León TDiThe YOKOHAMA-supplied FIA European Touring Car

Cup (ETCC) took place on 24 July 2011 at Austria’s Salzburgring, with former WTCC racer Fabrizio Giovanardi clinching the trophy.The Italian shared a victory and a second-place finish apiece with Spain’s Pepe Oriola, but Giovanardi claimed the overall title courtesy of his pole position in the rain-affected weekend’s qualifying session.In both races, Giovanardi and Oriola were joined on the podium by Sweden’s Tomas Engström in the Honda Accord Euro R.

GIOVANARDI SCOOPS ETCC HONOURS AHEAD OF ORIOLA

New Zealand’s Richie Stanaway boosted his lead of the YOKOHAMA-supplied ATS Formel 3 Cup courtesy of

a stunning double victory at Austria’s Red Bull Ring.Stanaway started his weekend faultlessly, clinching pole position for race one by almost a second ahead of Rene Binder and Hannes Van Asseldonk. The 19-year-old went from strength to strength in race one, taking the win by over four seconds ahead of his championship rival Marco Sörensen and Dutch racer Van Asseldonk.Another pole position followed in the weekend’s second qualifying session, along with a lights to flag victory in race two. Stanaway again bravely fought off competition from Sörensen and Van Asseldonk behind him to cap a perfect weekend at the new circuit.With just six races to go until the end of the season Stanaway, who has won at least once at every meeting so far this year, has extended his lead to 25 points ahead of Sörensen. The series next travels to Germany’s EuroSpeedway Lausitz on 3-4 September 2011.

STANAWAY THE RUNAWAY IN AUSTRIA

YOKOHAMA-shod cars once again dominated the GT300 class when the Autobacs Super GT visited

Sugo, Japan, on 31 July 2011.The #14 Lexus IS350 of Ryo Orimo and Alexandre Imperatori claimed the class victory, holding off competition from fellow YOKOHAMA-supplied racers Morio Nitta and Yuji Kunimoto to clinch the win. In the GT500 class, Hironobu Yasuda and Bjorn Wirdheim secured a highly-respectable fourth-place finish in the ADVAN-supplied Nissan GT-R.

ORIMO AND IMPERATORI TOP GT300

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GORANSSON CLINCHES MEMORABLE DOUBLE

The sixth meeting of the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship took place at Karlskoga, Sweden on

13 August 2011, with Richard Göransson clinching the first double victory in the STCC since Tommy Rustad’s two triumphs at Våler in 2009.Göransson’s exceptional weekend was launched with a perfect qualifying session, in which the BMW driver secured pole position with a time of 1:07.704, 0.023s faster than Tommy Rustad in second place.The reigning STCC Champion won the opening encounter by a second ahead of Rustad, while championship leader Fredrik Ekblom secured the final podium spot.WestCoast Racing’s Göransson won the second race with a comfortable margin of 2.849 seconds, while Johan Stureson made it two podium visits from two race weekends by taking second ahead of Roger Eriksson.2009 WTCC Champion Gabriele Tarquini made his debut in the STCC, of which YOKOHAMA is sole tyre supplier, at Karlskoga in the Volvo C30, and despite showing good pace in qualifying, he struggled to 11th and 13th-place finishes. The STCC next visits Jyllandsringen, Denmark, on 27-28 August 2011.

ENGSTLER’S VICTORY BOOSTS TROPHY BID

Franz Engstler’s sensational race two victory at Oschersleben boosted his YOKOHAMA Drivers’ Trophy

bid, while Stefano D’Aste secured an impressive 18-point haul for Wiechers Sport.D’Aste’s sixth-place finish overall in race one was enough for the class win, while Michel Nykjær and Pepe Oriola joined him on the independents podium. Engstler’s stunning race two victory gave him the YOKOHAMA Drivers’ Trophy victory, eight places ahead of D’Aste who earned second in class. Javier Villa enhanced his growing reputation with third.German racer Engstler is now one of three drivers within two points of leader Norbert Michelisz in the overall YOKOHAMA Drivers’ Trophy standings, as the class prepares for an exciting finish.“First of all I have to say thanks to my team as they did a great job,” said Engstler. “It’s been a glorious day and to win my first WTCC race in front of my home crowd was a fantastic experience."

WTCC STAR DRIVER To read about YOKOHAMA’s WTCC star driver from Oschersleben, Pepe Oriola, please visit www.yokohama-online.com

YOKOHAMA Trophy1. Norbert Michelisz (HUN) 792. Kristian Poulsen (DEN) 783. Darryl O’Young (CHN) 784. Franz Engstler (GER) 775. Javier Villa (ESP) 736. Michel Nykjær (DEN) 697. Pepe Oriola (ESP) 428. Mehdi Bennani (MOR) 31

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WTCC: Engstler secures his maiden WTCC win

ETCC: A collection of wet tyres

next to the damp grid

Japanese GT: Orimo and Imperatori clinch the class win

STCC: Close competition as race one starts

ATS Formel 3 Cup: More close action

at the Red Bull Ring as race one starts

WTCC: Race two

gets underway

Keep up-to-date with the latest YOKOHAMA motorsport action with Track News... the next issue will be available on 13 September 2011.