Chevrolet secured their 12th and 13th victories of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship campaign, a result which has seen them further extend their Championship advantage.
Round 15 saw the team celebrate their sixth 1, 2, 3 finish of the season while round 16 saw the team secure a 1, 2 finish from eighth, ninth and tenth on the grid. Michel Nykjaer ensured that the Independent bamboo engineering outfit had a reason to celebrate as the Danish driver secured a Yokohama Independents’ victory in the opening race and a top five finish overall.
Yvan Muller arrived in Brazil as the Championship leader and after a win and fourth place finish from the Brazilian races, he has retained his Championship advantage ahead of the trip to Sonoma Raceway in September.
“It’s not a bad weekend at all as we leave Brazil with a relative status quo in the championship,” explains the reigning Champion. “Winning Race 1 may have seemed easy on TV, but it wasn’t as we were all extremely close and the pace was quite fast.
“In Race 2, I gained some positions at the start, but then Alain and Rob seemed to have a little bit more of speed than me. I got stuck behind Tarquini, but 4th is not a bad result.”
Rob Huff secured his third victory of the season in the second race, having completed the podium positions in the first race. His results have seen him close the gap to Muller by one point; the Frenchman holds a 17 point advantage over Huff.
“It’s very nice to win for the third time this year and reducing, albeit by only one point, the gap with Yvan in the standings,” added the British driver. “I was a little bit disappointed with 3rd position in Race 1, but there is nothing you can do when you are behind Yvan and Alain.
“In Race 2, everything went wonderfully. We changed the set-up slightly in between races and the car was just fantastic, I could really put it where I wanted. The move on Gabriele was great and I am very happy of this win – it’s just what I needed.”
Alain Menu secured a double podium finish in Brazil, having finished second in both races. The Swiss driver has fallen 37 points behind Muller ahead of the trip to the USA.
“I am happy with the two 2nd places, although I would have liked to win,” added the #8 Cruze driver.” In Race 1, I pushed to overtake Yvan, but he made no mistakes and it would have been too risky to attack him.
“In Race 2, I had the car to win but Rob pulled away by the time I overtook Gabriele (Tarquini), one which I consider my best ever in my WTCC career. That’s my take away from Brazil,” reflects the Swiss driver.