History at Inaugural WTCC Argentina
08 Aug 2013

Following superb qualifying Yvan Muller once again managed an impressive lights-to-flag victory in race 1 to continue his domination of the WTCC Drivers’ Championship.  This time the scene setter was Argentina with the FIA WTCC paying its first ever visit to the South American country.

Muller who is in unstoppable form and en route to another World Championship was pressed throughout the race by Pepe Oriola in his Tuenti Racing car. In the end Oriola kept his podium place ahead of  Yvan Muller’s Team mate Tom Chilton, who managed a meritorious third.

A significant fifth place which was even further improved in the second race, was taken by local hero 'Pechito’ López who was the winner of the Yokohama Trophy pleasing the home fans. This was the Argentine driver’s debut in the Wiechers-Sport BMW and a first appearance at WTCC and seriously impressed everyone with some superb and fast driving. In race 2, ‘Pechito’ López did even better by re-writing history with a “rookie” victory at “Termas de Río Hondo.” López was also the first non-European to win a WTCC race since Augusto Farfus’ victory at Macau in 2009.

Also in race 2 Gabriele Tarquini gave the Castrol Honda team some joy by finishing second while the young Pepe Oriola also added to his tally with a third place collecting useful points with his visit to the country of “La Pampa.”

In the Championship standings, Muller now leads with 132 points ahead of Michel Nykjær and Tarquini remains in third place. Nykjær has also extended his lead in the Yokohama Trophy to nine points after the two races in Argentina, ahead of James Nash and Alex MacDowall.

The championship will resume for rounds 17 and 18 in Sonoma, USA on September 8th.