Salzburgring excites – Moscow to enthrall
04 Jun 2014

The FIA World Touring Car Championship which sees YOKOHAMA as the official tyre supplier travels to Moscow’s Raceway at the weekend in what promises to be another plethora of excitement and competition.  After the dramatic scenes witnessed recently at the Salzburgring particularly at the start of race two with the multiple collisions that ensued, the Championship will be meeting its equator in Russia.

Although the Citroen Racing dominating force seems clear, the order of podium positions will see numerous alternatives over the next races and Moscow is promising to deliver just that. With permission of Honda and its experienced drivers - Tarquini and Monteiro - Lopez, Muller and Loeb (Citroen) are still fighting among each other to see who will prevail. Currently Lopez is ahead of Muller with a 41 point advantage in the overall table while Loeb, who this season switched from the rally roads to the track is closely following and proving his legendary driving skills.

At Salzburgring the competition in race 1 was fierce and resulted in Yvan Muller’s third victory of the season powering ahead and making good use of his inherited pole position after Morbidelli was penalised for finishing under yellow flags. However it was probably Tom Coronel, who impressed most that day. He was able to keep Lopez and Loeb at bay to claim an incredible second place with a display of technical and driving prowess that marvelled spectators. Although the Argentine did not get the best out of Coronel this time, his third place, just ahead of Loeb was enough to distance himself a little more from his Citroen team mates. 

Race 2 also proved dramatic with a long list of cars involved in a collision and the appearance of 2 safety car periods. Yvan Muller was unable to continue as a result of the damage on his car in lap 1, as well as Rob Huff and James Thompson. At the end of racing, it was the current leader “Pechito” Lopez who came in front of the two Honda’s of Tarquini and Monteiro , who concluded the podium places and strengthened their own positions in the Championship.

Meanwhile, David Oliva, responsible for YOKOHAMA Europe communications expressed the excitement the FIA WTCC Championship is bringing this season, with bigger more spectacular cars, larger YOKOHAMA tyres and the increasing comments on social media.  “What is guaranteed is that each race is growing in excitement and we are really looking forward to this weekend’s racing at Moscow’s Raceway”.  Adding “Since we established our YOKOHAMA Tyres Europe Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/YokohamaTyresEurope earlier in the year , we are seeing a steady increase in following and comments from the many WTCC “aficionados”. We are also offering fans the possibility to take part in online competitions and win exclusive prizes.”