Porto, Race 2 : Nash claims win from Huff

Third place for Nykjaer

James Nash, driving a bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze, converted pole position to his second victory of the season, finishing ahead of his fellow Briton Rob Huff in a Münnich Motorsport SEAT León.

With fading brakes afflicting Huff’s car for much of the race, Michel Nykjær in the Nika Racing Chevrolet pushed Huff right to the chequered flag, but the reigning World Champion held off the challenge and so Nykjær had to settle for his second third-place finish of the day.

Behind the fight for the podium places, Pepe Oriola will surely be happy to have his debut event in a Chevrolet Cruze result in a pair of fourth places, with Marc Basseng fifth in another SEAT and James Thompson’s LADA Granta holding off the determined challenge of Yvan Muller to finish sixth.

Non-finishers included Fernando Monje, whose SEAT pulled up on Lap 5, and the BMW of Fredy Barth which hit the wall at Turn 13 on the penultimate lap. The mixed fortunes of the Castrol Honda team continued, with Tiago Monterio finishing 11th and Gabriele Tarquini in last place after the turbocharger in his Civic was changed after it failed in Race 1.

Norbert Michelisz and Tom Boardman did not take the start as the teams could not repair damages obtained in the first race.

Key moments

— Start – Huff passes Basseng for 2nd at Turn 1
— Lap 1 – Oriola passes Chilton for 6th and forces him to ran wide and drop to 10th
— Lap 2 – Valente passes Barth for 14th; Monteiro passes O’Young for 12th
— Lap 3 – Nykjær passes Thompson for 4th
— Lap 4 – Oriola passes Thompson for 5th, but cuts the chicane so gives the place back
— Lap 4 – Nykjær passes Basseng for 3rd; Chilton passes Bennani for 9th
— Lap 5 – Monje pulles off at Turn 10
— Lap 6 – Kozlovskiy passes Tarquini for 20th
— Lap 7 – Monteiro passes D’Aste for 11th; Oriola passes Thompson for 5th
— Lap 10 – Basseng slides wide and is passed by Oriola for 4th
— Lap 10 – Barth crashes into the barriers at Turn 13
— Lap 11 – Nash takes the win