WTCC: Muller beats Tarquini for race two win

Yvan Muller claimed victory for Citroen in the final race World Touring Car Championship race at Shanghai, denying Honda's Gabriele Tarquini.

Muller made a good start to get in front of teammate and championship leader Jose Maria Lopez from the line as he chased down Tarquini – who claimed the lead after a wheel-to-wheel battle with polesitter Hugo Valente.

Valente sustained damage to his rear suspension as a result of his first lap tussle with Tarquini and was forced to retire.

Muller made his move on leader Tarquini on lap nine of 15, executing a clean and easy overtake on the Italian. He then pulled away to form a three-second lead as Tarquini came under pressure from Lopez and Sebastian Loeb.

Despite the best efforts of a charging Lopez, he could find no way past Tarquini to take second and ultimately it was a photo finish across the line. Loeb ended his race in fourth.

There was a poor start for the Lada team, with its Shanghai pacesetter Nicky Catsburg eventually retiring with undisclosed mechanical problems.

Rob Huff managed to fight his way up to finish a strong fifth despite sustaining damage in an accident in race one. The same accident meant neither ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet of Tom Chilton or Tom Coronel could get out for race two.

Mechanical issues for home favorite Ma Qing Hua in race one left question marks over his participation too, but he did manage to get out and ended the weekend with an eighth position.

RESULTS - 14 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com