Rob Huff claimed victory in the first race of the weekend at Curitiba on Sunday afternoon, as the Chevrolet driver led home team-mates Yvan Muller and local favourite Carlos Bueno. The 31-year-old Briton kept his lead on Lap 1 and went on to take victory during the first race of the season by a margin of 0.873 seconds.
Typically humid weather greeted the drivers ahead of the start, with the 14 lap race getting underway at 1pm local time (GMT -3). Huff was able to take full advantage of the pole position grid slot he earned in Saturday qualifying, and despite being closely followed by Muller for the whole race, he had enough pace available to prevent the current World Champion from getting past.
Tom Coronel battled his way up to fourth by the end of the race, but the Dutchman was almost thirteen seconds behind the leading trio up front. Kristian Poulsen had to settle for fifth after a costly mistake, with the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver giving Coronel the opportunity to claim the position at the flag.
After a difficult qualifying session at the Brazilian venue yesterday, Alain Menu was able make amends and claim sixth place at the chequered flag. The 47-year-old will be relishing the opportunity to start from pole position later this afternoon, with the Race 2 grid now formed by reversing the top ten finishers from Q1.
Gabriele Tarquini was next up in seventh, with Michel Nykjaer crossing the line only half a second behind the Italian. The top ten was completed by Franz Engstler and Mehdi Bannani, with the pair grabbing the last points on offer after narrowly getting the better of Tiago Monteiro and Robert Dahlgren in 11th and 12th respectively.
Race two at Curitiba begins at 2.15pm local time (GMT -3)
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  R. Huff | Chevrolet | 19:29.481 |
| 2. | Y. Muller | Chevrolet | +0.873 |
| 3. | C. Bueno | Chevrolet | +3.924 |
| 4. | T. Coronel | ROAL | +12.714 |
| 5. | K. Poulsen | Engstler | +13.004 |
| 6. | A. Menu | Chevrolet | +13.402 |
| 7. | G. Tarquini | Lukoil-SUNRED | +14.214 |
| 8. | M. Nykjaer | SUNRED | +14.716 |
| 9. | F. Engstler | Engstler | +19.100 |
| 10. | M. Bennani | Proteam | +19.591 |
| Full results | |||
| Chevrolet | |
|---|---|
| 20 Mar '11 | Menu fends off Coronel to win second race |
| 20 Mar '11 | Huff leads Chevrolet trio in Race 1 |
| 19 Mar '11 | Huff grabs pole for opening race |
| 18 Nov '10 | Muller wins title after Okayama exclusions |
| WTCC: Brazil 2011 | |
| 20 Mar '11 | Latest WTCC photos: Sunday at Curitiba |
| Robert Huff | |
| 7 Nov '11 | Public MK kart race organised for Wheldon |
| 15 Oct '10 | Huff and Muller test new Chevrolet |
| 1 Oct '10 | Chevrolet names line-up for 2011 |
| 17 Sep '10 | Huff begins testing new 2011 Chevrolet Cruze |
| WTCC | |
| 25 Sep '12 | Circuit of Wales to submit planning application |
| 22 Sep '12 | WTCC video: Felice Tedeschi rolls at Sonoma |
| 12 Sep '11 | Zanardi targets success in London 2012 |
| 5 Sep '11 | Priaulx confirms return to Race of Champions |
| Robert Huff | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Robert Huff photos | |||
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