The 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Italy (formally the 2009 FIA WTCC Stihl Race of Italy) was the tenth round of the 2009 World Touring Car Championship season, and the fifth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Italy. It was held on 20 September 2009 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari near Imola, in Italy. It was the first time the Race of Italy was held at the circuit, although it had previously held races in 2005 and 2008, under the Race of San Marino and Race of Europe titles respectively. The races were won by SEAT Sport drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller who both finished second to their teammates in the other races.

Background Gabriele Tarquini arrived at his home race in Italy as the new championship leader, with a one-point lead over BMW Team Germany's Augusto Farfus. Previous series leader Yvan Muller was a further six points behind for SEAT.

There were 25 cars taking part at the event. Making his World Championship debut for Proteam was Fabio Fabiani, the reigning European Touring Car Cup champion in the Super Production class. Returning to the series after limited races in 2005 was Andrea Larini, younger brother of Chevrolet driver Nicola, in the SUNRED-run SEAT León Eurocup prize car.

James Thompson returned to the Lada Sport team, taking his Priora back off team principal Viktor Shapovalov, who stood in for Thompson in Germany due to commitments in V8 Supercar. Also returning was Mehdi Bennani and the Exagon Engineering team after missing the previous two rounds.

Report Free Practice Championship leader Tarquini was fastest in the first practice session, ahead of BMW Team Italy-Spain's Alessandro Zanardi and Yvan Muller. Independent's Trophy leader Tom Coronel was fourth fastest ahead of Farfus and Sergio Hernández.

Jordi Gené was fastest in the second session for SEAT, ahead of teammate Rickard Rydell and BMW Team UK's Andy Priaulx. The session ended a couple of minutes early as the red flag was brought out after a collision between independent BMW drivers Stefano D'Aste and Fabio Fabiani, which left Fabiani stranded in the gravel.

Qualifying The first session decided which ten drivers would make it through to the second session. Tarquini was fastest as all five SEAT drivers made it through to Q2. Only two BMW's made it through, with Farfus and Priaulx joined by all three Chevrolet drivers. D'Aste was the fastest independent in 14th, one place ahead of Thompson's Lada.

The second session determined the starting positions of the top ten. The five SEATs followed each other round to gain a slipstreaming benefit. Tarquini was the fastest of the train, ahead of Yvan Muller and Rydell. Rob Huff was fourth fastest for Chevrolet, ahead of SEAT driver Tiago Monteiro and Farfus. Priaulx, Gené and Chevrolet's Nicola Larini were seventh, eighth and ninth. The third Chevrolet driver Alain Menu did not take part in Q2 after his car returned to the pits at the end of Q1 spewing out oil. He was later given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change.

Race One Tarquini led from the start of the race until the finish, although it was a busy race for those behind him. Several front-runners were taken out of contention on the opening lap at the first Tamburello chicane. Jordi Gené triggered the accident when he hit Rob Huff's Chevrolet under breaking. Huff lost control and made contact with Rickard Rydell, who then hit his SEAT teammate Gené and then Augusto Farfus. Jörg Müller and Tiago Monteiro also suffered damage in the incident. All except Monteiro were able to make it to the pits and return to the action later in the race. Tarquini led from Yvan Muller, Huff, and Alex Zanardi. Tom Coronel and James Thompson were able to make up a host of places after avoiding the carnage by running through the gravel at the chicane, and finished in fifth and sixth. A train formed behind Thompson's Lada, and Stefano D'Aste ran off the track after out-breaking himself trying to pass Thompson. He made contact with Alain Menu's Chevrolet on rejoining the circuit, tipping D'Aste into a spin. Elsewhere, Kristian Poulsen tapped Jaap van Lagen into a spin, which resulted in van Lagen's Lada hitting a tyre wall and then flipping through the gravel trap, which brought out the safety car. Poulsen was then hit by teammate and team owner Franz Engstler. Andy Priaulx lost out in the fight for the eighth place, going off the circuit twice before eventually finishing fifteenth. Guest driver Andrea Larini was black-flagged for not wearing fire-proof underwear.

Race Two Yvan Muller ended a run of poor results in race two by winning ahead of SEAT Sport teammate Tarquini. Muller had started seventh but he was able to pass race leader Menu on the third lap and led the rest of the way. Tarquini made contact with the Chevrolet car of Huff but remained on the tail of Muller. Tarquini fought for the lead but bumped into the back of Muller in trying to do so. Down the field, SEAT driver Gené attempted a pass on Hernández but misjudged it and spun the BMW. Fellow SEAT driver Monteiro also clipped another car, this time the SUNRED Engineering car of Tom Boardman. Monteiro went off the track as a consequence, cutting the corner at Rivazza and almost hitting Boardman as he rejoined the track. At the end Yvan Muller was first ahead of Tarquini and Menu while Thompson finished sixth in the Lada. Farfus was the final points scorer while D'Aste was the independents' trophy winner.

Results Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 1 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:56.139 1:55.320 2 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:55.840 1:55.726 3 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:55.847 1:55.891 4 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:56.610 1:56.044 5 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:56.189 1:56.252 6 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:56.393 1:56.257 7 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 1:56.873 1:56.283 8 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 1:56.392 1:56.418 9 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:56.704 1:56.522 10 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 1:56.972 no time set 11 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:57.026 12 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:57.121 13 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:57.208 14 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 1:57.306 15 36 James Thompson Lada Sport Lada Priora 1:57.331 16 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:57.419 17 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:57.472 18 30 Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:57.787 19 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:57.962 20 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:58.029 21 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:58.170 22 18 Jaap van Lagen Lada Sport Lada Priora 1:58.388 23 19 Kirill Ladygin Lada Sport Lada Priora 1:58.990 24 45 Andrea Larini SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 1:59.056 25 46 Fabio Fabiani Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 2:02.619

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 29:31.701 1 10 2 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 13 +0.409 2 8 3 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +0.842 4 6 4 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 13 +1.457 12 5 5 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +3.501 16 4 6 36 James Thompson Lada Sport Lada Priora 13 +5.620 14 3 7 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 13 +6.002 10 2 8 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 13 +6.390 20 1 9 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +10.004 15 10 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +10.346 21 11 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +10.819 19 12 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 13 +11.793 13 13 30 Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 13 +12.329 17 14 19 Kirill Ladygin Lada Sport Lada Priora 13 +13.424 23 15 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 13 +13.766 7 16 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 13 +15.321 18 17 46 Fabio Fabiani Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +22.432 25 Ret 18 Jaap van Lagen Lada Sport Lada Priora 8 Race incident 22 Ret 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 7 Race incident 8 Ret 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 5 Race incident 11 Ret 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 5 Race incident 3 Ret 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 4 Race incident 6 Ret 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 3 Race incident 9 Ret 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 0 Race incident 5 DSQ 45 Andrea Larini SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 7 Disqualified 24 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 11 21:51.680 7 10 2 2 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 11 +0.312 8 8 3 12 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 11 +4.008 1 6 4 9 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 11 +4.467 5 5 5 4 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 11 +5.632 19 4 6 36 James Thompson Lada Sport Lada Priora 11 +7.190 3 3 7 3 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 11 +7.612 21 2 8 8 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 11 +8.327 22 1 9 6 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 11 +8.827 15 10 27 Stefano D'Aste Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 11 +9.499 12 11 10 Sergio Hernández BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 11 +12.380 2 12 23 Félix Porteiro Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 11 +12.902 9 13 25 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 11 +13.390 11 14 21 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 11 +13.933 4 15 7 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 11 +14.351 20 16 14 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 11 +15.582 25 17 11 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze LT 11 +19.759 6 18 22 Tom Boardman SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 11 +30.537 10 19 26 Kristian Poulsen Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 11 +32.926 24 20 19 Kirill Ladygin Lada Sport Lada Priora 11 +37.197 14 21 45 Andrea Larini SUNRED Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 11 +37.198 18 22 46 Fabio Fabiani Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 11 +1:24.989 16 23 5 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León 2.0 TDI 8 +3 Laps 23 Ret 30 Mehdi Bennani Exagon Engineering SEAT León 2.0 TFSIY 6 Race incident 13 DNS 18 Jaap van Lagen Lada Sport Lada Priora 0 Did not start 17 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Gabriele Tarquini 109 1 2 Yvan Muller 102 1 3 Augusto Farfus 91 4 Andy Priaulx 66 5 Rickard Rydell 63

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Tom Coronel 195 2 Félix Porteiro 166 3 Franz Engstler 128 4 Stefano D'Aste 127 5 Tom Boardman 77

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 SEAT 271 2 BMW 250 3 Chevrolet 169 4 Lada 78

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

External links Results Booklet PDF at MST Systems