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| June 4, 2012 | |
| DOUBLE PODIUM IN PORTIMAO FOR AN ALBERTO CERQUI MORE AND MORE PROTAGONIST IN THE YOKOHAMA DRIVERS' TROPHY | |
| 03/06/2012 - Alberto Cerqui is being ever more at ease in the world touring cars championship and has been one of the protagonists of the round of Portimao (P), seventh round of the season.
In qualifying held on Saturday, the young driver from Brescia set the seventh time in Q1 (1'55.413) and easily got into Q2, where he afterwards set the sixth best time (1'55.036), obtaining his best qualifying result of the season so far. The Superstars Series Italian reigning champion started well in race one but was attacked by some rivals. Ninth at the end of lap four, he started battling engaging a duel with the home hero Tiago Monteiro (Seat) in the final stages, before ending eighth under the chequered flag, position that was also worth the second place in the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy. Exciting was race two that saw Cerqui holding constantly top positions defending himself from Chevrolets' attacks. Cerqui appeared to be in strong shape in one of his nicest races of the season and managed to express the potential shown last year also at the wheel of the BMW 320TC. At the end of the scheduled eleven laps, he obtained a very good sixth place and another second place in the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy, a result that he celebrated on the podium that Cerqui visited twice in the same day. Alberto Cerqui: "Before going to Portugal I knew that I could have done well in Portimao: it is a track that I like and that I already knew and my feeling with the BMW 320TC has improved a lot since the first races. In qualifying I did not have problems in getting into Q2 and everything went according to plan in the races; particularly, finishing just a few tenths from the reigning world champion Yvan Muller in race two is certainly positive and gives a lot of motivation to the whole team before the exits that will take us to America and Asia in the coming months". Cerqui gained two positions in the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy where he now stands fifth at 50 points, just eight shy of the fourth place. The FIA WTCC will resume next 22 July in Curitiba, Brazil, for the first of the five extra-European rounds scheduled by the second part of the FIA WTCC 2012 calendar. | |