page_title: Alain Menu
section_title: Chevrolet (2005–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: Alain Menu / Biography / World Touring Car Championship / Chevrolet (2005–2012)
caption_attribution_description: English: Alain Menu (Chevrolet) at the 2008 WTCC Brands Hatch race.
context_page_description: Alain Menu is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice. He drove for Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2012 with a best finish of second in 2012.
context_section_description: In 2004, Menu announced his return to production-based touring car racing, with the fledgling Chevrolet team, RML in the 2005 World Touring Car Championship season. Menu, and his equally highly regarded team-mate Nicola Larini, did not expect to win races in their first year but the team's performance was still seen as a big disappointment, Menu only achieving three points finishes, his best result being a 6th at Spa-Francorchamps.
  The team had expected to make progress up the grid in 2006, and their faith was fulfilled at a very wet Brands Hatch on 21 May when Menu won the second race of the day, scoring Chevrolet's first-ever outright win in a FIA-accredited world championship event.
  Chevrolet introduced the new Cruze model to the championship for 2009. Menu crashed out of the first race of the season at the Race of Brazil after the collision with BMW pair Andy Priaulx and Jörg Müller. At the Race of Morocco, he had originally qualified second but was demoted to tenth by the stewards after his car did not restart following a mandatory visit to the weighing bay after the second phase of qualifying. He was caught up in a race one incident with Jorg Müller and Rickard Rydell which put Rydell out of the race with damage. The Race of France saw Menu take his first win in the Chevrolet Cruze having started on the reversed grid pole for race two and winning the race from there. Menu collided with Augusto Farfus in race one of the Race of Portugal with Menu being spun into the wall. Menu's team mate Larini tagged Tiago Monteiro while the pair tried to avoid the wreckage but Mehdi Bennani collided with the stationary Chevrolet, the track was then blocked and the race red flagged. Menu took pole position at the following event, the Race of UK at Brands Hatch. Having swapped places throughout the race with team mate Huff, Menu won the race to take his second win of the year. During the final qualifying session of the year for the Race of Macau, Yvan Muller lost control on cement dust that had been laid on the track following an earlier accident for James Thompson. Tarquini hit Muller's car, and the SEAT Sport pair were then hit by Menu. He finished the season tenth in the drivers' championship behind fifth placed Huff.
  He stayed with Chevrolet for the 2010 season, joined by Huff and new team mate Yvan Muller. Menu brought out the red flags during qualifying for the Race of Morocco when he crashed into the wall during Q1. He came into contact with the wall again during race two when he tangled with BMW Team RBM driver Augusto Farfus. Having been passed by eBay Motors driver Colin Turkington near the end of the race one of the Race of UK, Menu dropped down the order to benefit from the reversed grid for race two. He started on the front row but damaged his steering trying to pass Farfus which put an end to his race. He won only one race in 2010, the first race of the Race of Germany and he finished the year sixth in the standings, three places and 103 points down on team mate Huff while Muller was champion.
  Menu continued with Chevrolet for 2012. Muller had won the first three races of the season but Menu broke this streak by winning the second race of the Race of Spain, despite going through a gravel trap after encountering oil on the circuit. He took his first pole position of the season at the Race of Morocco and won the first race of the day. Menu was running third in the second race of the Race of Slovakia until he dropped down the order and retired with a broken rim. The second race of the Race of Hungary saw Menu pull away from his team mates to chase down race leader and eventual winner Norbert Michelisz to close in on his team mates in the championship. While running third in race two of the Race of Austria, he suffered a puncture and a high speed collision with the barriers ensued in the final sector of the lap. A similar specification Chevrolet Cruze of bamboo-engineering's Alex MacDowall also had a left front puncture and came to rest in the gravel trap in close proximity to Menu's stranded car. He took up the role of c
caption: Menu driving the Chevrolet Lacetti WTCC car at Brands Hatch in 2008.
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