Brands Hatch - Race 1: Muller wins for Chevrolet

Current championship leader Yvan Muller claimed victory ahead of teammate Rob Huff in the first race of the day at Brands Hatch. Independent racer Colin Turkington drove a great race to take the final podium position from Alain Menu on the penultimate lap.

Norbert Michelisz took the rookie honours for the fifth time this season finishing tenth overall.

Muller controlled the start to lead the pack into Paddock Hill for the first time with Huff staying alongside him holding second. Tarquini made a good start to move ahead of Turkington for fourth while Jordi Gené got on the grass pushing Augusto Farfus for ninth.

Andy Priaulx had a tremendous first lap to move up from 16th to 12th.

The order was now Muller leading from Huff, Menu, Tarquini, Turkington, Tom Coronel, Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz, Fredy Barth and Augusto Farfus.

Priaulx continued to move forward, taking 11th from Gené to move onto the back of his teammate Farfus. The BMW Team RBM duo then worked together to move forward towards eighth position and pole for Race 2.

Further down the field Tom Boardman got ahead of newcomer Carlos "Cacá" Bueno while Stefano D’Aste moved ahead of Franz Engstler for 16th.

On lap four Turkington found a way through into fourth ahead of Tarquini through Druids and immediately began chasing down the leading Chevrolet trio.

Farfus and Priaulx passed Barth at Druids as Barth began to drop back down the field.
By lap five the top ten was Muller, Huff, Menu, Turkington, Tarquini, Coronel, Monteiro, Michelisz, Farfus and Priaulx with the Guernseyman setting the fastest lap of the race as he chased down pole position.

Rookie racer Michelisz tried to hold off the BMW charge but didn’t have the pace and both came through. Farfus then made a move on Monteiro for eighth but Priaulx had to wait a few laps longer to make his move. As Turkington pushed Menu for third the leading two Chevrolet’s managed to pull a small gap before Bueno’s Chevrolet pulled off the track as the engine caught fire and the Safety Car came out to neutralise the action.

As the field fell into line behind the Safety Car, Muller led from Huff, Menu, Turkington, Tarquini, Coronel, Farfus, Monteiro, Priaulx and Michelisz.

As the race restarted, with four laps to go, Monteiro defended hard to hold off the BMW 320si of Priaulx. Determined to get the pole, Priaulx placed his car on the inside through Graham Hill bend and as the pair made contact the Guenseyman held his line to move up ahead of the Portuguese racer.

Turkington’s persistence also paid off as on the penultimate lap he found a way around the outside of Clark Curve to get ahead of Menu and into the final podium position. Menu dropped down to seventh giving him a front row start for Race 2.

Muller took the chequered flag ahead of Huff giving Chevrolet a 1-2 finish. Turkington claimed a clear Independent victory in third overall. Tarquini ended fourth ahead of Tom Coronel, Augusto Farfus and Alain Menu. Andy Priaulx will start on pole for this afternoon’s final race after battling his way up to eighth.

Monteiro was ninth ahead of top rookie Norbert Michelisz in 10th. Barth finished 12th and Michel Nykjær 17th, second and third in the Rookie Challenge. Britain’s Tom Boardman was second in the Independents in 14th holding off season regular Engstler.

Robert Dahlgren in the Volvo C30 moved up to eleventh but dropped down to an eventual 13th overall after the restart. The Swedish driving was pushing hard despite not being eligible to score points this weekend, on his first of two appearances for Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing this season.