Valencia, Race 1: Muller cruises to victory

Yvan Muller took a comfortable win in the first race at Valencia. The reigning world champion sprinted from pole position to lead the field into the first corner, and then pushed to create a gap.

Behind him Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Coronel had a close fight for second place, which left Muller to easily manage his leading margin.

Muller’s team-mates, Rob Huff and Alain Menu, had to settle with fourth and fifth, as they were not able to find a gap to attack the Tarquini-Coronel duo. Pepe Oriola took the chequered flag in sixth place, winning the Yokohama Trophy from Norbert Michelisz.

Franz Engstler, Tiago Monteiro and Darryl O’Young filled the remaining point-scoring positions, while Stefano D’Aste emerged victorious from the battle for 11th that involved James Nash (12th at the end – the best result so far for Ford) and Alberto Cerqui.

Mehdi Bennani completed a brilliant recovery, climbing to 14th after dropping to 24th because of a first lap incident.

Key moments
Start – Muller keeps Tarquini at bay and leads into the first turn
Lap 1 – Huff overtakes Oriola for fourth
Lap 1 – Bennani is sent into a spin at Turn 5 and rejoins at the back of the field
Lap 2 – Menu overtakes Michelisz for sixth
Lap 4 – Muller increases his gap by six tenths a lap
Lap 5 – Menu overtakes Oriola for fifth
Lap 5 – Dudukalo pits with a broken suspension
Lap 6 – Nash struggles to defend 11th position from Cerqui and D’Aste
Lap 7 – Monteiro overtakes O’Young for ninth
Lap 8 – Coronel knocks on Tarquini’s rear bumper
Lap 9 – Coronel is shown a black-and-white warning flag
Lap 10 – D’Aste overtakes Cerqui for 12th
Lap 11 – D’Aste overtakes Nash for 11th

Withdrawals
A. Dudukalo: suspension