Yvan Muller won the first race at Macau, whilst Championship leader Rob Huff was forced to retire, with all three Chevrolet drivers still with a chance of the title going into the final race.
Yvan Muller was able to draft past Huff for the lead around Mandarin, whilst through Lisboa there was carnage as Mehdi Bennani ran into the tyre barrier at Lisboa, causing a traffic jam with all of the cars trapped behind.
This allowed the top six cars to break away from the pack as Bennani’s car was craned away. All three independents’ trophy contenders were eliminated in the Lisboa incident, with Norbert Michelisz and Stefano D’Aste bringing their BMWs in for repair whilst Pepe Oriola was stopped at Lisboa. This means the independents’ title also goes to the final race.
On lap four, Huff made a daring pass down the inside of Muller’s car at Lisboa and resumed the lead, but just a few corners later went into the wall and took damage to the left-hand side of the car. Huff was forced to pit, which allowed Muller back into the lead, who then fended off Alain Menu for the victory to maintain both of their chances of the title.
Tiago Monteiro in the Honda Civic had passed Gabriele’s SEAT on the second lap and this meant Monteiro was able to claim the first podium result for Honda.
Gabriele Tarquini finished fourth with Darryl O’Young the winning independent driver in fifth. Tom Coronel was sixth, more than 40 seconds behind as he was held up in the Lisboa melee on the opening lap.
The second race will see Alex MacDowall start from pole position ahead of Pepe Oriola. Alain Menu will start eighth, Yvan Muller ninth and Rob Huff tenth assuming no cars are forced to breach parc ferme.
