Photo: WTCC Media

Alain Menu wins Brands race one

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Alain Menu claimed victory after not putting a wheel wrong all race. The Chevrolet driver came under pressure from N.technology’s James Thompson on numerous occasions but the Alfa Romeo never got close enough to overtake. Third across the line was Colin Turkington’s BMW who overtook Jordi Gené on the penultimate lap.

Gené got a fantastic start and promoted himself from sixth to third in his diesel powered SEAT León. His SEAT Sport team-mate, Tiago Monteiro, who should have lined up third, frustratingly had to start from the pits after he suffered a fuel feeding problem.

Gabriele Tarquini braked late coming into Paddock Hill Bend on the first lap. On the outside of him was Jörg Müller who took a tap, spun across the track and collected Nicola Larini’s Chevrolet into the gravel with him. Müller continued and eventually finished 14th but Larini did not rejoin.

The incident meant the deployment of the safety car for two laps. On the restart the field kept position but Yvan Muller was making ground on Turkington for fourth place. The pair were side by side at Hawthorn Bend but Turkington defended successfully. The Team RAC driver then went on to catch up with Gené but while chasing his tail Muller managed to reduce the gap and consequently the orange BMW had to defend again. Eventually on lap 15 both Turkington and Muller overtook Gené.

Rob Huff and Andy Priaulx spent most of the race looking at the rear of Pierre-Yves Corthals’ independent SEAT León, However, on lap 15 Huff overtook the Belgian at Druids Bend for sixth place. Corthals quickly shut the door on Priaulx but persistence meant the reigning champion took seventh place on the last lap. As a result he now leads the championship. Corthals claimed the independent win.

Félix Porteiro will line up on pole for the second race. The BMW Team Italy-Spain driver finished ninth but due to the fact Turkington is not eligible for points and finished in the top eight, the reverse grid has been extended to nine.

These results meant that Andy Priaulx re-took the championship lead, two points ahead of Augusto Farfus.