Photo: WTCC Media

Yvan Muller won the first race of 2008

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Yvan Muller won the first World Touring Car Championship race of 2008. The Frenchman started from pole position and held the lead all the way. Team mate Rickard Rydell took second ahead of Augusto Farfus Jr. after a hard fight.
“This is the best way to start the season. The race was really tough and I had to be very focused to keep the cars behind me,” said Muller.

It was not until the very last lap Rydell could get some space between him and Farfus.
“I am very happy to be back with SEAT and it was a great race. We showed our potential in qualifying, but now we have seen that the BMW’s are much quicker in the race so people can stop speculate about that,” said Rydell.

The Brazilian BMW-driver gained quickly on the two SEAT-cars in the top as the race progressed. Tarquini initially was third but was passed by both Farfus and Jörg Müller.

But neither Farfus nor Müller managed to get any further. Rydell used his superior diesel-power and managed to pull away on the straights. Instead Farfus had to watch his back as Jörg Müller got up along side him on the last lap. But the top four positions remained the same over the finish line with SEAT 1-2 and BMW 1-2.

“I am happy with third place. It was, as Yvan said, a hard race. The SEAT’s are very fast on the straight, I hope we can fight back in the second race,” said Farfus.

Chevrolet had a dark race with all three cars scoring zero points. Team mates Nicola Larini and Rob Huff managed to take each other out on lap three. Larini made a move on Huff but instead hit the Brit and both spun off. Larini retired on the spot while Huff retired a couple of laps later due to the sustained damage. Alain Menu retired due to technical problems.

Reigning champion Andy Priaulx finished fifth after a strong charge from twelfth on the starting grid.

Winning privateer was Pierre Yves Corthals ahead of Tielemans and D’Aste.

The second race of the day starts in two hours and then Félix Porteiro will start from pole position with Jordi Gené second and Gabriele Tarquni third.