Muller wins first race at Brands Hatch from Huff

Yvan Muller has taken victory in the first race at Brands Hatch, with local drivers Rob Huff and Colin Turkington completing the podium.

Muller lead from the start, with all three Chevrolet’s holding on to their first three positions, whilst Gabriele Tarquini was able to use the extra low-end torque of the SEAT TDI to drive by Colin Turkington for fourth in the initial stages.

In the midfield, Andy Priaulx, starting 16th after an engine change was making good progress, his target clearly being to grab eighth place the the pole position spot for race two – he was 11th after just two laps, behind team mate Augusto Farfus.

On lap 4, Turkington managed to get back past the SEAT of Tarquini for fourth, SEAT’s now filled out the last four spots in the top eight, but just before lap 8, Augusto Farfus managed to get his Team RBM BMW into the all important eighth place before the safety car was called.

Cacá Bueno had caught fire after running over a kerb, and was stranded on the side of the circuit, causing a safety car period. Once the safety car was withdrawn, Colin Turkington set upon Alain Menu for third again, whilst Andy Priaulx targeted passing SEAT’s Tiago Monteiro for eighth.

At the end of the penultimate lap, Turkington passes Menu for third seemingly easily, whilst Andy Priaulx muscles his way past Monteiro into Graham Hill bend, the pair maintaining to run side by side into the next corner when the BMW moved ahead.

Throughout the last lap, Menu continued to fall back, in what initially looked like a problem for the Chevrolet, later seemed more strategic in order to obtain a good grid position for race two. Menu eventually finished seventh, and will share the front row with Andy Priaulx for race two, subject to confirmation of the race result.

In the independents class, Turkington was first, with Tom Boardman second, finishing in 14th overall, just ahead of Franz Engstler.

Norbert Michelisz was the top rookie, finishing in tenth place overall.