Muller keeps Huff at bay to close on points lead

Yvan Muller took victory at a wet Oschersleben ahead of Rob Huff to close in on the championship lead. The gap is now just eight points going into today’s second race where Muller will start ninth on the grid.

The race saw drama for the only German in the race before the race had even started, with Franz Engstler spinning off the circuit on the first green flag reconnaissance lap, but was able to retake his starting position of ninth.

It was the first of three green flag laps as there were abnormally two aborted starts, with the cars on the even side of the grid led by Robert Dahlgren not passing through their pit boxes at the first two starts.

When the race was eventually started, it was a busy first corner as Tarquini tried to go around the outside of Dahlgren into Turn 1, and Coronel down the inside. The Volvo driver was fifth as they left the first corner, with Tom Coronel’s BMW up to third behind the two Chevrolets of Yvan Muller and Rob Huff.

Further around the lap, Dahlgren was the sent into a half spin after contact with Alain Menu. The Swede dropped to eighth whilst Menu now moved up into fifth.

Independent SUNRED driver Michel Nykjaer had terrific pace early on, passing Menu for fifth and then Tom Coronel for fourth. The Dutch driver struggled in the wet conditions in the ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC and continued to slide down the order, eventually finishing in tenth place despite a great start.

On the fourth lap of the race, as the two Chevrolets were fighting at the front, Rob Huff went off the circuit losing almost four seconds to Muller. Huff rejoined without losing positions just ahead of Tarquini, and managed to close down on Muller as the race went on. Though the British driver was right on Muller’s tail through the final lap, he couldn’t pass the reigning champion.

There were other dramas in the independents’ field, as Franz Engstler first spun Norbert Michelisz out of 11th place overall. Engstler then passed Tom Coronel for tenth and was battling with Aleksei Dudukalo, who was having an impressive run in the SR León 1.6T, but the two made contact on the final lap after Dudukalo lost speed after touching the grass, Engstler spun out and ended up finishing 16th.

Yvan Muller now closes to within eight points from Rob Huff in the drivers’ championship, whilst Kristian Poulsen resumes the lead of the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy by one point before the second race this afternoon at 3pm CET.