Photo: WTCC Media

First blow to Yvan Muller at Monza

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Yvan Muller has won the opening round of the World Touring Car Championship for Chevrolet after a tight battle with Gabriele Tarquini’s SEAT, with Rob Huff passing Tarquini for second late in the race to secure a Chevrolet 1-2.

Tarquini started from pole with Yvan Muller alongside with the front rows holding station. In the mid-field,Stefano D’Aste, Tiago Monteiro and Franz Engstler tangled together at the first corner with James Nash picking up damage to his Ford Focus S2000 TC.

Chevrolet team-mates Alain Menu and Rob Huff battled together through the first Lesmo, with Menu sliding off the track and losing several positions, appearing to make light contact with Huff who also lost two spots to Rickard Rydell in the Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden-run Cruze and Tom Coronel’s ROAL BMW.

Yvan Muller took the lead at the Parabolica from Tarquini, but locked up at Turn 1 and was forced to relinquish the position back to the Italian.

Muller soon retook the lead, as Huff and Menu began their recoveries. Huff passed Coronel in short order for fourth, whilst Alain Menu ran into more trouble, spinning on the oil left by Isaac Tutumlu’s BMW and dropped to 12th.

The safety car was brought out as the oil was swept up and the race restarted with Rob Huff passing Rydell for third at the first turn, but Rydell got back ahead at Della Roggia. Huff moved back ahead of Rydell on the following lap and closed down on Tarquini, passing the SEAT at the Parabolica on lap 9.

Pepe Oriola was the top placed independent driver in sixth and takes his first win in the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy with the new SEAT engine.

Yvan Muller leads the Championship with 29 points with Rob Huff second on 21 and Tarquini on 20.