Photo: WTCC Media

Yvan Muller takes first win of the season at a wet Monza

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Three-time champion Yvan Muller has stamped his authority by winning the first race of the season in the wet at Monza, leading an RML 1-2 with team-mate Tom Chilton in tow. Whilst Honda move forward to take fourth and fifth, and last year’s champion Rob Huff puts on an impessive run to go from last to sixth.

The race started behind the safety car due to the wet conditions, with Michel Nykjaer the first casualty of the race, the Nika Racing driver going off down the escape road at Turn 1 and returning to the pits with damage.

After starting tenth following his grid drop for hitting René Münnich yesterday, the Italian was making good progress, but ended up battling Münnich’s team-mate Marc Basseng hard on the fourth lap, with Basseng able to briefly get back ahead of the Honda driver.

Basseng was unfortunately soon to be served with a drive-through penalty as his car was still being worked on at the three-minute board before the race, which he served on the penultimate lap.

Stefano D’Aste brought out the safety car on lap six, after crashing out on the exit of Ascari in his PB Racing BMW 320 TC. By this point Rob Huff was already up to 11th place, but had his hardest fight ahead of him after the restart as Special Tuning Racing’s Tom Boardman fought vigorously to defend his position and retook Huff into Turn 1 on lap eight.

James Nash was dropping back in the Bamboo Chevrolet, passed by Tiago Monteiro’s Honda on lap eight and then cutting the escape road at Turn 1 on the tenth lap. Falling behind Huff, Nash then got caught up with Tom Boardman, which saw Boardman’s SEAT’s front suspension damaged and the car stranded on the track on the final lap.

Yvan Muller took the win just under a second clear of Tom Chilton with Alex MacDowall finishing third and the top independent driver just four seconds behind.

The two Hondas of Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro took fourth and fifth, whilst Rob Huff finished as the best SEAT after starting in 22nd place for the race.

Norbert Michelisz also had a good run from the back of the grid to take eighth place in the customer Honda Civic, whilst Tom Coronel ended up as the best placed BMW driver in ninth with Fredy Barth rounding out the top ten in the Wiechers-Sport BMW.

Race two gets underway at 17:20 CET.