Hungaroring WTCC: Yvan Muller wins race one from Michelisz
Yvan Muller held off a late surge from home favourite Norbert Michelisz to claim victory in the opening World Touring Car race at the Hungaroring
The Frenchman protected his pole position advantage away from the start and seemed set to cruise to a third win as he gradually eased away from the field over the opening six laps.
Michelisz never allowed the gap to build past 1.2 seconds however and slowly began to reel Muller in over the final laps.
The pair headed into the final tour separated by just six tenths, but Muller ultimately had pace in hand and held on to claim his and RML Chevrolet's third win of the season.
Michelisz, a winner at his home track last year, had to settle for second in the Zengo-run Honda Civic.
His works stablemate Gabriele Tarquini joined him on the rostrum in third after escaping from a multi-car fight for podium's final step.
Rob Huff in the Munnich-run SEAT had been pressuring Tarquini for third, but was forced onto the defensive as the ROAL and Proteam BMWs of Tom Coronel and Mehdi Bennani closed rapidly.
Huff withstood repeated attacks from Coronel, who eventually tried too much and got stuck on the outside of Huff at Turn 11 two laps from the end.
Bennani was able to slip by and take up the chase of Huff, but the Briton hung on to match his best result of the year in fourth.
Tom Chilton in the second RML Chevrolet had tagged onto the back of the group, having earlier been passed by Coronel and Bennani, but was not able to find a way past the BMWs and had to settle for seventh.
The result could yet change, with Coronel and his team-mate Darryl O'Young under investigation following a lap-one crash that ultimately put five cars out, including Marrakech winner Pepe Oriola, Honda's Tiago Monteiro and the Lada of James Thompson.
Results - 12 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 23m17.125s 2. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda + 0.617s 3. Gabriele Tarquini Honda + 12.670s 4. Rob Huff Munnich SEAT + 13.573s 5. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW + 13.861s 6. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW + 14.133s 7. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet + 15.021s 8. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet + 17.343s 9. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet + 18.073s 10. Michel Nykjaer Nika Chevrolet + 18.465s 11. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT + 23.782s 12. Hugo Valente Campos SEAT + 28.395s 13. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW + 29.116s 14. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW + 30.474s 15. Charles Ng Engstler BMW + 34.221s 16. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT + 35.498s 17. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada + 39.708s 18. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT + 44.193s Retirements: Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 5 laps Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 3 laps Tiago Monteiro Honda 1 lap Fredy Barth Wiechers BMW 1 lap James Thompson Lada 0 laps Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 0 laps
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