Andros Trophy: Muller recovers to lead

Last season, Alpe d'Huez was the scene of Muller's only defeat, after an unprecedented run of bad luck. This year, however, luck appeared to be on his side, when Marcel Tarres, leading after qualifying, pulled out of his final with a broken starter motor.

The first qualifying session was one of the closest so far, with Muller and Tarres practically equal after the first two laps. On the third, Tarres went one tenth of a second faster to win the first heat in his Citroen Xsara, and guarantee the points lead after qualifying. Muller finished second, with his Globalstar Astra team-mate Patrick Herbert third and Anthony Beltoise fourth. Jean-Philippe Dayraut made a mistake on his first lap, placing the BMW a lowly eleventh.

With his qualifying win already secured, Tarres took things easy in second heat. Muller, however, put on the pressure, and set his best time of the weekend, with a lap of 59.768s. He then proceeded to set two one-minute laps, despite having to navigate his Astra round the unexpected additional chicane formed by Dayraut's BMW, stranded on the first lap. Muller led the heat ahead of Tarres' team mate, occasional Oreca driver Anthony Beltoise, and Dakar specialist Stephane Peterhansel.

After qualifying, Tarres led from Muller, with Beltoise third and Peterhansel fourth.

In the first Elite final, Muller made a good start, while Anthony Beltoise stopped after the first corner when the engine of his Team Tarres Citroen Xsara cut out. Former Promotion category winner de Korsak, in an Opel Tigra, chased Muller round the extremely technical track, while 20-year old Formula Renault driver Julien Pressac moved up to third.

Although Team Tarres tried to repair the car, Marcel Tarres was obliged to miss his final, giving Muller an unexpected boost in the classification. The second final was won by Stephane Peterhansel, followed by Patrick Herbert and Christian Beroujon's Peugeot 306.

The competition continues on Sunday with two more qualifying heats and races.