Tyre gamble helps Coronel to first win

Although it did not rain during the race, the track was still wet from earlier showers and, while most of the grid was split between wets and slicks, Coronel opted for a combination, with wets on the rear and slicks on the front.

The move paid dividend after just five laps when his petrol-powered SEAT drove past the turbo-diesel equivalent of Tiago Monteiro to take the lead.

The works SEATs had looked strong in the early stages, but all were on wets and it was clear that their advantage would not last when the slick-shod cars were able to keep them in sight.

But the damage to the Spanish team was minimised by a series of incidents that accounted for several of the BMWs and Chevrolets, with only Augusto Farfus able to sustain a race-long challenge.

The Brazilian was fourth at the end of the first lap, quickly found a way past Yvan Muller and Monteiro and then set about closing down the three-second gap that Coronel had built for himself. He caught the SEAT with a couple of laps to go, but despite a couple of lunges was unable to make a move stick and crossed the line right on Coronel's bumper.

Independent driver Sergio Hernandez finished an outstanding third outright in his Proteam BMW, his progress helped by avoiding a lot of the jostling for the minor point-scoring positions.

James Thompson went some way to making up for his late exit from the first race with a great drive from the back of the field up to fourth, ahead of Rob Huff and Yvan Muller, who lost several positions as a result of wheelspin on the startline.

Despite his relatively modest points haul, the weekend proved to be a valuable one for Muller's title aspirations, with teammate and main rival Gabriele Tarquini failing to make it to the finish for the second time this weekend. Muller now has a 14-point lead going into the final round at Macau.

The race also officially ended Andy Priaulx's hopes of retaining his crown when he spun into retirement three laps before the end while running second. It had already been a high-attrition race for BMW, with Alex Zanardi crashing out on the first lap and Jorg Muller skidding into the gravel on lap 9.

Pos  Driver              Car                       Time
 1.  Tom Coronel         SEAT Leon            26:15.135
 2.  Augusto Farfus      BMW 320si            +   0.097
 3.  Sergio Hernandez    BMW 320si            +   6.426
 4.  James Thompson      Honda Accord Euro R  +   7.207
 5.  Robert Huff         Chevrolet Lacetti    +   8.363
 6.  Yvan Muller         SEAT Leon TDI        +  15.576
 7.  Tiago Monteiro      SEAT Leon TDI        +  17.992
 8.  Felix Porteiro      BMW 320si            +  18.692
 9.  Rickard Rydell      SEAT Leon TDI        +  20.168
10.  Jordi Gene          SEAT Leon TDI        +  20.265
11.  Franz Engstler      BMW 320si            +  23.298
12.  Nicola Larini       Chevrolet Lacetti    +  29.879
13.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet Lacetti    +  31.540
14.  Matthew Marsh       BMW 320si            +  35.782
15.  Andrey Romanov      BMW 320si            +  42.163
16.  Norbert Michelisz   SEAT Leon            +  42.284
17.  Jaap Van Lagen      Lada 110             +  45.991
18.  Manabu Orido        Chevrolet Lacetti    +  51.511
19.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Honda Accord Euro R  +1:21.839
20.  Melvin Choo         BMW 320si            +   1 Lap
21.  Masaki Kano         BMW 320i             +   1 Lap
22.  Andy Priaulx        BMW 320si            +  4 Laps
23.  Stefano D'Aste      BMW 320si            +  4 Laps

Not classified:

     Driver              Team                 Laps
     Gabriele Tarquini   SEAT Leon TDI        9
     Jorg Muller         BMW 320si            7
     Kirill Ladygin      Lada 110             4
     Alessandro Zanardi  BMW 320si            1
     Takayuki Aoki       BMW 320si            0