Tarquini wins shortened race one
Gabriele Tarquini won the shortened opening World Touring Car race of the weekend at Marrakech
The race took three attempts at a rolling start to get going, and once underway it didn't last a lot longer. Tarquini survived early pressure from fellow front row starter Rob Huff and his job was done by the sixth racing lap when the safety car came out for the rest of the race.
Local driver Ismail Sbai crashed his Chevrolet at one of the chicanes, shortly after Andrey Romanov had done the same in his BMW. The track wasn't cleared in the remaining 10 minutes so the order remained the same to the end.
Huff made an incredible save after a punt from behind by Fredy Barth to hold onto his second place on the second lap, and looked at moments as though he had the pace to challenge Tarquini. Tiago Monteiro took advantage of Barth's loss of momentum to take third place, with Tom Coronel and Yvan Muller completing the top six.
Norbert Michelisz and Andy Priaulx will share the front row for this afternoon's second race, with Priaulx diving down the inside of Alain Menu at the final hairpin to claim eighth and the race two pole.
The only other incident of note in the reduced race was when Michel Nykjaer ran wide at Turn 2 on the opening lap, dropping down to 11th and forcing SR Sport SEAT team-mate Jordi Gene to the back.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 13 laps/32m12.815s
2. Rob Huff Chevrolet +1.117
3. Tiago Monteiro SEAT +1.792
4. Fredy Barth SEAT +2.436
5. Tom Coronel SEAT +3.513
6. Yvan Muller Chevrolet +5.615
7. Norbert Michelisz SEAT +7.900
8. Andy Priaulx BMW +8.892
9. Alain Menu Chevrolet +10.113
10. Augusto Farfus BMW +11.959
11. Michel Nykjaer SEAT +12.876
12. Franz Engstler BMW +14.380
13. Jordi Gene SEAT +15.160
14. Sergio Hernandez BMW +16.347
15. Mehdi Bennani BMW +16.835
16. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet +18.057
17. Darryl O'Young Chevrolet +19.737
Not classified
Ismail Sbai Chevrolet 8 laps
Andrey Romanov BMW 6 laps
Stefano D'Aste BMW 2 laps
Fastest lap, Barth 1m46.925s
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