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AC Milan's Buurman wins race one

Yelmer Buurman overcame poleman and series leader Craig Dolby of Tottenham Hotspur to romp away and give AC Milan its first victory of the Superleague Formula season at Magny-Cours on Sunday

Buurman won the opening race by over 12 seconds, having passed Dolby at the Adelaide hairpin on lap four. His only real scare came in the pitlane, when his team released him into the path of the incoming John Martin (Beijing Guoan) - but Buurman made the necessary evasive action to avoid a collision.

Despite this, Buurman rejoined well clear of Dolby, who was held up in traffic behind Sporting Lisbon's Borja Garcia. The 4s gap between them quickly opened out, and Buurman cruised to the chequered flag unopposed. The result moves Milan up to second in the points, behind Tottenham.

"It was a great race for me, a bit lonely, but perfect," said Buurman. "I was a bit quicker than Craig, and I used my push-to-pass, and he blocked me. At first I thought I wasn't going to make it, but then I got him. Hopefully this will be the first of many wins."

Dolby said: "Race two will be better for us. I was not too happy with the car, something changed halfway through the race. But take nothing away from Yelmer, he was quick today."

There was a controversial clash between GU-run Chris van der Drift (Olympiacos) and Max Wissel (FC Basel) at the first corner, which left Wissel on the sidelines and distinctly unhappy: "We spoke many times about never to crash as team-mates, but he hit my with his front tyre. So I don't know what went wrong."

Van der Drift survived the clash to finish third, jumping ahead of Martin during the pitstop cycle. Martin finished fourth, fending off repeated attacks from FC Porto's Alvaro Parente, who himself came under attack from sixth-placed James Walker (Liverpool). Walker had got ahead of Assen winner Davide Rigon (Anderlecht) with 10 laps to go.

It was a bad day for the quintet of French drivers on home soil. Franck Perera (Flamengo) finished eighth, ahead of Sebastien Bourdais (Lyon) and Franck Montagny (Bordeaux).

Pos  Driver               Team                     Time/Gap
 1.  Yelmer Buurman       AC Milan               45m59.226s
 2.  Craig Dolby          Tottenham Hotspur       + 12.902s
 3.  Chris van der Drift  Olympiacos              + 21.282s
 4.  John Martin          Beijing Guoan           + 28.544s
 5.  Alvaro Parente       FC Porto                + 29.278s
 6.  James Walker         Liverpool FC            + 30.329s
 7.  Davide Rigon         RSC Anderlecht          + 31.131s
 8.  Franck Perera        Flamengo                + 32.012s
 9.  Sebastien Bourdais   Olympique Lyonnais      + 46.583s
10.  Franck Montagny      Girondins de Bordeaux   + 48.907s
11.  Borja Garcia         Sporting                + 56.315s
12.  Robert Doornbos      Corinthians           + 1m00.008s
13.  Julien Jousse        AS Roma               + 1m11.595s
14.  Tristan Gommendy     Galatasaray           + 1m17.216s
15.  Maria de Villota     Atletico de Madrid        + 1 lap
16.  Marcos Martinez      Sevilla FC                + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Max Wissel           FC Basel              0 laps

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