Monteiro celebrates home victory

The former grand prix driver has now taken two of his three wins on home soil, following his success at Estoril in 2008.

Monteiro led comfortably from pole in the early stages, but came under increasing pressure from Yvan Muller as the race wore on.

Gabriele Tarquini and Augusto Farfus closed up to make it a lead quartet for the closing laps, but none were able to make a move.

Rob Huff had been running fourth but exited the race dramatically with a puncture, skipping straight on over the gravel and into the wall. He was able to rejoin but only to finish 18th, one lap down.

Jordi Gene and Mehdi Bennani stopped out on track during the race, while Andy Priaulx retired in the pits with a left rear punture and bodywork damage following contact on the first lap.

Alain Menu was a quiet fifth after fending off early pressure from Tom Coronel.

Fredy Barth will start race two from pole position after finishing eighth, Norbert Michelisz will be alongside him on the front row.

Colin Turkington was denied victory in the independents class when, while leading easily, he passed Barth and was shoved off the road by the SEAT.

Sergio Hernandez inherited the class win, ahead of Darryl O'Young, Kristian Poulsen and the recovering Turkington.

Pos Driver                Car             Time/Gap
 1. Tiago Monteiro        SEAT          21m38.194s
 2. Yvan Muller           Chevrolet         +1.032
 3. Gabriele Tarquini     SEAT              +1.587
 4. Augusto Farfus        BMW               +1.826
 5. Alain Menu            Chevrolet         +8.807
 6. Tom Coronel           SEAT             +11.723
 7. Norbert Michelisz     SEAT             +12.562
 8. Fredy Barth           SEAT             +20.173
 9. Sergio Hernandez      BMW              +23.113
10. Darryl O'Young        Chevrolet        +23.245
11. Kristian Poulsen      BMW              +23.642
12. Colin Turkington      BMW              +25.738
13. Franz Engstler        BMW              +26.845
14. Stefano D'Aste        BMW              +27.248
15. Harry Vaulkhard       Chevrolet        +29.295
16. Andrey Romanov        BMW              +44.117
17. Michel Nykjaer        SEAT             +49.343
18. Rob Huff              Chevrolet         +1 lap

Retirements

    Jordi Gene            SEAT              7 laps
    Mehdi Bennani         BMW               4 laps
    Andy Priaulx          BMW               3 laps


Fastest lap, Stoneman 1m39.223s