Race 1: Advantage Thommo

It came as no surprise that the two Vauxhall protagonists came together, it came early on in the race on lap two. Thompson had moved up to second, but Muller wouldn't let him go. The result was a side-by-side battle down into the Craner Curves, touching all the way.

It was always going to end in tears, and this time it was Muller's as he found himself in the gravel trap. The Frenchman rejoined the race, but dropped down the order. He made his way up to seventh by the end, but Thompson, who finished the race second behind Plato, has taken a slight advantage in the points, although he may get penalised for punting off the leader of the race Matt Neal.

Muller, though, has the advantage going into race two for he will start higher up the grid and with less weight than his rival. Thompson will start from the fifth row alongside Plato, who was delighted with his race win despite the difficulty he and his engineers found in the dry conditions.

"I'm very pleased, we came here very strong in the wet but we had no running in the dry," he said. "My engineers worked really hard on the data and got it right."

Jason Plato SEAT 19m49.460s
James Thompson Vauxhall +5.094s
Colin Turkington MG ZS +5.461s
Michael Bentwood Vauxhall +6.773s
Anthony Reid MG ZS +9.037s
Luke Hines Vauxhall +14.550s
Yvan Muller Vauxhall +15.869s
Dan Eaves Honda +16.208s