Race 3: Advantage Muller

For the third race of the day, second round winner Jason Plato made a great start from pole in his SEAT, but Muller stayed side-by-side with him through Allard and made a great move around the outside of Campbell, the first element of the Complex. This was where Dan Eaves, who jumped the start in his Team Dynamics Honda, spun off.

Muller led from Plato, Anthony Reid (MG), Luke Hines (Vauxhall) and the Proton of Shaun Watson-Smith. Further back, Tom Chilton spun at Church and whacked Jason Hughes' MG, sending them both spiralling off into the field.

It took a while, but Muller had pulled away from the clutches of Plato (carrying 42-kilos of success ballast) by lap five. Reid now had the SEAT in his sights and lunged past with a brave move at Campbell on lap seven which forced them both wide. The main beneficiary was James Thompson, who had made short work of carving his way through the field from the back of the grid after his second race calamity.

As Muller rattled off the remaining laps to win well clear of Reid, Thompson scrabbled past Plato with a manoeuvre that started at Campbell and ended three corners later at Noble. VX Racing team-mate Hines finished fifth after a collision with Watson-Smith that forced the Proton out.

"This format means it's a tough day's racing," said a delighted Muller. "I'm pleased, the team did a good job, but we need to progress with our race set-up. It was a good move on Jason, it was clean. I hope it stays this way!"

Reid said: "It's a miracle we're here. The engine had effectively blown up in the second race, and I had very high temperatures which meant the straightline speed was down."

Thompson said: "The guys did a great job because the car was in a right state. It was a good little dice with my old mate Jason, we need characters like him. I'm sure we'll have fun, and I'm sure we'll fall out!"

After a thrilling opening weekend of action, the series moves on to Brands Hatch next month.


1 Yvan Muller, Vauxhall Astra Coupe, 16 laps
2 Anthony Reid, MG ZS, +1.979s
3 James Thompson, Vauxhall Astra Coupe, +6.652s
4 Jason Plato, SEAT Toledo Cupra, +6.979s
5 Luke Hines, Vauxhall Astra Coupe, +7.984s
6 Colin Turkington, MG ZS, +9.353s


1 Muller 38
=2 Thompson 28
=2 Plato 28
4 Reid 25
5 Eaves 15
=6 Neal 14
=6 Bentwood 14