Andros Trophy Round 5: Tarres wins...

Muller finished second behind Tarres and although a broken gearbox in the early stages had put victory out of reach of the former BTCC champion. A lightening start in the second Elite final was enough to secure his sixth consecutive Andros Trophy title.

Driving snow on Friday was replaced by torrential rain on Saturday causing the ice to melt and turning the track into a river of slush, but amazingly the crowds were out in force to watch the penultimate round of this year's series.

Leading at the end of the first day, Tarres proceeded to set the fastest times in the first of Saturday's three-lap qualifying sessions, with three 43 second laps on the fast-disappearing ice. Philippe de Korsak was third in his Opel Tigra, behind Muller.

Tarres was assured of the heat win after setting a faster time than his opponents in the relevant timed practice session and therefore chose to miss the second heat to save his tyres for the race. However, Muller was unable to capitalise on the Frenchman's absence and hit the snow wall on his first lap, finishing well off the pace.

Pierre Colard, who returned to the series in his Peugeot 306, was stunningly fast, and set the first lap of the weekend below 43 seconds, but he was relegated to second place by a brilliant Stephane Peterhansel.

"I should have gone a bit faster," Colard said. "The track is mainly tarmac and water - it's much more like a rally track, and I'm quite at home."

Before the races started, Tarres was leading from Peterhansel, with Muller in third place. Colard's luck ran out in the six-lap race and after a poor start on worn tyres, he missed a corner and went off the track, coming to a halt at the bottom of a steep bank. Peterhansel took the win, with a four-second lead over de Korsak's Opel Tigra.

In the second race, Tarres and Muller went head-to-head. Muller made an incredible start from second place on the grid, getting ahead of pole-sitter Tarres and controlling the race, crossing the line three seconds ahead of his great rival.

Overall, Tarres took his second win of the season, with Peterhansel second and Muller in third place. Despite his accident, Pierre Colard came in fourth, with Jean-Philippe Dayraut's BMW in fifth. Laurent Fouquet took another win in the Promotion category for cars with two wheel steering, despite strong opposition from Jean-Luc Richner.



1 Marcel Tarres, Citroen Xsara
2 Stephane Peterhansle, Nissan Micra
3 Yvan Muller, Astra
4 Pierre Colard, Peugeot 306
5 Jean-Philippe Dayraut, BMW Z3
6 Jean-Noël Lanctuit, Opel Tigra
7 Philippe de Korsak, Opel Tigra
8 Jean Ragnotti, Renault Megane
9 Laurent Fouquet, Renault Clio
10 Jean-Luc Richner, Nissan Micra