ETCC Super Prod’ race: Huisman extends his lead

The Dutchman, who had sacrificed his qualifying performance to save four new tyres for the race, made a superb start from third on the grid in his Carly Motors-run BMW 320i. He muscled his way past Norman Simon at the first corner, and then did likewise to Simon's Ravaglia Motorsport team Peter Kox at the third corner, much to his fellow Dutchman's chagrin.

"He just pushed me," complained Kox. "That meant he got on the inside and was the only reason he passed me."

After his demon, if somewhat unruly, start to the race, Huisman held the gap at just under a second until Kox attacked him on lap five. Despite a huge slide from Huisman on the exit of Bianchi bocht, Kox couldn't take advantage and then slipped back into the clutches of team mate Simon.

"I could have attacked him after he made his mistake, but maybe I respect my fellow competitors more than he does," said a deadpan Kox.

The pair swapped second place on laps 12 and 13, but the latter stages of the race developed into a high-speed stalemate between them. This allowed Huisman to extend a 1.3s advantage by the end of the race.

"I've been practicing my starts a lot this weekend and it paid off," said Huisman. "My new tyres were an advantage over the first three laps, then it started to slide a lot, but it came back to me. I think I had the best car today."

Peggan Andersson (Carly BMW) took fourth after the CiBiEmme BMW of Gianni Morbidelli ground to a halt on lap 13, the Swede was over 30secs behind the leaders. Tobia Masini's Alfa Romeo just held off Finnish newcomer Markus Palttala on the line for fifth, the latter just getting the better of James Hanson's Edenbridge-run BMW.


1 Duncan Huisman (BMW 320i) 18 laps
2 Peter Kox (BMW 320i) +1.314s
3 Norman Simon (BMW 320i) +2.856s
4 Peggan Andersson (BMW 320i) +37.863s
5 Tobia Masini (Alfa Romeo 156) +41.969s
6 Markus Palttala (Honda Integra R) +42.609s