Gene wins frantic second race

Despite Gene's achievement, it was SEAT teammate Yvan Muller's fifth place which grabbed the headlines by setting up a dramatic six-driver shootout for the title at next month's Macau finale.

Muller now shares the lead in the championship with Andy Priaulx, who failed to complete a lap in either race, with the BMWs of Augusto Farfus and Jorg Muller, N.Technology Alfa Romeo driver James Thompson and Chevrolet's Nicola Larini also in contention.

Gene passed Larini for the lead through the Parabolica at the end of lap four, and he was never again seriously challenged as he took victory from the Italian by just over one second. Larini managed to hold off the charging Thompson for second - although it was close.

Rob Huff took fourth in the second-best of the Chevrolets after leading from reverse-grid pole position in the early stages. He struggled to match the top three, but he was comfortably clear of Yvan Muller.

Alex Zanardi took sixth ahead of Tom Coronel and Tiago Monteiro, with Independents' Trophy winner Pierre-Yves Corthals ninth for Exagon Engineering.

Farfus, like Priaulx, failed to make it to the second lap in the race after a clash with the SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini on the run out of the first chicane.

He hit the barriers heavily, narrowly avoiding taking out Yvan Muller in the process. It was a bad race for the Schnitzer BMW drivers, with Jorg Muller finishing 15th after spinning while fighting with Corthals.

Pos   Driver             Car          Time
 1.   Jordi Gene         SEAT TDI     18:21.957
 2.   Nicola Larini      Chevrolet       +1.011
 3.   James Thompson     Alfa Romeo      +1.289
 4.   Robert Huff        Chevrolet       +2.513
 5.   Yvan Muller        SEAT TDI        +7.906
 6.   A.Zanardi          BMW            +10.499
 7.   Tom Coronel        SEAT           +10.545
 8.   Tiago Monteiro     SEAT           +14.936
 9.   P-Y.Corthals       SEAT           +15.284
10.   Roberto Colciago   SEAT           +16.220
11.   Stefano D'Aste     BMW            +16.221
12.   O.Tielemans        Alfa Romeo     +23.566
13.   Fredrik Ekblom     BMW            +24.252
14.   M.Jourdain Jr.     SEAT           +28.503
15.   Jorg Muller        BMW            +32.789
16.   Miguel Freitas     Alfa Romeo   +1:09.785
17.   Tomas Engstrom     Honda        +1:53.562
18.   Sergio Hernandez   BMW             +1 lap

Retirements

      Alain Menu         Chevrolet       4 laps
      G.Tarquini         SEAT TDI        3 laps
      Felix Porteiro     BMW             3 laps
      Andy Priaulx       BMW              1 lap
      Augusto Farfus     BMW             0 laps
      Luca Rangoni       BMW             0 laps
      Oscar Nogues       SEAT            0 laps
      M.Ceresoli         SEAT            0 laps