Huff turns pole into victory at Brno
Rob Huff converted his first pole of 2010 into his first win of the year in Sunday's opening World Touring Car race at Brno
The Chevrolet driver also did himself a huge favour in the title race by taking maximum points while his team-mate, championship leader Yvan Muller, failed to score.
Huff got his nose ahead of the SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini through the rolling start and kept to the inside line at Turn 1 to defend his lead. Tarquini never really got a run at the Chevrolet, and a first lap accident wiped out several of their rivals.
The SEATs of Jordi Gene and Tom Coronel were eliminated, while Andy Priaulx, Kristian Poulsen and Fredy Barth all continued with damaged cars.
At the restart of the resulting safety car period, Colin Turkington and Norbert Michelisz touched on the way into Turn 1 - with Turkington running straight on and collecting the innocent Muller.
Turkington was able to carry on in fourth, though with front left bodywork damage, Muller had to pit for lengthy repairs and Michelisz was out on the spot.
That gave the front four a free run, with Alain Menu and Augusto Farfus following Huff and Tarquini home.
Turkington struggled initially to stay ahead of the train of cars behind, but was able to break away from the SEATs of Michel Nykjaer and Tiago Monteiro when Priaulx began his recovery.
Priaulx's pass on Monteiro then harassment and eventual pass of Nykjaer allowed Turkington to escape, before the Northern Irishman slowed to give Priaulx fifth on the last lap.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Rob Huff Chevrolet 28m46.901s 2. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT +0.796 3. Alain Menu Chevrolet +2.036 4. Augusto Farfus BMW +2.345 5. Andy Priaulx BMW +12.874 6. Colin Turkington BMW +13.202 7. Michel Nykjaer SEAT +14.256 8. Darryl O'Young Chevrolet +15.467 9. Kristian Poulsen BMW +15.680 10. Tiago Monteiro SEAT +16.524 11. Stefano D'Aste BMW +18.780 12. Sergio Hernandez BMW +20.905 13. Fredy Barth SEAT +21.363 14. Franz Engstler BMW +22.484 15. Mehdi Bennani BMW +24.250 16. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet +26.554 17. Andrey Romanov BMW +39.022 18. Fabio Fabiani BMW 1:24.872 19. Yvan Muller Chevrolet +6 laps Retirements Norbert Michelisz SEAT 3 laps Tom Coronel SEAT 0 laps Jordi Gene SEAT 0 laps Fastest lap, Farfus 2m12.167s
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