Menu wins, Priaulx closes on title

Yvan Muller led away at the start, moving ahead of pole position man Alain Menu straight away at the rolling start. From there he was able to edge away slightly, but Menu kept with him and refused to give up completely on the lead.

"Yvan was slightly ahead just before the lights turned greed which he is not supposed to do," said Menu. "We were side by side into Mandarin and I had to give him room.

"After that I was behind, he drove well and his car had better acceleration out of the corners so although I was faster he could stay ahead."

Behind them, BMW's Farfus in third place faced a stiff challenge from SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini - and even received some contact from behind on the run from Lisboa into San Francisco on lap two.

Farfus lost time with that contact but as Muller and Menu lapped at the front of the field, the Brazilian steadily reeled them in - before getting right behind them in the final laps of the race.

But then drama unfolded as first stewards informed that they were investigating Muller's car - although they had not specified the reasons why.

Then on lap eight, Muller slowed with a mechanical problem on the approach to Melco - handing Menu the lead but also delaying Farfus slightly to allow Tarquini to close up once again.

Tarquini seized the opportunity to challenge for what was then second place. Under braking for Lisboa on the next lap, Tarquini tried to get around the outside but Farfus defended brilliantly.

Tarquini then tried to cut to the inside for San Francisco, but Farfus moved right to defend the position - and the pair collided.

Farfus spun into the barriers on the right hand side while Tarquini continued, finishing second to Menu.

Afterwards, Tarquini denied any wrongdoing in the clash. "To be honest he hit me because I was between him and the guardrail," he said. "I tried to overtake him with a normal manouevre but I was there, I could not do anything, I could not disappear.

"It is good to finish on the podium but I cannot be happy because we lost the championship, we were in very good position after qualifying at the start, and Yvan made a fantastic start so it is a real shame."

The dramatic turn of events had put two world title contenders out and moved Priaulx, who had been lapping down in 11th place for much of the race, up into eighth after Duncan Huisman moved over.

Priaulx now heads into the final race with a one-point advantage over Muller in the title standings - but his grid position and Muller's failure to finish race one has left him now clear favourite.

Pos   Driver               Car                   Time
 1.   Alain Menu           Chevrolet Lacetti     23:10.276
 2.   Gabriele Tarquini    SEAT Leon TDI            +2.674
 3.   Robert Huff          Chevrolet Lacetti        +4.418
 4.   Jordi Gene           SEAT Leon TDI           +11.325
 5.   James Thompson       Alfa Romeo 156          +13.759
 6.   Tiago Monteiro       SEAT Leon               +14.058
 7.   Nicola Larini        Chevrolet Lacetti       +14.498
 8.   Andy Priaulx         BMW 320si               +15.209
 9.   Duncan Huisman       BMW 320si               +15.532
10.   Alessandro Zanardi   BMW 320si               +15.849
11.   Rickard Rydell       SEAT Leon               +16.666
12.   Felix Porteiro       BMW 320si               +17.326
13.   Jorg Muller          BMW 320si               +17.846
14.   Colin Turkington     BMW 320si               +18.419
15.   Tom Coronel          SEAT Leon               +19.283
16.   Fredrik Ekblom       BMW 320si               +19.868
17.   Luca Rangoni         BMW 320si               +21.980
18.   Stefano D'aste       BMW 320si               +24.642
19.   Franz Engstler       BMW 320i                +25.409
20.   Carl Rosenblad       BMW 320si               +27.006
21.   Sergio Hernandez     BMW 320si               +28.448
22.   Maurizio Ceresoli    SEAT Leon               +50.933
23.   Miguel Freitas       Alfa Romeo 156          +52.502
24.   Andrey Romanov       BMW 320i              +2:16.400
25.   David Louie          BMW 320i              +2:31.300
26.   Augusto Farfus       BMW 320si                +1 lap
27.   Yvan Muller          SEAT Leon TDI           +2 laps

Not classified

      P-Y Corthals         SEAT Leon                2 laps
      Henry Lee Jr         BMW 320i                  1 lap

Fastest lap: Tarquini, 2:32.517 on lap 4