Muller Wins Round One in Monza

Muller led from the front, edging away from the rest of the field, headed by Alfa Romeo's Gabriele Tarquini, lap by lap while looking untouchable all the way to the flag.

Behind the pair there was a frenetic battle for third, with Alfa's Augustus Farfus using every inch of the track to keep a hard charging Andy Priaulx behind him and off the podium, eventually crossing the line a mere one tenth of a second apart after nine laps.

Behind the pair Antonio Garcia, who started from second after teammate Jorg Muller was penalised for an infringement in qualifying, was having a drama filled start to his season, having damaged his car in the warm up session and giving his crew plenty to do to get the car onto the grid.

After losing a position to Tarquini at the start of the race Garcia was then tapped by Farfus on lap three, running wide but bringing his car back on track, albeit two places down the order.

Alfa drivers Fabrizio Giovanardi and James Thompson has a fierce fight with the SEAT's of Rickard Rydell and Jordi Gene, crossing the line just over a second apart to round out the points.

At the back of the pack, Jorg Muller had a torrid time of it, dropping down the pack with an evil looking car from eighteenth on the grid to last, losing a lap to teammate Dirk Muller in the process.

2005 FIA World Touring Car Championship, Monza - Race One

Pos Driver               Make                Time         Gap      Laps
 1. Dirk Muller          BMW 320i            18:03.203             9
 2. Gabriele Tarquini    Alfa Romeo 156      18:05.668  +   2.465  9
 3. Augusto Farfus Jr.   Alfa Romeo 156      18:07.057  +   3.854  9
 4. Andy Priaulx         BMW 320i            18:07.180  +   3.977  9
 5. Antonio Garcia       BMW 320i            18:11.291  +   8.088  9
 6. Fabrizio Giovanardi  Alfa Romeo 156      18:11.451  +   8.248  9
 7. James Thompson       Alfa Romeo 156      18:12.113  +   8.910  9
 8. Rickard Rydell       SEAT Toledo Cupra   18:12.395  +   9.192  9
 9. Jordi Gene           SEAT Toledo Cupra   18:12.617  +   9.414  9
10. Alessandro Zanardi   BMW 320i            18:18.046  +  14.843  9
11. Peter Terting        SEAT Toledo Cupra   18:19.245  +  16.042  9
12. Roberto Colciago     Honda Accord Euro   18:23.644  +  20.441  9
13. Marc Hennerici       BMW 320i            18:25.022  +  21.819  9
14. Tomas Engstrom       Honda Accord Euro   18:29.599  +  26.396  9
15. Tom Coronel          Seat Toledo Cupra   18:29.774  +  26.571  9
16. Stefano D'aste       BMW 320i            18:30.040  +  26.837  9
17. Salvatore Tavano     Alfa Romeo 156      18:35.030  +  31.827  9
18. Alessandro Balzan    SEAT Toledo Cupra   18:36.680  +  33.477  9
19. Andrea Larini        Alfa Romeo 156      18:40.914  +  37.711  9
20. Robert Huff          Chevrolet Lacetti   18:40.923  +  37.720  9
21. Andriano De Micheli  Honda Accord Euro   18:47.117  +  43.914  9
22. Alain Menu           Chevrolet Lacetti   18:47.574  +  44.371  9
23. Gianluca De Lorenzi  BMW 320i            18:48.030  +  44.827  9
24. Nicola Larini        Chevrolet Lacetti   18:48.970  +  45.767  9
25. Adam Lacko           Alfa Romeo 156 Gta  18:52.844  +  49.641  9
26. Jens Hellstrom       Honda Civic Type-R  19:01.199  +  57.996  9
27. Stefano Valli        BMW 320i            19:01.566  +  58.363  9
28. Thomas Jager         Ford Focus          19:08.443  +1:05.240  9
29. Jorg Muller          BMW 320i            19:22.138  +   1 LAP  8

 Not Classified
    Thomas Klenke        Ford Focus           8:33.895    D.N.F.
    Valle Makela         Seat Toledo Cupra    8:42.412    D.N.F.
    Giuseppe Ciro        BMW 320i                    0    D.N.F.

 Fastest Lap
    Dirk Muller       BMW 320i    1:59.552