Races: Coronel error gifts Huisman

"I am so happy, and I think Tom's crash was a big present for me," he said. "At that point I was not sure I would be able to beat him in the race, because there was nowhere on the track where I thought I would be able to overtake him. In the end I didn't have to worry though."

Huisman had started the first heat from pole position as Coronel and BMW team-mate Franz Engstler were comfortably pulling away from the field. By lap six the three Carly Motors cars were circulating the track separated by less than one second and they stayed that close until Engstler slowed with a puncture on lap nine.

The order changed again on lap 10 when Huisman, who was suffering from minor brake problems and deteriorating tyres, was overtaken by Coronel on the run down to Lisboa. Coronel eventually finished two tenths of a second ahead, with the hard-charging Peugeot of Briton Steve Soper claiming third.

At the start of the second race Coronel and Huisman got away in perfect formation but the Safety Car was called out at the end of the first lap after Macau driver Lui Man Kit had a big accident at the first corner and smashed into the barriers.

When the race got underway again, at the start of lap four, Coronel and Huisman pulled away, while the man on the move was Soper. He had dropped to fifth after making a poor getaway but took fourth from Mitsuhiro Kinoshita on lap four. He got another place on lap five when he took Manabu Orido for third. Soper's luck would desert him on lap six, however, when his Peugeot stopped with engine failure.

While Coronel and Huisman led comfortably at the front, attention now shifted to Franz Engstler who was battling his way back up the field following the puncture in the first race. Having started the second heat from 23rd on the grid, he was up to third on lap 10 when he touched the wall. This broke the right rear axle and slowed his car, dropping him down to fifth.

Coronel's problems on that lap were slightly more terminal when he went too fast into Lisboa and crashed into the barriers on the exit. "I just eased off the brake a little bit too early and there was nothing I could do," said the disappointed Dutchman.

Coronel's accident handed victory to Huisman, with Orido claiming second place and a hard-charging C Nattavude grabbing third from Nobutera Taniguchi with a breathtaking move on the final lap.

For combined race results, click here.