S'Touring race 1: Tarquini tanks it

The start was perfect for Tarquini and Thompson, who were able to negotiate the opening corner without problem. That couldn't be said of the third Accord of Fabrice Walfisch, however, who was hit by Roberto Colciago's fast starting Audi Quattro. Also effectively out by this stage was Carl Rosenblad, who blew his fourth place on the grid by stalling his Nissan Primera, excusing himself by claiming the FIA-spec rev limiter is different from the one he uses in the Swedish series.

Rosenblad's non-getaway caused Giovanardi to swerve on to the grass to get past him, dropping the Alfa star to ninth. In contrast, his team mate Felipe Massa held third, despite a damaged left-front corner from first corner contact, while Larini had gone from ninth on the grid to fourth by the opening turn.

Tarquini held a 1sec lead over Thompson, who had a similar gap back to Massa and Larini, whose car also bore the scars of some first corner contact. Gianluca de Lorenzi was fifth, ahead of Matt Neal (Nissan Primera), Giovanardi and Colciago.

Massa's damaged front wing was rubbing against his left-front tyre, which forced him to spear off the track at the Varzi kink and run across the damp grass all the way to the Le Mans hairpin, where he spun across the apex and almost wiped off team mate Larini. The young Brazilian rejoined at the tail of the field.

The next to bite the dust was Walfisch, whose Honda ended up in the Le Mans gravel trap. Unable to be moved, the safety car came out - much to the chagrin of his JAS Honda team mates...

At the restart, Tarquini scampered away like a scalded cat, while Thompson wasn't so swift, claiming that the safety car "shot straight into the pits without bunching the field up, not like in the BTCC".

Conveniently, this held up the chasing Alfas of Larini and Giovanardi. The latter passed his team mate at the restart, gaining another couple of valuable points in his championship quest.

Although he attacked Thompson at the end of the restart lap, Giovanardi didn't have enough left from his tyres to get past.

"The car I had at the second start wasn't as good as the one I had earlier," he said. "The tyres were too cold, so it was difficult to say if our car can beat the Hondas today."

Tarquini was jubilant with his win, but wasn't getting too carried away about the significance in championship terms.

"The plan was a Honda 1-2-3, but I'm still very 'appy to win," he said. "I didn't gain a lot of points because Giovanardi drove a really good race. James played his part fantastically well, and it was a good team effort."

Behind Larini, Neal finished fourth after overcoming de Lorenzi, although it cost him part of his rear bumper to do so. Colciago, meanwhile, went out when his Audi's engine lost a cylinder.

Race two starts at 15.05 local time (14.05BST) and its grid is the reverse order from race one, so expect some more fireworks from Spain.

Gabriele Tarquini, Honda Accord, 13 laps
James Thompson, Honda Accord, +0.912s
Fabrizio Giovanardi, Alfa Romeo 156, +2.458s
Nicola Larini, Alfa Romeo 156, +3.267s
Matt Neal, Nissan Primera, +11.983s
Gianluca de Lorenzi, BMW 320i, +13.361s