Tarquini ends Chevrolet's winning run

Tarquini started from pole, but the presence of Chevy trio Rob Huff, Alain Menu and Yvan Muller immediately behind him meant that the former series champion was forced into defensive mode right from the start.

His SUNRED stablemate Tiago Monteiro latched onto the group to make it a five-way scrap, although Huff looked most likely to make something happen. Before he had a chance, trouble struck behind him when Muller slowed, and then retired midway through the race.

Huff remained clamped to the rear of Tarquini's SEAT, but the curtain came down on his challenge when he tagged Tarquini's car while trying a move at the hairpin. The impact sent Huff bouncing through the gravel, and while he briefly rejoined in the lead, the Briton dropped rapidly back through the field and eventually finished sixth.

That left Menu as Tarquini's major threat, but while the Swiss veteran never gave Tarquini any breathing space, neither was he able to find a way past. The pair went on to cross the line first and second, with Monteiro directly behind them to take the final podium place ahead of Bamboo-Engineering's Darryl O'Young.

Aside from a host of spins (including a particularly energetic one from O'Young's team-mate Yukinori Taniguchi), the only significant damage in the race was sustained by Kristian Poulsen, whose Engstler BMW was spat into the barriers at the approach to the chicane on the opening lap.

Results - 13 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Gabriele Tarquini   SUNRED SEAT        22m07.752s
 2.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet            + 0.448s
 3.  Tiago Monteiro      SUNRED SEAT          + 0.886s
 4.  Darryl O'Young      Bamboo Chevrolet     + 1.614s
 5.  Michel Nykjaer      SUNRED SEAT          + 5.702s
 6.  Rob Huff            Chevrolet            + 5.901s
 7.  Robert Dahlgren     Polestar Volvo      + 12.352s
 8.  Norbert Michelisz   Zengo-Dension BMW   + 16.721s
 9.  Aleksei Dudukalo    SUNRED SEAT         + 20.141s
10.  Javier Villa        Proteam BMW         + 28.827s
11.  Mehdi Bennani       Proteam BMW         + 42.066s
12.  Franz Engstler      Engstler BMW        + 48.235s
13.  Fabio Fabiani       Proteam BMW           + 1 lap
14.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Bamboo Chevrolet      + 1 lap
15.  Pepe Oriola         SUNRED SEAT          + 2 laps
16.  Urs Sonderegger     Wiechers BMW         + 4 laps

Retirements:

     Yvan Muller         Chevrolet              7 laps
     Kristian Poulsen    Engstler BMW           0 laps