Thompson doubles up at Valencia

The 33-year-old, driving for the N.Technology Alfa Romeo 156 team, climbed to sixth on the first lap before passing the SEATs of both Jordi Gene and Yvan Muller to run fourth by the end of lap three.

On lap six, Thompson passed the independent Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si of Luca Rangoni to take second before dispatching RBM's Andy Priaulx and Schnitzer Motorsport's Jorg Muller in quick succession to win by almost two seconds.

Jorg Muller held off Priaulx to take second, with the pair ending up level on points at the top of the championship standings.

They both benefited from another disappointing result from Augusto Farfus in the second Schnitzer BMW, who climbed from 25th on the grid to 10th after failing to finish the first race of the double-header.

Ice Racing legend Yvan Muller missed out on a second podium of the day with fourth place, ahead of the Chevrolet of Nicola Larini and teammate Jordi Gene.

Rangoni won the independents' class with seventh overall, although he had to work hard for it. An engine problem in the final stages allowed teammate Sergio Hernandez to close, although the Spanish former GP2 racer had to settle for eighth overall and his first WTCC point.

Michel Jourdain Jr narrowly missed out on the points in ninth despite running as high as third, while ex-Formula One racer Tiago Monteiro, who also failed to finish race one, could climb only to 12th from the lower reaches of the grid.

Chevrolet's Rob Huff was on target for a points finish after charging from 26th on the grid to eighth, although he dropped down to 13th at the finish after being tapped into the gravel by Gene.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver            Make        Time
 1.  James Thompson    Alfa Romeo  23:12.920
 2.  Jorg Muller       BMW         +   1.811
 3.  Andy Priaulx      BMW         +   2.266
 4.  Yvan Muller       SEAT        +   3.224
 5.  Nicola Larini     Chevrolet   +   4.716
 6.  Jordi Gene        SEAT        +   8.824
 7.  Luca Rangoni      BMW         +  10.642
 8.  Sergio Hernandez  BMW         +  11.287
 9.  M.Jourdain Jr.    SEAT        +  12.049
10.  Augusto Farfus    BMW         +  17.041
11.  O.Tielemans       Alfa Romeo  +  17.182
12.  Tiago Monteiro    SEAT        +  17.395
13.  Robert Huff       Chevrolet   +  17.639
14.  Alain Menu        Chevrolet   +  20.058
15.  M.Pedala          SEAT        +  24.462
16.  P-Y.Corthals      SEAT        +  28.778
17.  Emmet O'Brien     SEAT        +  33.286
18.  Stefano D'Aste    BMW         +  33.546
19.  Felix Porteiro    BMW         +  43.750
20.  Maria de Villota  Chevrolet   +  59.793
21.  V.Shapovalov      BMW         +1:03.702
22.  Lev Fridman       BMW         +1:05.051
23.  M.Ceresoli        SEAT        +1:33.643
24.  G.Tarquini        SEAT        +   1 Lap
25.  Tom Coronel       SEAT        +   1 Lap

NOT CLASSIFIED:

     Driver            Make        Laps
     Roberto Colciago  SEAT         8
     Miguel Freitas    Alfa Romeo   4