Yvan Muller dominates Valencia World Touring Cars race one

The success follows the Frenchman's double victory at the Monza season opener. Muller is the first driver in the WTCC's history to start a campaign with a hat-trick of wins.

"I am not here to look at the records," said Muller. "I think I have the best car, and the advantage of taking age is experience. I was careful not to repeat my little mistakes at Valencia last year, where I pushed too hard too soon and created some flat-spots on my tyres."

The battle for second provided the bulk of the action among the lead group. Lukoil Racing's Gabriele Tarquini converted his second place in qualifying to the runner-up position.

The Italian's SEAT Leon's rear bumper was tapped on more than one occasion by a feisty Tom Coronel. The ROAL BMW driver was aggrieved to receive a black and white warning flag, for unsporting driving, from race officials on lap nine. The Dutchman took notice and backed off, before stepping up his attack once more on the final lap. Tarquini survived to take second by just 0.244 seconds.

Muller's RML factory Chevrolet team-mates Rob Huff and Alain Menu spent several laps tucked up behind Coronel. But as the race wore on, Coronel extended his advantage, leaving Huff and Menu in a solid fourth and fifth at the chequered flag.

The Cruze pair had worked effectively to move up the order from their fifth and ninth place starting positions. Fourth qualifier Pepe Oriola claimed sixth in his Leon, and the Independents' class victory for the SUNRED-run Tuenti Racing.

"I was on the outside on the rolling start so Huff could pass me," said Oriola. "Later on Menu got a run on me on the straight and I decided to let him pass as the Independents' win was my priority."

Results - 13 laps:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car               Time/Gap
 1.  Yvan Muller           Chevrolet            22m53.924s
 2.  Gabriele Tarquini     Lukoil SEAT            + 6.988s
 3.  Tom Coronel           ROAL BMW               + 7.232s
 4.  Rob Huff              Chevrolet              + 8.982s
 5.  Alain Menu            Chevrolet              + 9.250s
 6.  Pepe Oriola           Tuenti SEAT           + 10.614s
 7.  Norbert Michelisz     Zengo BMW             + 11.854s
 8.  Franz Engstler        Engstler BMW          + 12.202s
 9.  Tiago Monteiro        Tuenti SEAT           + 21.185s
10.  Darryl O'Young        Special Tuning SEAT   + 24.010s
11.  Stefano D'Aste        Wiechers BMW          + 25.349s
12.  James Nash            Arena Ford            + 30.104s
13.  Alberto Cerqui        ROAL BMW              + 30.282s
14.  Mehdi Bennani         Proteam BMW           + 30.685s
15.  Alex Macdowall        bamboo Chevrolet      + 31.373s
16.  Isaac Tutumlu         Proteam BMW           + 32.187s
17.  Gabor Weber           Zengo BMW             + 33.507s
18.  Charles Ng            Engstler BMW          + 34.050s
19.  Tom Chilton           Arena Ford            + 34.372s
20.  Tom Boardman          Special Tuning SEAT   + 36.599s
21.  Fernando Monje        SUNRED SEAT           + 37.377s
22.  Pasquale di Sabatino  bamboo Chevrolet      + 37.926s
23.  Andrea Barlesi        SUNRED SEAT           + 51.999s

Did not finish:

     Aleksei Dudukalo      Lukoil SEAT              6 laps