Zanardi grabs Brno race one victory

The Italian started third but took advantage when polesitter Augusto Farfus wiped out fellow BMW driver Andy Priaulx, Jordi Gene and all three Chevrolets.

Farfus had bunched the field tightly out of the last corner for the rolling start and moved across on Priaulx on the approach to the first corner. The contact spun Farfus into Nicola Larini, and Gene, Rob Huff and Alain Menu were all punted into the gravel in the mayhem.

"It was definitely a mess but I managed to pass through it unhurt," said Zanardi. "There's always a lot of action in our races and today what happened was in my favour."

Zanardi snatched the lead from Gabriele Tarquini just a few corners after the restart from the safety car period that followed the crash. Zanardi led from the remaining four factory SEATs for a while, but Jorg Muller carved his way through the field from eighth to run the victor close at the end.

Tarquini didn't put up much of a fight to either BMW but claimed the final podium spot in the first of the Leons, with Rickard Rydell close behind and fending off Sergio Hernandez's BMW.

Hernandez had tried to follow Muller through the SEATs but had to settle for picking off just Tiago Monteiro, who finished behind him in sixth.

Felix Porteiro scored another independent class win, ahead of Yvan Muller, who lost second to Tarquini shortly after the restart and then dropped to eighth after running wide. The reigning champion only just held off Tom Coronel to claim pole position for this afternoon's reverse grid race.

Gene and Priaulx both rejoined the race following swift repairs to their cars. RBM-run BMW Team UK managed to rebuild the front end of Priaulx's car in time for him to get back out and set the fastest lap - a full six tenths of a second quicker than anyone else's best effort.

Pos Driver                 Car                 Time
 1. Alex Zanardi           BMW           29m26.496s
 2. Jorg Muller            BMW               +1.848
 3. Gabriele Tarquini      SEAT              +4.831
 4. Rickard Rydell         SEAT              +5.105
 5. Sergio Hernandez       BMW               +5.303
 6. Tiago Monteiro         SEAT              +7.250
 7. Felix Porteiro         BMW               +7.847
 8. Yvan Muller            SEAT              +9.915
 9. Tom Coronel            SEAT             +10.814
10. Vito Postiglione       BMW              +11.022
11. Franz Engstler         BMW              +12.916
12. Tim Coronel            SEAT             +14.150
13. Tom Boardman           SEAT             +17.692
14. Jaap van Lagen         Lada             +20.200
15. Kirill Ladygin         Lada             +22.342
16. Viktor Shapovalov      Lada             +24.607
17. Stefano D'Aste         BMW              +36.126
18. Andy Priaulx           BMW              +6 laps 

Retirements

    Marin Colak            SEAT              7 laps
    Jordi Gene             SEAT              4 laps
    Kristian Poulsen       BMW               2 laps
    Alain Menu             Chevrolet          1 lap
    Augusto Farfus         BMW               0 laps
    Nicola Larini          Chevrolet         0 laps
    Rob Huff               Chevrolet         0 laps


Fastest lap, Priaulx 2m10.622s