Gabriele Tarqunini held off a charging Alessandro Zanardi to salvage a valuable victory for SEAT Sport from the weekend in Brno, and extend his lead in the championship to 16 points ahead of Yvan Muller.
It was a breathtaking race. Once the start had shaken out, Yvan Muller held onto his lead from Tarquini in second and James Thompson in third. Chevrolet’s Robert Huff had a good start up from ninth to fifth, as did BMW Italy-Spain’s Félix Porteiro who ended the first lap in fourth.
Tarquini overtook Muller early in the race, as he appeared to struggle for pace, and then attempted to build up a healthy lead, which eventually saved his race. There was a fierce fight for other point positions as Zanardi, Jörg Müller and Huff clashed on the track, the latter losing his rear bumper; Alain Menu managed to take advantage and slip through. Zanardi moved up to fifth and Müller slipped down the field ending up finishing eighth. There were further notable overtaking moves by Menu on Muller, Zanardi on Thompson and Augusto Farfus overtaking Rickard Rydell and Porteiro on his way to fourth position.
Zanardi chased down Tarquini, diving up the inside on the final lap, but having to settle for second position. Huff overtook Yvan Muller for the final podium place, but had to fend off Farfus in the final corners. Porteiro recovered from several clashes to fifth position, having overtaken Yvan Muller on the final lap, who had to settle for sixth. Menu lost his third position when he ran wide at a corner and slipped down to seventh. Jörg Müller scrambled back up to eighth followed by Andy Priaulx who, again, finished out of the points. James Thompson ended up in tenth, having begun the race beside the pole sitter. He lacked the pace of the other cars and after being past by several cars, he clashed with Porteiro and fell back down the grid as cars shot past him.
In the Independents’ class Stefano D’Aste was leading the race until Sergio Hernández and Franz Engstler went either side on the last lap; Engstler and D’Aste clashed and went out, enabling Hernández to gain his second race win of the day from Corthals and Romanov.
The championship will resume for rounds 11 and 12 at Estoril, Portugal, on July 13th.
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