Jorg Muller led a
BMW 1-2 in the first race of the day at Brno to take victory in the 13th round of the World Touring Car Championship, the German holding off the race-long attentions of Alex Zanardi.
His second win of the year, it was a lights-to-flag victory for Muller when he unsurprisingly got the jump on Gabriele Tarquini at the start, crossing the line ten laps later to claim his second win of the season and give his flagging title hopes a lifeline.
Zanardi shadowed him to the line, while Yvan Muller took a lonely third, ahead of Jordi Gene and Andy Priaulx, the duo embarking on a thrilling battle in the final laps as the Spaniard fought, successfully, to keep the rampant Brit at bay. Leading privateer Tom Coronel grabbed sixth, while Chevrolet will annex the front row for the second race following Alain Menu's seventh and a stunning drive by Rob Huff in eighth.
The race started with controversy when Rickard Rydell stalled his car on the grid, prompting officials to run towards his car and the Swede to open the door of his stricken Leon, only for the lights to turn green and the field to stream away.
Although nobody hit a rather bemused Rydell or any of the marshals that were lining the grid, it did provoke several cars to swap positions as they tried to avoid the Leon.
Not that this mattered to Muller and Zanardi, who had flown off the grid into the lead by the first corner, while Tarquini was forced in behind the BMW pair, attempting to hold off Priaulx, who had passed Jordi Gene off the line too. Indeed, their battle for third place came to a head on the second lap when Priaulx went for a slight gap inside Tarquini, punting the SEAT into the gravel and out of the race, much to the anger of the Italian.
