Naturally, Coronel drifted wide and he slipped down the order alarmingly, ending the first lap outside the points. Instead, it was Larini who initially led the way, only for Terting to slip past at turn three and then run wide at turn eight and allow the Lacetti back through.
Still, Terting clearly had the faster car with his nimble, grippy Leon, taking little time to outfox Larini through the final complex and pass up the inside into turn one, duly making the most of a clear track in front to sprint into a clear lead.
Indeed, the early stages of the race were already showing it to be something of a SEAT demonstration, particularly as their arch-rivals for the manufacturers' title,
BMW, were enduring an awful afternoon.
Having shown the pace in the first race, the sprinkling of rain was numbing their advantage in a straight line, with their drivers proving easy meat for the looming SEATs in the bends. However, by this point their leading driver Andy Priaulx was already out of the race, having spun at turn one, an incident that seemingly induced a puncture, a massive blowout coming out of turn eight being the result and pitching him into his first retirement since Monza.
There was more grief for BMW when Alex Zanardi's strong start was followed by an inability to keep the SEATs and the Chevrolet of Rob Huff behind him, the race one winner slipping out of the points on a race track he has largely dominated on in the dry.
Duncan Huisman was also proving to be something of a mobile chicane, the Dutchman struggling in the conditions to drop behind Tarquini, Rydell, Gene and Huff down to eighth place from fourth within a single lap.
Now released, Tarquini had no trouble closing the three second gap to Dirk Muller, who had spent the last few laps attempting to get the past the slower, but equally determined Larini. Indeed, Tarquini, who had almost been barged off the circuit by his team-mate Yvan Muller on the first lap, found himself past both Muller and Larini within a couple of corners and set about closing the gap to Terting, the German having pulled out a three second lead.
