Andy Priaulx made a perfect start to the defence of his World Touring Car crown with an easy lights-to-flag victory in his RBM run
BMW 320si at Monza, but it was SEAT that were catching most of the attention by filling four of the top six positions.
Yvan Muller and James Thompson made it a podium reminiscent of the British Touring Car Championship, after a strong performance on their SEAT debuts and if any more evidence that SEAT will be taking the fight to BMW this year was needed, then the fact that both Muller and Thompson got past Dirk Muller, while Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell grabbed fifth and sixth, speaks volumes.
Taking advantage of his rear-wheel drive superiority off the startline, Priaulx blitzed into a comfortable lead, while Dirk Muller slotted in behind him from fourth on the grid, ahead of a myriad of SEATs.
However, the 35 car squeeze into the first corner inevitably claimed its victims, with Salvatore Tavano braking far too late and finding the rear of slow starting team mate Augusto Farfus Jr. Although he got airborne briefly, Farfus continued with his bumper trailing for the rest of the race, but Tavano coasted back to the pits with heavy frontal damage.
Jorg Muller in the Team Deutschland BMW also found himself in the pit lane after the first lap with front suspension problems, rejoining later on but only being classified in 28th place.
With Priaulx pulling out in front, his small lead was pegged back when the safety car was deployed to clear the wreckage of Jens Edman's Peugeot 407 and Roberto Colciago's SEAT Toledo, the latter sustaining heavy damage and even catching fire briefly.
On the restart though, the Guernseyman got the jump on Muller and stayed with a healthy margin to the finish line.
Behind though, things were much closer with Yvan Muller surprising many by pulling alongside the BMW out of the final corner and then edging ahead into the first corner and taking second place, a move then repeated by Thompson, the Brit impressively climbing from sixth on the grid.
