However, in the Italian's eagerness to repeat his race two pole position from last season, he dived into a small gap at Hasseroder and clipped the SEAT. While Muller was able to slide around the hairpin and continue, albeit down in 11th place, Zanardi went straight on into the gravel trap and out of the race.
Instead it was left to Peter Terting to claim eighth place, the German putting his disappointing qualifying behind him to claim a race two pole position.
Further back, Chevrolet could only manage 12th, 13th and 14th place, but it was Rob Huff who was the surprise leading Lacetti, the Brit storming from the back of the grid to overtake several drivers, including his team mates on the way to a commendable result.
In the Indpendents category, Tom Coronel unsurprisingly converted his massive grid position advantage to take an easy victory, shadowing Terting and Gianni Morbidelli to tenth place overall.
Proteam duo Luca Rangoni and Stefano D'Aste were second and third, while Jens Edman took fourth place in his Peugeot.
The ten points for Priaulx and Muller's problems means the Brit has now vaulted back from fourth place in the standings to first, although he will now have to start in eighth place with a significant amount of ballast.
