Nonetheless, he was the only driver to squeeze past the stricken Farfus and Tarquini, allowing him to scamper away and sprint to a second win of the season, while also Huff also guaranteed himself third position in the overall standings with the result.

Held up by Tarquini's coasting SEAT, newly crowned champion Yvan Muller was nonetheless able to pick himself through the wreckage to finish a rewarding second, while Priaulx settled for third at the end of his best race weekend of the season.

Race one winner Alain Menu was heading for fourth position when he too joined the final lap casualty list, the Swiss driver plunging the Chevrolet into the barriers close to the finish. It remains to be seen whether Menu's incident, as well as Farfus's, may have been caused by debris from Thompson's ailing Honda as he attempted to drag it to the pit lane.

Rickard Rydell, meanwhile, deserves a big mention for his drive to fourth place from 25th on the grid, particularly as the Swede didn't even capitalise too much on the misfortune of others having battled his way up into eighth place after just four laps. The same can be said for Alex Zanardi, who managed to finish in fifth place having started from the pit lane.

Indeed, the high attrition rate presented some rather unusual results for less fancied drivers, with Franz Engstler taking Independent honours for the first time with a superb run to sixth position overall, while Manibu Orido kept it out of the barriers to secure two precious points in the fourth Chevrolet Lacetti.

Eighth, and therefore the final point, meanwhile went the way of Matthew Marsh, the Hong Kong driver doing a marvellous job to get on the score sheet for Weichers-Sport, albeit over a minute behind the leaders. Andrey Romanov and Ibrahim Okyay were the only other finishers.

Away from the final lap dramas, Jorg Muller ended his season in disappointment when he got caught up in Andre Couto's accident at Lisboa, the local driver ensuring N.Technology come away from the event with a substantial repair bill when he crashed heavily into the barriers.

Gene, Larini, Tiago Monteiro and Tom Coronel all retired with mechanical problems, while Felix Porteiro didn't even start the race.

In the final standings, Muller comes away from Macau as the undisputed title winner, finishing 26 points ahead of Tarquini, while Huff misses out on the runners-up spot by just a single point. Outgoing champion Priaulx is classified in fourth, with Rydell fifth.