Rob Huff has taken Chevrolet to its third successive win in the World Touring Car Championship after holding off a train of BMWs in the opening race of the weekend at Pau.

A good start from the Briton saw him jump up to second place behind the BMW of Augusto Farfus, and when the Brazilian ran wide on oil on the second lap, Huff was able to make his move for the lead.

From that point on, the Chevrolet ace was forced to make the Cruze as wide as possible to try and keep Farfus behind but managed to withstand heavy pressure from the BMW Team Germany man to take his second win of the campaign.

Farfus' team-mate Jorg Muller completed the podium ahead of Andy Priaulx, who was involved in a long battle with Alan Menu before finding a way past the Swiss driver on lap twelve. Having been slowed while trying to defend that position, Menu also lost fifth to Sergio Hernandez before he slowed on the final lap to drop behind Independent pairing Felix Porteiro and Franz Engstler to finish eighth – which will give him pole position for race two as a result.

Following the difficult qualifying session endured by the factory SEAT team, things didn't get much better in the race as none of the factory drivers was able to make an impression on the top ten.