Gabriele Tarquini took an important step towards the 2009 World Touring Car title after winning a chaotic first race of the day at Imola.

The Italian was almost eliminated in a first corner pile-up, but held steady to remain in front to keep Yvan Muller and Rob Huff at bay to the chequered flag. Closest rival Augusto Farfus failed to finish.

A frantic race that could prove pivotal to the title fight, the rolling start and the long home straight always threatened to cause problems into the tight first corner chicane and, as expected, carnage ensued when Rickard Rydell, starting fourth, clipped Huff under braking, possibly brought on by the Chevrolet being sent into his path by another driver himself.

Causing Huff to bump into the rear of Muller ahead of him, the Frenchman clipped Tarquini too as they slid through the left-hander, with all three drivers holding on despite almost spinning.

However, the concertina effect of the front three being forced to slow down would simply bunch up the chasing field, with Rydell going on to bounce over the kerbs and tag Jordi Gene. Spinning in front of the chasing pack, several cars were sent scattering around him, but Tiago Monteiro and Jorg Muller were not so lucky as they made contact and were forced to retire.

Despite almost getting away, Rydell would also be eliminated when he was clipped by Farfus, the Brazilian's attempts to thread his way through being ruined when he slid into the Swede's path.

Once the dust had cleared and the safety car was deployed, Tarquini held firm ahead of Muller and Huff, while Alex Zanardi, Tom Coronel and James Thompson were the big winners from the melee as they vaulted from the mid-pack into fourth, fifth and sixth.

Following the chaotic opening, the race began to calm down with the top three stretching away from Zanardi, who in turn was putting significant air between himself and Coronel.

Instead, the battle for sixth attracted much of the attention, with Thompson gallantly resisting the attentions of Stefano D'Aste, the LADA driver using all his experience to resist the Italian. Indeed, D'Aste briefly overtook Thompson on lap five, only for the Briton, who won at Imola last season in a Honda, to strike back immediately and regain the position.