Rob Huff got the better of teammate Yvan Muller to win the first World Touring Car Championship race at Brno, with Alain Menu finishing third to complete a Chevrolet 1-2-3.
Muller retained the lead from pole position at the rolling start, but was passed by Huff at Turn 3. Muller remained close to Huff for the rest of the race, but the Briton won by eight tenths of a second to extend his championship lead over the Frenchman.
Menu would complete the podium 11 seconds behind the leading pair, but had to get past the BMWs of Tom Coronel and Kristian Poulsen first. Starting fourth, Menu slipped behind Poulsen on the opening lap, but regained the place a few laps later. He finally found his way past Coronel with two laps to go.
Behind Coronel and Poulsen, Robert Dahlgren finished sixth in the Polestar Volvo. Darryl O’Young finished seventh, having resisted pressure from Norbert Michelisz. The Hungarian had started from the back of the grid after being excluded from qualifying, but worked his way through the field in the opening stages. Despite his best efforts he could not find a way past O’Young.
Javier Villa finished ninth in his Proteam BMW, taking the position from Michel Nykjaer in the final corner.
Race results after 10 laps:
1. Robert Huff (Chevrolet) 21:59.507
2. Yvan Muller (Chevrolet) +0.858
3. Alain Menu (Chevrolet) +11.697
4. Tom Coronel (ROAL BMW) +13.026
5. Kristian Poulsen (Engstler BMW) +13.772
6. Robert Dahlgren (Polestar Volvo) +14.353
7. Darryl O’Young (Bamboo Chevrolet) +21.288
8. Norbert Michelisz (Zengo BMW) +21.584
9. Javier Villa (Proteam BMW) +23.436
10. Michel Nykjaer (SUNRED) +23.731
