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Menu leads Chevrolet 1-2-3 in race 1

Alain Menu led home a Chevrolet 1-2-3 to take his third World Touring Car Championship win of the season

The Swiss driver held off a concerted challenge from teammate Rob Huff in the first two corners of the race to take a lead he would never relinquish.

Huff held station in second for the rest of the race, with the heavily-ballasted Nicola Larini completing the podium after holding off a challenge from Gabriele Tarquini at a restart.

"It's a great day for RML and Chevrolet," said Menu. "They have done a very good job with the car. Look at where we started in 2005 and where we are now."

Despite his success, Menu believes that he will not be able to translate his race-winning pace into a title challenge.

"There are some tracks where the Chevrolet is good," he said. "But the BMW is good everywhere. I know I'm not fighting for the championship - I'm just taking each race as it comes."

Tarquini was unable to challenge the Lacettis on his way to fourth, while SEAT teammate Yvan Muller proved that it is possible to overtake on the streets of Porto by jumping the GR-Asia SEAT of Tom Coronel on the run into Park Corner on the last lap to earn fifth.

Behind the two SEATS, the three championship protagonists fought it out for seventh, eighth and ninth places.

Schnitzer Motorsport's Augusto Farfus missed out on the reverse grid by finishing ninth, shadowing teammate Jorg Muller to the flag but unable to launch a serious challenge.

Defending champion Andy Priaulx will start alongside Muller on the front row after taking seventh.

Farfus had earlier clashed with the ROAL-run works BMW 320si of Alex Zanardi, spinning the Italian down to the back of the field on the first lap.

Italian Stefano d'Aste continued his strong run for the Wiechers-Sport BMW team, taking victory in the independents' trophy in 11th overall.

Points leader Pierre-Yves Corthals took second, while the independent ranks were depleted on the second lap when GR-Asia's Emmet O'Brien hit the barrier and was rear-ended by the unfortunate Sergio Hernandez. 

Pos   Driver             Team         Time
 1.   Alain Menu         Chevrolet    34:07.853 
 2.   Robert Huff        Chevrolet     +  0.837
 3.   Nicola Larini      Chevrolet     +  1.618
 4.   G.Tarquini         SEAT          +  1.929
 5.   Yvan Muller        SEAT          +  5.418
 6.   Tom Coronel        SEAT          +  6.090
 7.   Andy Priaulx       BMW           +  6.638
 8.   Jorg Muller        BMW           +  6.970
 9.   Augusto Farfus     BMW           +  7.270
10.   James Thompson     Alfa Romeo    + 12.082
11.   Stefano D'Aste     BMW           + 12.564
12.   M.Jourdain Jr      SEAT          + 12.896
13.   P-Y.Corthals       SEAT          + 13.160
14.   Jordi Gene         SEAT          + 13.975
15.   Tiago Monteiro     SEAT          + 14.675
16.   A.Zanardi          BMW           + 15.043
17.   Felix Porteiro     BMW           + 24.319
18.   M.Ceresoli         SEAT          + 26.127
19.   Miguel Freitas     Alfa Romeo    + 26.557
20.   Luca Rangoni       BMW           + 45.258
21.   L.P.Magalhaes      SEAT          + 51.277

Not classified

      O.Tielemans        Alfa Romeo      7 laps
      Roberto Colciago   SEAT            2 laps
      Emmet O'Brien      SEAT            1  lap
      Sergio Hernandez   BMW             1  lap

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