Andy Priaulx capitalised on his pole start by shooting off the line and not allowing anyone to get close to him. He passed the chequered flag first with fellow BMW driver Dirk Müller 0.469 seconds behind and Rickard Rydell following at the wheel of his SEAT León.

Dirk weaved his way from 6th to 4th before the first corner and despite some contact with Rydell he managed to keep position. Farfus and Tarquini were involved in a scuffle in the first lap with a couple of overtaking moves happening before the SEAT man went through for 5th, followed by his SEAT team-mate Yvan Muller.

The next three laps saw Priaulx, Thompson, Rydell and Dirk pull away. The pack behind was the source of action on lap 5 when Farfus promoted himself back up to 6th. On the same lap Zanardi passed Morbidelli for 10th. The nose-to-tail tension continued with Dirk overtaking Rydell for 3rd on the first corner of lap 6 and then looked set to close the gap between himself and Thompson. Dirk's BMW Team Germany companion, Jörg, also gained a place by passing Yvan Muller for 7th.



Thompson conceded second place to Dirk on lap 8 and was also passed by Tarquini and Rydell a few laps later to eventually finish 5th.

The fight was on for the 8th position that means pole position for Race 2. Yvan Muller was being put under great pressure from Zanardi. The Italian mounted an attack on lap 12 but hit Muller entering a corner. The former spun off while the latter continued further down the rankings in 11th. This handed pole to local lad Peter Terting.

Farfus finished 6th overall after spectacularly keeping control of his Alfa Romeo as he sped across the grass following contact with Thompson. The Brazilian then narrowly avoided being overtaken by Jörg Müller.

The three Chevrolet drivers finished in a row with Huff, Menu and Larini taking 12th, 13th and 14th place respectively. Tom Coronel was 10th overall and won the Independents' category.