Alessandro Zanardi came home ahead of the rest in Race 1. After a solid start in his BMW 320si he propelled himself into the lead entering the first corner.

Pole man Rickard Rydell finished 2nd joined by SEAT Sport team-mate Gabriele Tarquini on the podium.

At the first corner of lap 2 Andy Priaulx and independent driver Luca Rangoni made contact which sent the reigning champion spinning across the track and obtaining damage to the rear of his car.

James Thompson was also caught up on the affair and both Britons dropped back with Priaulx finishing 14th and Thompson 17th.

Yvan Muller began from 4th on the grid but had a challenging race. On the opening lap he was being challenged by Duncan Huisman but held his position for three laps until the battle allowed BMW Team Germany duo Dirk and Jörg Müller through.

The standings didn't remain this way for long because late braking left Jörg and Yvan to run wide with the former unable to finish and the latter to cross the line 13th. Dirk Müller eventually passed the chequered flag 4th ahead of Duncan Huisman.

In the middle of the field there was a five man fight between three SEATs and the Alfas of Farfus and Tavano. Farfus and Terting had a brief spell of close proximity until the German went through to finish 6th and in the points.

Farfus was slightly less fruitful and crossed the line 9th. Salvatore Tavano and Jordi Gené both ended their races prematurely after colliding on lap 5.

The action continued over the next laps as a contest to be the best independent went underway.

Luca Rangoni of Proteam Motorsport managed to overtake Farfus on the inside but Tom Coronel of GR Asia followed him through. Rangoni then made a mistake, nearly losing his car which allowed Coronel to capitalise and secure 8th position.

He didn't let it go and therefore won the Independent race and started Race 2 from pole. Corthals and D'Aste finished second and third of the independents.

Nicola Larini continued to be the best performer from the Chevrolet team and stayed out of trouble to secure 7th place, 2 points and a front row start for Race 2.