Reigning world Touring Car Championship title-holder Yvan Muller has extended his lead in the Drivers’ title race by claiming his sixth victory of the season, narrowly holding out Gabriele Tarquini in a closely-fought opening race at Portugal’s Autódromo Internacional do Algarve circuit.
Starting from the front row for the opening race’s rolling start, the Frenchman swept around the outside of pole-sitter Tarquini to take the lead at Turn 1.
Tarquini held on doggedly to Muller’s coattails for the remainder of the race, but his attention was also focused on keeping Muller’s team-mate (and main championship rival) Robert Huff at bay, with the Englishman launching several unsuccessful attacks on wrestling second place from the SEAT driver.
Huff had managed to get by Norbert Michelisz at the start, and the pair ran in that order for the entire race, with Michelisz steadily dropping back to finish a rather solitary fourth in his BMW.
The big mover of the race was Alain Menu – racing this weekend in the colours of comic book racer Michel Vaillante – with the Swiss driver consolidating his third place in the championship standings with a climb to fifth place from his ninth-placed starting position.
After half-spinning Aleksei Dudukalo out of the way on the opening lap, Menu then set about moving up the order with some neat passing moves on Tiago Monteiro and Tom Coronel to secure fifth place.
Coronel and local driver Monteiro would finish sixth and seventh respectively, while the top ten was rounded our by WTCC rookie Alberto Cerqui, SEAT’s teenage sensation Pepe Oriola and Bamboo Chevrolet racer Alex MacDowell.
2012 FIA WTCC Race of Portugal – Race 1 Final Classification (11 laps):
| Driver | Team | Result | YIT | |||
| 1. | Yvan Muller |  |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |  |
21:20.620 | |
| 2. | Gabriele Tarquini |  |
Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC |  |
+ 0.336 | |
| 3. | Robert Huff |  |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
+ 0.951 | |
| 4. | Norbert Michelisz |  |
Zengõ Motorsport BMW 320TC |  |
+ 6.699 | Y |
| 5. | Alain Menu |  |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
+ 13.669 | |
| 6. | Tom Coronel |  |
ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC | |
+ 17.053 | |
| 7. | Tiago Monteiro |  |
Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T |  |
+ 20.172 | |
| 8. | Alberto Cerqui | |
ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC | |
+ 20.442 | Y |
| 9. | Pepe Oriola |  |
Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC | |
+ 21.134 | Y |
| 10. | Alex MacDowell | |
Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
+ 21.723 | Y |
| 11. | Stefano D’Aste | |
Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC | |
+ 22.453 | Y |
| 12. | Franz Engstler |  |
Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC | |
+ 26.142 | Y |
| 13. | Darryl O’Young |  |
Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC | |
+ 29.066 | Y |
| 14. | Tom Boardman | |
Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC | |
+ 29.813 | Y |
| 15. | Pasquale di Sabatino | |
Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
+ 34.752 | Y |
| 16. | Tom Chilton | |
Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC |  |
+ 42.163 | |
| 17. | James Thompson | |
TMS LADA Granta Sport WTCC |  |
+ 1 lap | |
| Not Classified | ||||||
| NF. | Charles Ka-Ki Ng | |
Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC | |
+ 31.897 | Y |
| NF. | James Nash | |
Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC | |
+ 24.446 | |
| NF. | Mehdi Bennani |  |
Proteam Racing BMW 320TC | |
+ 10.983 | Y |
| NF. | Gábor Wéber | |
Zengõ Motorsport BMW 320TC | |
+ 20.950 | Y |
| NF. | Aleksei Dudukalo |  |
Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC | |
+ 30.396 | Y |
 |
|
Richard Bailey
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