» WTCC: Muller leads Chevrolet 1-2-3 at Monza

Yvan Muller has taken an assured lights-to-flag win – and led home a Chevrolet 1-2-3 – in an eventful rain-affected opening race of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season at Monza.

The Frenchman led home RML team-mate and fellow front-row starter Tom Chilton at the end of the 12-lap race, while Bamboo Engineering’s Alex MacDowall claimed third place and the Independent Trophy class win in his Cruze 1.6T.

The works Honda squad had a promising first race with Gabriele Tarquini finishing fourth ahead of a charging Tiago Monteiro, who gained ten positions relative to his starting position in the Civic WTCC challenger.

Reigning WTCC title-holder Rob Huff was another to climb rapidly up the order, finishing in sixth place from the back of the grid.

With the Milan circuit hit by teeming rain, the race’s rolling start took place under Safety Car conditions, and it made another appearance a handful of laps later when local driver Stefano D’Aste crashed out at Ascari four laps into the race.

Muller and Chilton had run in a formation 1-2 in the early laps, and had to eke out another lead over the pace when the race restarted.

They did so when racing resumed, while MacDowall also used the Chevrolet’s superior grip to secure himself a safe third place, while the main action occurred behind him as Tarquini (who had been hit with a grid penalty for causing a collision), Monteiro and Huff worked their way through the field.

The wily Tarquini pulled off successful passing moves on Marc Basseng, James Nash and then Pepe Oriola, while Monteiro and Huff had a slightly easier time of it, triggered by an error for Basseng at the Parabolica, and a retirement for Oriola.

James Nash finished seventh in the second Bamboo Chevrolet, narrowly avoiding damage in a late-race contact with Tom Boardman, with the incident forcing the Englishman to retire his SEAT with damaged steering.

That contact promoted Norbert Michelisz to eighth place, and he managed to hold off the BMWs of Tom Coronel and Fredy Barth, who rounded out the top-ten and struggled in the greasy conditions.

Neither LADA of James Thompson and Aleksei Dudukalo took part in the race, after both Grantas were ruled out of contention following the heavy qualifying accident between the pair on Saturday.

2013 FIA WTCC Race of Italy – Race 1 Final Classification (12 laps):

	Driver	Team	Result	YIT
1.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	30:02.783
2.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.923
3.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 5.101	Y
4.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 8.053
5.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 15.261
6.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 17.349
7.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 19.964	Y
8.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 20.388
9.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 28.837
10.	Fredy Barth	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	+ 37.740	Y
11.	Jean-Philippe Dayraut	ANOME BMW 320TC	+ 39.226	Y
12.	Fernando Monje	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 41.656	Y
13.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 48.116	Y
14.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 50.920
15.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 54.412	Y
16.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 58.733	Y
17.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 2:05.913	Y
18.	Tom Boardman	Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC	+ 2 laps	Y
19.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 2 laps	Y
20.	Michel Nykjær	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 2 laps	Y
	Not Classified		Result
NF.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	8 laps	Y
NF.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC	3 laps	Y
NS.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	DNS
NS.	Aleksei Dudukalo	LADA Sport Granta	DNS