» WTCC: Nykjaer claims narrow Race 1 win

Michel Nykjær has claimed his second World Touring Car Championship career victory, withstanding enormous pressure from James Nash to claim a lights-to-flag victory at the Salzburgring.

Championship leader Yvan Muller stormed through to finish third from thirteenth on the grid to make it an all-Chevrolet podium.

While the raft of post-qualifying penalties delivered one of the most mixed-up grids seen in awhile, the field managed to make it through the tight opening chicane at the race’s rolling start without too much incident, although Marc Basseng found himself forced into a while slide onto the grass as the pack concertinaed up. Incredibly, he avoided making contact with anyone.

Out in the lead, front-row starters Nykjær and Nash kicked off a race-long battle for first place with Mehdi Bennani heading fellow BMW runners Fredy Barth and Franz Engstler, who both managed to get the jump on WTCC rookie Mikhail Kozlovskiy in the LADA, as did the Russian’s teammate James Thompson.

The Chevrolets were showing incredible top-end speed, allowing Nykjær and Nash to ease away from Bennani, and the midfield runners such as Muller, his teammate Tom Chilton and Nash’s teammate Alex MacDowall, to make their respective climbs through the field.

Muller was, as is customary, the most aggressive in working his way through the pace, and managed to skip ahead of both MacDowall and Barth as the pair jostled for fourth place into the first chicane, slicing past the former at the chicane, and then outdragging Barth along the back straight to set himself up to chase down Bennani’s third place.

Up at the front, Nykjær continued to defend vigorously from Nash, with the Brit unable to find a way past the identical machine of the Dane, despite occupying his mirrors for lap after lap.

Nykjær’s cause was helped by a late-race tangle between the two Engstler BMWs of Charles Ng and Franz Engstler – which also took out an innocent Darryl O’Young.

While the marshals cleared away the debris under waved yellow flags, it gave Nash one less overtaking opportunity around the high-speed Salzburgring.

The pair crossed the line just two-tenths of a second apart, while Muller managed to scramble by Bennani on the final lap to complete the podium.

MacDowall came home in fifth position after finally getting by Barth, with Chilton’s RML Chevrolet claiming seventh place.

Rob Huff was the only SEAT runner to finish in the points at a circuit to which the little León WTCC is ill-suited. The Englishman had an entertaining scrap with his compatriot Thompson, which included Huff being tipped sideways through the final sequence of corners – lightning-quick reactions from the reigning champ kept him pointing in the right direction!

Thompson hung on to claim his second points finish of the season with ninth place, while Tom Coronel surged through to claim tenth after starting near the back of the field.

The second race gets underway at 13:50 local time, with Nash starting from pole position and no doubt eager to move one spot further up the podium.

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

	Driver	Team	Result	YIT
1.	Michel Nykjær	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	17:41.335	Y
2.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.298	Y
3.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.645
4.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 1.586	Y
5.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 4.374	Y
6.	Fredy Barth	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	+ 5.121	Y
7.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 7.114
8.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 11.711
9.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	+ 15.758
10.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 15.812
11.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	+ 16.000	Y
12.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 18.388
13.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 19.097
14.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 19.604
15.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC	+ 20.117	Y
16.	Mikhail Kozlowskiy	LADA Sport Granta	+ 23.511
17.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 27.793	Y
18.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 32.141	Y
19.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	+ 3 laps	Y
20.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 3 laps	Y
	Not Classified		Result
DNF.	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	8 laps	Y
DNF.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	8 laps
DNF.	Fernando Monje	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	3 laps	Y