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James Thompson was elated by his unlikely win

Race 1
YVAN MULLER GIVES SEAT WIN IN RACE 1

SEAT Sport's Yvan Muller took the first race win in Imola having overtaken his team mate and pole sitter Rickard Rydell into the first corner. Following this move the pair of drivers led the whole race, although Rydell had to defend his position from the Chevrolet cars.

Robert Huff came up to third after having a strong start and jumping ahead of his team mate Alain Menu. However, driver of the race, must go to Honda's James Thompson. He fell back from fifth to eighth at the start, but then began overtaking car after car. First on his list were the BMWs of Jörg Müller and Augusto Farfus, then he put in a brilliant move to take Nicola Larini at Rivazza 1, and soon after that Gabriele Tarquini. His most controversial move was on Alain Menu, who put up a gallant resistance. Eventually Thompson and Menu clashed at the braking of Tamburello and the contact sent the Chevrolet driver into a spin, and in the gravel trap. Thompson's last move was in the final lap when he overtook Huff; his fellow countryman desperately defended the final podium position, but it was to no avail and Thompson finished a remarkable race on the podium.

Huff settled for fourth and some vital Championship points, ahead of Tarquini and his team mate Larini. Farfus and Müller took seventh and eighth positions respectively and they will start from the front row for race two.

Sergio Hernández began the Independents' race from pole position, and remained there, taking the win. However he also finished a brilliant ninth overall, ahead of several factory cars including Porteiro's, Priaulx's and Zanardi's.

Behind the top ten drivers there were some competitive fights for the positions throughout the race. Priaulx and Gené had a few scuffles, before Coronel got involved. The Dutchman overtook Gené, and then tried to jump over the kerb to take Priaulx. Later in the race Gené had more problems as D'Aste fought with him for seventeenth position. Zanardi and Monteiro had a clash in the last lap while fighting for the ninth place. Okyay failed to finish the race, as he had to abandon the car on the side of the racetrack, while LADA drivers Ladygin and Shapovalov were stopped by technical failures.

After this exciting race Muller has stretched his leading gap to 8 points ahead of Tarquini, while reigning Champion Priaulx slipped down to fifth behind Rydell and Huff.

Pos	Driver	Car	Laps/gap
1	Yvan Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	21:24.5
2	Rickard Rydell	SEAT Leon TDI	0.411
3	James Thompson	Honda Accord	0.773
4	Rob Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	1.376
5	Gabriele Tarquini	SEAT Leon TDI	2.086
6	Nicola Larini	Chevrolet Lacetti	3.047
7	Augusto Farfus	BMW 320si	3.364
8	Jorg Muller	BMW 320si	3.906
9	Sergio Hernandez	BMW 320si	6.255
10	Felix Porteiro	BMW 320si	7.545
11	Andy Priaulx	BMW 320si	8.411
12	Alex Zanardi	BMW 320si	14.356
13	Tiago Monteiro	SEAT Leon TDI	14.743
14	Pierre-Yves Corthals	SEAT Leon	14.82
15	Tom Coronel	SEAT Leon TFSI	15.355
16	Franz Engstler	BMW 320si	15.804
17	Jordi Gene	SEAT Leon TDI	22.172
18	Stefano D'Aste	BMW 320si	22.414
19	Jaap van Lagen	Lada 110	22.748
20	Andrei Romanov	BMW 320si	29.464
21	George Tanev	BMW 320si	41.517
DNF	Alain Menu	Chevrolet Lacetti	6 laps*
DNF	Viktor Shapovalov	Lada 110	4 laps*
DNF	Ibrahim Okyay	BMW 320si	3 laps*
DNF	Kirill Ladygin	Lada 110	3 laps*

Tarquini was injured after a heavy crash

Race 2
THOMPSON HAS FIRST WIN IN HONDA

While all eyes were on the front of the grid for the second race, the drama was happening behind them. Gabriele Tarquini's SEAT León Tdi stalled on the grid as the cars moved away from the standing start. James Thompson and Yvan Muller pulled out wide to avoid the stricken car, but Félix Porteiro was not so lucky. He was accelerating away behind Muller, and pulled to the inside to get past him, but he did not see the stalled SEAT and went straight into the back of it. Both of the drivers were unharmed, if a little shaken, but the same could not be said of the cars as the front of Porteiro's and rear of Tarquini's were completely staved in.

Before the safety car was deployed Thompson overtook Chevrolet's Robert Huff for third position in his N.technology Honda Accord car. Augusto Farfus had a poor start falling back from second, and therefore Jörg Müller led, Nicola Larini, Thompson and Huff round behind the safety car. The field were forced to go through the pit lane to avoid the accident site for three laps before the track was cleaned.

At the restart Müller got away well, but Thompson overtook Larini, at the same place where he and Alain Menu had an accident in the first race. Huff immediately got after Larini, and eventually got past his team mate.

Thompson soon came up behind the leader, and with supreme straight line speed took the lead from the German. Thompson took a deserved victory following a weekend where the British driver and the car just got better and better. He had driven a fantastic first race to get a podium, and then he excelled once again to claim the win. He was not afraid to put in the overtaking moves needed, some of which were pretty tricky. Müller took second spot after defending his position to the Chevrolet cars chasing him from behind. Huff took third rounding off a successful weekend. Larini took fourth position ahead of the SEAT cars of Yvan Muller and Rickard Rydell. BMW drivers Andy Priaulx, Farfus and Alessandro Zanardi took the next three places, with Independents' driver Sergio Hernández in tenth and on their heels.

In addition to the first lap accident there were several incidents throughout the race. Tiago Monteiro had a moment on the grass during the first lap, then later after the restart he tangled with Franz Engstler and Pierre-Yves Corthals. Farfus and Muller enjoyed a fight for position during the race, but the Brazilian's car was struggling and he ended up losing positions to Rydell and Priaulx. Hernández' took the win for the Independent's trophy, extending his lead in the Championship.

In the Drivers' Championship Yvan Muller has stretched his lead to 12 points ahead of Tarquini. SEAT have a 34-point margin ahead of BMW in the Manufacturers' Championship.

The series will resume in Monza in two weeks time on the weekend of the 4th October 2008, for rounds 19 and 20.

***

UPDATES ON TARQUINI'S CONDITIONS

SEAT Sport driver Gabriele Tarquini was taken to the Imola hospital after the heavy crash he was involved in at the start of today's second race. After the first checks and X-rays were performed at the circuit medical centre, he was sent to the hospital for more accurate examinations including a Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT Scan) to his neck that was negative.

He was advised to spend the night in the hospital as a precautionary measure, but has already received the green light to race in Monza by the FIA Medical Delegate, Dr. Alain Chantegret.

Pos	Driver	Car	Laps/gap
1	James Thompson	Honda Accord	30:20.6
2	Jorg Muller	BMW 320si	1.12
3	Rob Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	1.858
4	Nicola Larini	Chevrolet Lacetti	3.353
5	Yvan Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	4.034
6	Rickard Rydell	SEAT Leon TDI	4.378
7	Andy Priaulx	BMW 320si	5.142
8	Augusto Farfus	BMW 320si	6.029
9	Alex Zanardi	BMW 320si	6.179
10	Sergio Hernandez	BMW 320si	6.349
11	Tiago Monteiro	SEAT Leon TDI	7.016
12	Alain Menu	Chevrolet Lacetti	11.521
13	Pierre-Yves Corthals	SEAT Leon	12.393
14	Franz Engstler	BMW 320si	13.757
15	Tom Coronel	SEAT Leon TFSI	14.437
16	Stefano D'Aste	BMW 320si	14.85
17	Jordi Gene	SEAT Leon TDI	20.103
18	Jaap van Lagen	Lada 110	20.504
19	George Tanev	BMW 320si	31.19
20	Andrei Romanov	BMW 320si	33.742
21	Ibrahim Okyay	BMW 320si	34.731
22	Kirill Ladygin	Lada 110	40.905
DNF	Felix Porteiro	BMW 320si	0 laps*
DNF	Gabriele Tarquini	SEAT Leon TDI	0 laps*
DNS	Viktor Shapovalov	Lada 110