Jean-Karl Vernay won the opening race of the World Touring Car Cup's Macau Guia race weekend, beating Yvan Muller and Rob Huff in a gripping fight for victory.

From fourth on the grid, Vernay progressed to second on the opening lap and grabbed the lead in the other side of a safety-car period, then resisted pressure from Muller and Huff for the majority of the race to win in his WRT Audi RS3 LMS.

Huff had dominated both of Friday's qualifying sessions, but after a good initial start he suffered some wheelspin on the run to the first kink, allowing YMR Hyundai driver Muller to work his way around the outside of Huff's Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI.

While Muller held the lead, front-row starters Huff and Esteban Guerrieri were caught on the run to Lisboa by cars behind - with Huff passed by Vernay and Guerrieri dropping to sixth behind the BRC Racing Hyundai i30 Ns of Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz.

“It was a good race and I’m really happy for our sponsors and the team. We worked hard to prepare, and the plan was to make a good start, then hope for a safety car. I had a lot of pressure from Yvan and Rob, whose cars were faster. Now I’m already focused on the races tomorrow, because the job is not finished. But we won today!” 

- Jean-Karl Vernay

Source: LeopardRacing.com & Autosport.com

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