N.Technology Alfa Romeo’s James Thompson put in a stunning performance in today’s first FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race at Oschersleben, Germany, finishing in third place. The Alfa Romeo 156 driver was under immense pressure throughout the 16-lap race from BMW’s Jörg Müller in fourth, but the Briton kept a cool head and fought off the attacks of the home crowd’s favourite.

Both N.Technology drivers had a lucky escape at the start of the race, when several cars were involved in a collision on the start/finish line and again coming out of turn two. Thompson's Dutch team-mate, Olivier Tielemans, navigated the carnage to register his best-ever WTCC result, finishing ninth despite starting from 17th on the grid.

Meanwhile the race winner, Yvan Muller, made motor sport history this morning at Oschersleben, claiming the first World Championship victory for a diesel car. The Frenchman and his SEAT León TDI started from the front row of the grid, took the lead after a few laps and led home a line of SEAT, Alfa Romeo and BMW petrol-powered cars. Muller's team-mate Gabriele Tarquini was classified second ahead of Thompson who was closely followed by the BMWs of Jörg Müller and Andy Priaulx. Roberto Colciago finished the race in eighth position, claiming victory in the Independents' Trophy and pole position on the reverse grid for the second race.

From laps one to three, the race was neutralized by the safety car due to two different pile ups that eliminated eight cars. At the start a first collision involved Alessandro Zanardi's BMW and Nicola Larini's Chevrolet that tangled and collected the independent SEATs of Massimiliano Pedalà and Pierre-Yves Corthals. A few hundred metres later a second incident saw Colciago's SEAT and Alain Menu's Chevrolet spinning. Other casualties were Luca Rangoni's and Félix Porteiro's BMW and Tom Coronel's and Peter Terting's SEATs. Only Colciago and Rangoni were able to rejoin.

Tarquini, who had taken the lead from pole position, retained it when the race resumed. He was chased by Muller, Thompson, Müller and Priaulx. However, after only one lap, Muller drove the TDI past the petrol-powered sister car. Then he managed to maintain the lead, leaving Tarquini, Thompson, Müller and Priaulx to fight a tough battle for the other podium positions. In spite of the many attempts, nobody managed to overtake anybody, and they finished in the order. Behind them Jordi Gené in the second SEAT TDI was capable to resist the assaults from Augusto Farfus and Colciago.

The latter driver had recovered quickly also setting the race's fastest lap. Young Russian rookie Timur Sadredinov successfully completed his maiden WTCC race in 13th position overall and second of the Independents.

James Thompson: “I think it was probably the worst place to be, in between the SEATs in front and the BMWs behind, but to be fair we were probably quicker than them. We didn’t test here before and we just made progress throughout the weekend. In Valencia, when we won twice, we were a little lighter, but now we are exactly the same weight as Gabriele Tarquini and our performance has been great. The Alfa Romeo will give us some great chances to win more races towards the end of the Championship.”

Olivier Tielemans: “I had a good view of the first lap: I saw a spinning Chevrolet and Peter Terting’s car up in the air. I don’t think Tom Coronel could avoid him. I went into first gear, very slow and lost one place to Jordi Gené. I just kept on racing and pushing after the restart, then I had Monteiro in front of me. I saw that Colciago hit Monteiro a bit and the wreckage was touching his rear wheel. I knew he had lost grip so I thought I’ll pass him on the straight. I took his slip stream and the first corner is very good for out-braking. He came back but I consolidated.”