Heavy rain at Monza meant the race started behind the safety car, with Muller, Chilton and MacDowall running in a Chevrolet 1-2-3 throughout the race at the head of the field. An incident on Lap 4 that saw Stefano D’Aste’s BMW collide with the barriers briefly saw the re-appearance of the safety car, while contact between the Chevrolet of James Nash and the SEAT of Tom Boardman on the penultimate lap saw the León parked up with broken suspension and so the last lap was completed under yellow flags in that sector.

 

One of the drives of the race came from Robert Huff. A similar incident in Qualifying to that which befell Boardman meant the reigning World Champion had to start from the back of the grid, but he steadily carved his way through the field to end up in sixth place behind the two Honda cars and so salvaged some points from the race.

 

Key moments

Lap 2 – Nykjaer used the escape road at Turn 1, then came into the pits. Basseng, Tarquini and D’Aste all passed O’Young. Huff was up into 17th place.

Lap 3 – Engstler used the T1 escape road. Barth spun at the Ascari chicane. Huff was up to 15th.

Lap 4 – Huff used the escape road at T1. Tarquini passed Basseng for 6th. Monteiro passed O’Young for 9th. Coronel cut T4. D’Aste hit the barriers at Ascari. Contact between Tarquini and Basseng. Huff was up to 12th.

Lap 5 – Tarquini out-braked himself going into the T1 chicane and there was contact with Basseng. Huff was up to 11th. Safety car deployed.

Lap 7 – Tarquini passed Nash for 5th. Huff was up to 9th.

Lap 8 – Tarquini passed Oriola for 4th. Basseng went into the gravel at Lesmo 2. Monteiro passed Nash for 6th. Engstler came into the pits.

Lap 9 – Huff and Oriola used the escape road at T1. Oriola pulled up. O’Young went into the gravel at Lesmo 2. Basseng was given a drive-through penalty. Huff was up to 7th.

Lap 10 – Huff passed Nash for 6th. Bennani went off.

Lap 11 – Nash cut Turn 1 after apparent contact with Boardman. Further contact between Nash and Boardman saw Boardman pull up with broken front suspension.