Rounds 7 and 8 of the World Touring Car Championship took place for the first time at Zolder in Belgium last weekend and produced wins for defending champion Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT Leon TDi) of Italy and Briton Andy Priaulx (BMW 320si).  The veteran pair also shared the spoils in rounds 3 and 4 in Marrakech

A crowd of 23 000 braved cold conditions to witness another exciting and incident-filled touring car race weekend, with the highlight being a trade-mark Priaulx pole-to-flag victory in race two that gave the Belgian BMW Team RBM a popular home win.

First across the finish line in race one was actually Tarquini’s SEAT team-mate Jordi Gene, but the Spaniard’s car failed to pass post-race scrutineering when an air restrictor was found to be non-conforming.  The Chevrolet Cruze pair of Frenchmen Yvan Muller and Alain Menu were second and third in race one.

Former world champion Priaulx was not to be denied in race two, resisting challenges from Rob Huff (Chevrolet) and Tiago Monteiro (SEAT).

Muller (128 points) maintains his lead in the drivers’ championship with Tarquini (109) and Priaulx (105) both closing the gap, while Chevrolet (256) tops the manufacturers’ standings ahead of SEAT (239) and BMW (209).

Norbert Michelisz of Hungary (SEAT) scored two wins in the Rookie Challenge and now leads the challenge by one point from Fredy Barth (SEAT).  Kristian Poulsen (BMW) claimed his first victory in the Independents' Trophy, while points leader Sergio Hernandez (BMW) won the second race.

Rounds 9 and 10 are at Portimao in Portugal on July 4.