Winning start for new Vauxhall challenger.

Yvan Muller ensured that VX Racing started life with the new Astra Sport Hatch with a win by taking victory in the second race of the opening meeting of the 2005 BTCC season at Donington Park.

Muller also secured two further podium finishes in what was a hugely successful start to life with the new car, which replaces the Astra Coupe which has carried Vauxhall to the title for the last four seasons.

Gavin Smith put in some strong performances on his race debut for VX Racing, and recorded his best-ever BTCC result in the final race of the day, but there was bad luck for pole-sitter Colin Turkington who was involved in an accident and also hit mechanical trouble.

Although Turkington edged out Muller to take pole for the first race, it was the Frenchman who finished the race on the podium, only narrowly missing out on giving the VX Racing Astra Sport
Hatch a win on its race debut. Turkington slipped back to fifth, struggling with a car set-up for colder conditions while Smith endorsed the reliability and performance of the car, lapping consistently to finish eighth on his first race for the team.

Muller then held off strong competition from the MG of Rob Collard to bring the VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch home at the front of the field in the second race of the day. The Frenchman
completed a hat trick of podium finishes with a third place in the final race after a storming charge through the field from ninth on the grid and was thrilled with the progress shown over the weekend.

"It's a good start to the season," he said. "We can be pleased for two reasons; first we won a race and had three podium finishes, and second because we have learnt a lot during the weekend. Now we have to analyse the information and come back with some new ideas for the next race."

Turkington's unfortunate race fortunes continued as he was pushed off onto the grass on the first lap of the second race and was forced to retire to the pits with a damaged radiator. Starting from the back row of the grid for the third race, he got a good start and moved through the field to seventh position, but dropped back to eighth after developing steering problems in the mid stages of the race.

"The weekend started out well for me," he said afterwards. "I had a good qualifying session, the car was quick then, but it didn't go my way today."

Smith continued to impress with his race form, but despite gallant efforts in the second race, he was forced to settle for sixth position as the door remained firmly closed by the fifth-placed Jason Plato in the SEAT. However Smith got the better of Plato in the final race of the day as he cleanly passed the former champion on his way to fifth position; his best-ever BTCC race result.

"When I did the first practice session yesterday morning, I said to myself that I was going to have a top six finish in one of the races, so to get two top six finishes was more than I could ask for," the rookie said. "The next time I'll be aiming for a little bit higher, maybe even a podium."

For Stuart Harris, brand manager for VX Racing, it was a pleasing way to start the season.

"Overall it was a good weekend for Vauxhall," he said. "After the first race we still had a long way to go, it's a new car that we are still developing, but to be in the hunt right from the start is fantastic. Yvan drove really well, and it would have been good for Colin and Gavin to be a bit further up, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens at Thruxton."