REIGNING World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx rewrote the history books in his BMW by roaring to his first ever victory at Brands Hatch.

The chequered flag finish in an incident-packed race two, and a his seventh place in race one, was enough to open up a 12-point gap at the top of the championship with four rounds to go.

Brit Priaulx, who dedicated the win to Colin McRae, said: "Brands Hatch is now my lucky track.

"It has been a tremendous weekend, to finish race one where I did was fortunate.

"The luck was with me, the BMW performed well and I was determined to have a strong finish.

"Race two was just a dream and it means a lot to me."

The safety car made an appearance in the second race after Alessandro Zanardi put his BMW in the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend.

Luca Rangoni continued the drama by spinning on Sheeve Curve and Nicola Larini and Tiago Monteiro collided while trying to avoid him.

Pre-race championship leader Augusto Farfus crashed out and Alain Menu was black flagged for violating the safety car procedure.

It all left Priaulx, who had led from the moment he passed Felix Porteiro on the opening lap, to take the chequered flag.

Race one, which also saw the deployment of the safety car for a period, went to Menu in his Chevrolet Lacetti.

Priaulx had to settle for seventh, just over four seconds behind the winner.

The WTCC moves to Monza in Italy with rounds 19 and 20 on the weekend of October 6.