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Petter Solberg took a crushing second The Race Legends Trophy victory in the reversed-grid Portugal race, while Jenson Button recovered from going upside down in a first-lap shunt to take fourth but lost his championship lead.
Solberg moved from fifth to first within a few seconds starting the second lap. First early leader Helio Castroneves was disqualified for an extreme jump start, then Mika Salo’s late-braking bid to take the lead from Max Papis sent the Finn into the Turn 1 gravel.
As that was unfolding, Solberg was overtaking debutant Tom Coronel and both went down the inside of Papis in the process, with Solberg emerging from it all in front.
The 2003 World Rally champion and double World Rallycross champion then charged away to win by a 14-second margin, drifting his Brabham BT44B gloriously as he did so.
Race one winner Button and his title rivals Emanuele Pirro and Juan Pablo Montoya were all caught up in the inevitable first-lap crash, with Button rolling in the process then spending a long time entwined with Montoya’s car.
They all recovered and started fighting back up the order, and Pirro and Button ended up in podium contention when Coronel and Jan Magnussen had a messy collision approaching the first turn while fighting for second late on.
Pirro’s consequent runner-up spot moved him into the championship lead, while Button just missed out on the podium as Salo stayed inches ahead of him over the line.
Montoya could not manage a similar comeback drive and finished 12th.
Magnussen ended up fifth ahead of David Brabham, with Coronel dropping down to 11th.
