Three years on the trot I never made it round turn one. Now I almost forgot to brake for turn two because I didn't know it was there.

I had a really good start. I jumped all the SEATs on the line because they were asleep. But they all came straight back past me down the start/finish line into turn one, so I was in fourth position going into the first corner.

When we came to the rolling starts and the lights went, I thought: "Oh God, I could end up in the lead in the first corner," which is exactly what I wanted to do. And then I ended up fourth…

I then said to myself: "Right, we've got to get past Yvan Muller, and we've got to get past him quickly because once he settles into a rhythm, there is no way we're possibly gonna get past him."

So I managed to get past him on the third lap. I can't really remember where I did that but then Jordi Gené went wide. That left Gabriele Tarquini leading with me in second. One lap later, Gabriele missed the apex in turn five, which is where I was really quick all weekend. I just put the nose of my car in and got onto the power. It was a clean move, we didn't make any contact at all. We went down the back straight side-by-side and I had the inside for the next corner.

The pace of the car was that all weekend that I knew once I could in front, I could drive away with the lead and win. We knew our car would be better over the race distance because the car was running very light, we had no success ballast at all.

In the end of race one, it was a just a case of, The SEATs parted, and through came the Chevrolet.

To win in race one was phenomenal; it was something I wanted for a long while. And then to come from eighth on the grid to finish second in race two with no one going off - just brilliant. Every move was an overtaking move - on a tight track like Valencia where everyone says you can't overtake. My team mate Alain Menu and I proved them wrong.

Alain came up from 23rd to eighth in race one, and me coming from eighth to second. What a great weekend for us.

When I saw the sun go in on our way onto the grid for race two, I knew it would be better for us. That's when I started to believe that I could work my past the SEATs at least. When the sun is shining, our car tends to react not quite as we want it to - a little bit of oversteer, a little bit of understeer. But when we set off, the sun went behind the clouds, and then I thought - hang on a minute, maybe we can get past the BMWs as well. It took a while to reel them in because there was a big gap behind Nicola Larini, my other team-mate, then to Jorg Muller and Andy Priaulx in their BMWs. But over three or four laps, I managed to reel them in by half a second a lap.

The thing with the sun is: It makes a big difference with the track temperature. If you're out in the sun and the sun is shining hard, you get a sun-burn. If it's behind the clouds, you don't. It has the same reaction with the track. If the sun is out on the tarmac, the track gets very hot. That's then much better for the BMWs; with their rear-wheel drive and front-steering, they wear their tyres a lot better than we do. So as soon as the sun went in, I knew that we had a good chance - but to get fourth or fifth, maybe, not second.

Jorg didn't try to fight me, and the same with Andy. Both made a little mistake ahead of me so I could pass them. But by then, Alain was too far ahead to even think of catching him. I just focused on making a one-two for Chevrolet happen.

The Championship is very much alive for me know. I came to Valencia wanting to start my Championship. A first and a second, notching up 18 points, is the best way. We are now seventh in the Championship. We can build on that now. We will have a lot of success ballast for Pau. But from now on, we're just looking for points at every weekend, everywhere we can get them now.

So it's Pau next, a street circuit in the South of France. It was my first time there last year but I thought it was fantastic - a brilliant little circuit.

We did very well there in 2007. Alain Menu won, I had two fourth positions. So I'm very much looking forward to Pau. For sure, there's a win on the cards for Chevrolet again.

Given that it's a street circuit, you have to take into consideration that it takes a little while to get used to this. Even when you've driven there before, you have to take the first few laps quite steady. You just know your boundaries and the limits - and you have to work inside those boudaries rather than trying to overstep them to find them.

It's very tricky. There is no run-off, there is no gravel; there is all Armcos and concrete walls. But it's a phenomenal track to drive, and a very exciting one.

In the sense of the driving style itself, Porto and Macau - the other stree circuits we race on with the WTCC - are very similar. On all three tracks, you have no room at all. With Pau it is especially narrow because at no point does the circuit open up at all, where it does in Porto and in Macau. You have to be very careful; you have to go all the way right to the concrete wall - but not hit it. Lots of wing mirrors will be consumed throughout the weekend, I feel…

The first time I ever raced a stree circuit was Macau in 2005, with Chevrolet. The more street circuits I do, the more I like them and the more confident I become. I really like the extra-challenges that the street circuits bring.