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The first stage of the 2020 Manufacturer Series got underway on April 25th.

Citroen's Brooks (PX7-Deafsun)—the undisputed king of North American racing in recent years—struggled in the early rounds but recovered in Round 3, taking the top score of 421 points. The battle for first place intensified from that point on, with Subaru's Solis (PX3-Lamb) refusing to let Brooks get the better of him. Indeed, the 438 points that Solis took in Round 7 saw him open up a decent lead over his rival.

Solis and Brooks would continue to score heavily in the following rounds as well, ensuring that all eyes were on the top two heading into the final race.

Top 16 Superstars - Round 10

The final race of Stage 1 featured Gr. 3 cars, and took place at Interlagos.

Brooks, newly transferred to Citroen, lived up to expectations by claiming pole position. Toyota's Aghakhan (TRC Stagger), who had roared into life in the latter half of the stage, scoring heavily, started in second place. The much-anticipated showdown between Solis and Brooks did not materialise, however, with the former not making an appearance in the Top 16 Superstars race.

The top two opted to start on soft tyres, and took full advantage of this to build up a lead on the chasing pack. On the ninth lap, the second-placed Aghakhan took a pit stop, and changed to medium tyres. Brooks, however, waited until the tenth lap to take his. These pit stops would prove decisive, as Brooks emerged from them with a five-second lead over Aghakhan.

It didn't look like anyone could catch Brooks's Citroen. In fact, Aghakhan was struggling badly on his medium tyres, and soon found himself overtaken by a dark horse in the form of Lamborghini's Troncoso.

Brooks, in the meantime, continued to build up his lead, ending in complete control with a 6.8 second gap between him and his nearest rival. Having suffered a great deal of bad luck in the World Tour, Brooks delivered a stable, intensely focused performance throughout the online events, claiming an extremely impressive first stage win in both the Nations Cup and the Manufacturer's Series.

The first stage may have ended with yet another win for the champion, but a number of new challengers also caught the eye. Porsche's Beck (VQS_Robert) may have ended the stage down in sixth place, but he drove wonderfully in the early rounds, and is sure to pose a threat to the top drivers in the upcoming stages. BMW's Haywood and Hyundai's Pounder also continued their good form from the World Tour, and showed that they have made excellent progress, developing into serious contenders.

Rank	Driver	DR	SR	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total
1	Citroën PX7-Deafsun	S	S	313	333	421	323	335	345	422	358	285	430	1273
2	Subaru PX7-Lamb	S	S	341	340	405	298	357	-	438	336	298	-	1200
3	Toyota TRC_Stagger	A+	S	327	105	314	333	329	340	406	315	312	399	1145
4	BMW TX3_Originals	S	S	328	291	343	235	214	-	373	328	356	351	1080
4	Nissan OutlawQuadrant	S	S	178	320	374	264	312	349	357	210	244	335	1080
6	Porsche VQS_Robert	A+	S	357	310	297	-	349	-	211	343	360	272	1066
7	Hyundai PX7-Windfire	S	S	113	291	297	311	300	312	279	329	345	383	1057
8	Volkswagen TX3_Cooper	S	S	256	296	328	296	272	331	304	-	341	367	1039
9	Volkswagen DNA_DC	A+	S	-	281	324	304	257	-	341	-	-	357	1022
10	Porsche roadbeef	A+	S	343	319	204	305	315	310	309	343	300	288	1005