Nurburgring WTCC: Lopez wins as Monteiro, Muller crash

Monteiro had led the way from pole position on the reversed grid ahead of the Sebastien Loeb Racing-run Citroen of Mehdi Bennani, with the Polestar Volvo S60 of Thed Bjork holding on to third at the start.

Behind, the two factory Citroens of Muller and Lopez had a great start from eighth and ninth on the grid and were up to fourth and fifth after the first few corners.

At the end of the first lap, Bennani had an awkward run through the final turns and lost several spots, promoting Bjork to second ahead of Muller.

But not for long, as the Swede then dived into the pits with an engine problem, handing Muller a clear run at Monteiro on the second lap.

On the Dottinger Hohe straight, the two Citroens of Muller and Lopez closed right up on Monteiro’s Honda, flanking him on each side, but the Portuguese driver held firm, with Muller still in second and Lopez third.

The Argentinian then made an error at Turn 1 at the start of the final lap and briefly dropped behind the privateer Citroen of Tom Chilton, but was able to repass the Briton and started to close back up on the leading pair throughout the 25km final lap.

The race defining incident occurred as Kesselchen, as Monteiro slammed into the barrier with an apparent mechanical failure, and was collected by the close pursuing Muller, allowing Lopez through into the lead.

Lopez would go on to take the chequered flag first, but by just half a second from Chilton’s Citroen, the best-placed of the privateer entries, with Norbert Michelisz completing the podium for Honda.

Rob Huff made a valiant charge in the #12 Honda from the back of the grid to finish fourth, with Bennani finishing fifth and Hugo Valente the top Lada in sixth.

Fredrik Ekblom was the top Volvo driver in eighth position, while Sabine Schmitz picked up points in 10th as the best Chevrolet driver after ROAL’s Tom Coronel also crashed out on the final lap with a puncture.

“I think Tiago had a problem with the tyre, he just went straight, it was scary,” said Lopez after the race.

“That’s why I’m quiet on the celebration, as I won today because the others have a problem. My teammate [Muller] was a bit slower than me, but I couldn’t pass him on the Nordschleife.”

The main race follows imminently with Lopez to start on pole position, but with Muller and Coronel unlikely to start the race, Honda’s Michelisz is moved up to second ahead of the Citroen of Chilton.

Race results:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time/Gap
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen C-Elysée WTCC	26:36.640
2	Tom Chilton	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen C-Elysée WTCC	+0.526
3	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	+6.653
4	Rob Huff	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	+7.971
5	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen C-Elysée WTCC	+10.126
6	Hugo Valente	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada Vesta WTCC	+12.568
7	Gabriele Tarquini	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada Vesta WTCC	+12.890
8	Fredrik Ekblom	Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	+12.983
9	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada Vesta WTCC	+20.389
10	Sabine Schmitz	All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	+29.462
11	Gregoire Demoustier	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen C-Elysée WTCC	+36.301
12	Ferenc Ficza	Zengo Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	+38.331
R	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen C-Elysée WTCC
R	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
R	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC
R	Thed Bjork	Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC
R	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1