Citroën’s Yvan Muller comfortably took his first victory of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season in race one in France, despite dropping down to third after a poor start.
Muller had a terrible start in damp conditions at the Paul Ricard circuit, dropping to third behind the Honda’s of Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz at the start of the race. However the Frenchman was soon up to speed and back past Michelisz before the end of the opening lap.
Muller then set about catching Tarquini, passing the Italian after just three laps, before going on to open up a huge lead. Muller’s margin of 12.727 seconds was the second-biggest winning margin in the history of the WTCC.
Tarquini was left to defend from Sébastien Loeb, with the nine-time rally champion finally getting past on lap 14 after the Honda driver made a mistake and slid wide.
Tarquini did hold on to finish third, taking his first podium of the season, whilst the third Citroën of José Maria Lopez finished in fourth, a further 3.6 seconds adrift despite having started from the back of the grid with Loeb.
Rob Huff was an impressive fifth in his LADA, equalling the marque’s best-ever result in the championship. The Brit made a particularly strong start, squeezing down the inside of Monteiro’s Honda away from the line to be in sixth before the end of the first lap, having started in 11th.
Hugo Valente was sixth, benefitting from Michelisz slipping down the order in the closing stages of the race. The Hungarian eventually finished in seventh.
Tiago Monteiro finished eighth for Honda, with Brits Tom Chilton and James Thompson completing the top ten for ROAL Motorsport and LADA respectively.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 16 LAPS | 1:43.675 | 1 |
| 2 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 12.727 | 1:43.938 | 17 |
| 3 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 15.026 | 1:44.705 | 2 |
| 4 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 18.663 | 1:43.766 | 18 |
| 5 | 12 | TC1 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport Lukoil | LADA Granta 1.6T | 16 | 31.393 | 1:45.419 | 11 |
| 6 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 34.415 | 1:45.288 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 34.896 | 1:45.331 | 4 |
| 8 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 37.918 | 1:45.227 | 8 |
| 9 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 41.014 | 1:45.365 | 5 |
| 10 | 11 | TC1 | James THOMPSON | |
LADA Sport Lukoil | LADA Granta 1.6T | 16 | 45.739 | 1:45.577 | 12 |