José María López ensured that Citroën team-mate and title rival Yvan Muller failed to significantly reduce his points lead in the second World Touring Car Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps, beating the Frenchman to the win.
Despite starting from eighth and tenth on the grid respectively, López and Muller scythed their way through the field with their dominant C-Elysée cars. Both made up just one position on the opening lap, but had superior race pace to make passing look easy around the Belgian circuit.
López was up to fifth on lap two, passing Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini into Rivage. The Argentine then got by Norbert Michelisz for fourth further around the lap at the bus stop chicane. Fourth became third with the same move on Gianni Morbidelli just one lap later at the same corner.
Once past Tiago Monteiro for second, López then set about reducing the 2.533 deficit to leader Tom Coronel. The ROAL Motorsport driver had taken the lead on the opening lap with a superb start that saw him lead Morbidelli before turn one. However on lap seven López inevitably passed Coronel for the lead on the run to Eau Rouge to take his fifth win of the season.
By finishing in second, Muller failed to reduce the gap to rival López in the championship. The Frenchman made steady progress with López through the field finally passing Coronel for second into the bus stop chicane on lap seven.
Coronel held on to finish in third, taking his second podium finish of the season at effectively his home circuit. Monteiro finished in fourth, despite late-race pressure from Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb in fifth.
Pole-sitter Morbidelli took the chequered flag in sixth, unable to offer any response to the Citroën drivers. Michelisz finished seventh in his private Zengő Motorsport Civic.
Tarquini ended the race in eighth, having dropped down the order in the latter half of the race whilst battling with Loeb and Hugo Valente. Campos Racing driver Valente finished ninth, after Tarquini found a way back past the Frenchman in the battles on lap four.
Tom Chilton completed the top ten for ROAL Motorsport, taking his second points finish of the weekend.
None of the LADA drivers scored points for the seventh time this season, with Mikhail Kozlovskiy finishing in 12th to beat his two experienced British team-mates.
Victory in TC2 again went to Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Franz Engstler, ahead of team-mate Pasquale di Sabatino. Campos Racing’s rookie Norbert Nagy finished third in class.
There were retirements for Campos Racing’s Dušan Borković and Citroën’s Ma Qing Hua in the race, with the latter reporting an overheating problem with his car.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 9 LAPS | 2:26.679 | 8 |
| 2 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 3.097 | 2:27.518 | 10 |
| 3 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 8.409 | 2:27.048 | 3 |
| 4 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 8.912 | 2:27.553 | 5 |
| 5 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 9.06 | 2:27.987 | 9 |
| 6 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 16.851 | 2:27.750 | 1 |
| 7 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 17.929 | 2:29.041 | 4 |
| 8 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 19.026 | 2:29.102 | 6 |
| 9 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 20.5 | 2:28.430 | 7 |
| 10 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 21.187 | 2:28.276 | 12 |