José María López claimed a dominant win in the first World Touring Car Championship race of the day at the Hungaroring, heading home Citroën team-mate Yvan Muller and the Campos Racing Chevrolet of Hugo Valente.
With a second formation lap required after an aborted start, it was López who sliced his way between Valente and polesitter Muller on the run down to Turn 1 as the race started, and after fending off the latter through Turn 2, López gradually eked out his lead to win by a comfortable 3.958s.
Muller had looked to cover Valente off the line, but with his French compatriot slipping back in the opening metres he left a gap which López took advantage of to stuff his Citroën C-Elysee down the inside into Turn 1.
A slow getaway from Valente had initially moved Ma Qing Hua and Sebastien Loeb into third and fourth, but the pair collided on the exit of Turn 1, pushing Loeb down the order and allowing Valente back into third.
The Campos Racing driver tried his utmost to stay with the leading duo in the opening laps, but soon began to slip back as López and Muller matched each other at the front.
By lap seven López had build a margin of two seconds over his teammate, and doubled that by the end of the race to claim a third victory of the season ahead of Muller.
The Frenchman will be investigated after the end of the second race, however, having allegedly drawn up to the wrong starting grid spot after the initial warm up lap, which is believed to be the cause of the aborted start.
With overtaking difficult to perfect on the tight circuit, Valented ended up winning the battle for third despite the attentions of Ma and Tiago Monteiro, who had overtaken Loeb at the start of the second lap. The Portuguese had looked the fastest of the three but was unable to find a way past the Citroën of Ma and had to settle for fifth.
Loeb ended up a lonely sixth, ahead of Tom Chilton and race two polesitter Norbert Michelisz. Rob Huff hung on to ninth in his LADA Vesta, with Tom Coronel claiming the final point ahead of Gabriele Tarquini, who had advanced from the back of the grid after a qualifying crash yesterday.
Race Two starts at 14:40 CET.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 13 laps | 1:50.783 | 3 | |
| 2 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 3.958 | 1:51.131 | 1 | |
| 3 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 10.29 | 1:51.387 | 2 |
| 4 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 11.059 | 1:51.453 | 5 | |
| 5 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 11.523 | 1:51.414 | 6 | |
| 6 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 14.102 | 1:51.749 | 4 | |
| 7 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 14.805 | 1:51.779 | 9 |
| 8 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 15.548 | 1:51.832 | 10 |
| 9 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 17.642 | 1:52.070 | 7 | |
| 10 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 18.104 | 1:52.078 | 8 |
| 11 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 18.522 | 1:51.557 | 17 | |
| 12 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 23.764 | 1:52.067 | 11 |
| 13 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 35.625 | 1:53.143 | 15 |
| 14 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 45.968 | 1:53.471 | 13 |
| 15 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 48.486 | 1:53.490 | 12 |
| R | 14 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 6 | 7 Lp. | 16 |