Yvan Muller further closed the points gap in the title battle, leading a Citroën 1-2-3 in the first World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race in Slovakia, ahead of team-mates José María López and Sébastien Loeb.
Muller’s fourth win of the season brings him level on victories with López, although the Frenchman is still 29 points adrift of his Argentine rival.
López finished runner-up to his rival for the third time in four races, with no answer to Muller’s pace. The reigning champion was 1.749 seconds adrift at the chequered flag and was never within a second of Muller during the race.
Loeb finished in third, claiming his sixth podium result of the season, with the former rally driver also not able to challenge López ahead.
LADA’s Rob Huff finished where he started in fourth, ahead of Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente in fifth, with the Chevrolet driver being the best of the Yokohama Trophy drivers.
The top Honda was Gabriele Tarquini in sixth, ahead of ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton and the second works’ Honda of Tiago Monteiro in eighth.
The top ten was completed by ROAL’s second car of Tom Coronel and Nika Racing’s débutant Néstor Girolami, who enjoyed a fierce battle with 11th placed Stefano D’Aste during the race to take his first points on his maiden appearance in the championship.
There were numerous retirements in the pitlane for a variety of reasons. The first to pull in was Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Grégoire Demoustier after just one lap. LADA’s Jaap van Lagen retired on lap eight with a power steering problem and to have the tracking on his car adjusted ahead of race two, where he will start from pole position.
Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz went off in the gravel on lap eight after suffering a front-left puncture.
There was then a spate of retirements on lap nine. First was Campos Racing’s Mato Homola, before Mehdi Bennani slowly crawled round to the pits with a damaged exhaust at the rear of his Citroën.
Ma Qing Hua, who had appeared to jump the start before dropping to the back of the pack before turn one, also retired, with the Chinese Citroën driver under investigation by the Stewards for his poor false start anyway. LADA’s Nicky Catsburg also called it a day on lap nine whilst running eighth, the Dutchman having earlier lost five places at the start of the race.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 11 LAPS | 2:05.748 | 1 | |
| 2 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1.749 | 2:06.266 | 2 | |
| 3 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2.868 | 2:06.365 | 3 | |
| 4 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 12.282 | 2:06.769 | 4 | |
| 5 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 16.882 | 2:07.025 | 6 |
| 6 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 17.194 | 2:06.853 | 9 | |
| 7 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 21.737 | 2:06.903 | 8 |
| 8 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 25.131 | 2:08.185 | 17 | |
| 9 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 27.04 | 2:08.445 | 15 |
| 10 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Nika International | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 34.695 | 2:08.745 | 18 | |
| 11 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 41.017 | 2:09.130 | 16 |
| 12 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 45.612 | 2:09.635 | 14 |
| R | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 8 | 3 Lp. | 2:07.688 | 7 | |
| R | 10 | Nick CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 8 | 3 Lp. | 2:07.423 | 5 | |
| R | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 8 | 3 Lp. | 2:07.177 | 12 |
| R | 70 | Y | Mato HOMOLA |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 8 | 3 Lp. | 2:08.882 | 11 |
| R | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 7 | 4 Lp. | 2:08.173 | 13 |
| R | 46 | Jaap VAN LAGEN | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 7 | 4 Lp. | 2:08.007 | 10 | |
| R | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1 | 10 Lp. | – | 19 |