New champion José María López cantered to victory in the opening World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Qatar, finishing ahead of the independent Citroën of Mehdi Bennani.
In an uneventful first race López lead the race from lights to finish, scoring his tenth victory of the season and equalling the record which he set on his way to the 2014 title.
Bennani took his first podium of the season in second, edging closer to Yokohama Trophy leader Norbert Michelisz, who could only manage seventh.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Bennani didn’t have an easy run to second, however, battling with team boss Sébastien Loeb on the opening lap, with the duo swapping places a couple of times through the opening corners before Bennani built up an advantage.
Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente finished the race in third, having also got his Chevrolet past Loeb on the opening lap of the race.
Loeb himself had to settle for fourth, unable to move closer to the trio ahead after he had lost out on the opening lap. He headed up a Citroën trio, with Ma Qing Hua taking fifth ahead of team-mate Yvan Muller in sixth, the duo having made up their only positions at the very start of the race. Muller’s sixth means he loses further ground in the battle to finish as the runner-up with Loeb.
Michelisz thus had to settle for seventh, one place below his grid position, losing ground in the independents battle to Bennani, which will go to the wire in the season finale.
Honda’s Tiago Monteiro was eighth, passing LADA’s Nicky Catsburg for the position on the penultimate lap of the race, with Münnich Motorsport’s Stefano D’Aste completing the top ten, although the Italian ended the race under investigation for contact with Gabriele Tarquini at the start.
Just missing out on the points was LADA’s Nicolas Lapierre in 11th, ahead of ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel in 12th.
LADA’s Rob Huff failed to make an impact in the race, taking the chequered flag in 13th after a poor qualifying session saw him start the race on the back row of the grid.
Tarquini was the only casualty of the first corner on the opening lap, being turned around by D’Aste and dropping to the tail of the field, eventually finishing in 16th after catching and passing Qatari local Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Race two takes place at 19:40 GMT (20:40 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 | 12 | 12 LAPS | 2:01.628 | 1 | |
| 2 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 7.631 | 2:02.262 | 2 |
| 3 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 11.774 | 2:02.155 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 12.717 | 2:02.557 | 3 | |
| 5 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 18.815 | 2:03.217 | 7 | |
| 6 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 19.343 | 2:03.324 | 8 | |
| 7 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 20.064 | 2:03.382 | 6 |
| 8 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 22.7 | 2:02.960 | 11 | |
| 9 | 10 | Nick CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 24.397 | 2:03.197 | 5 | |
| 10 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 25.426 | 2:02.963 | 13 |
| 11 | 47 | Nicolas LAPIERRE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 31.613 | 2:03.615 | 12 | |
| 12 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 34.224 | 2:04.177 | 9 |
| 13 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 34.53 | 2:04.235 | 17 | |
| 14 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 35.129 | 2:04.165 | 16 |
| 15 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 36.178 | 2:04.261 | 10 |
| 16 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 37.292 | 2:03.761 | 14 | |
| 17 | 95 | Y | Nasser Saleh AL-ATTIYAH |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 39.646 | 2:04.489 | 18 |
| 18 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1 Lp. | 2:04.461 | 15 |