Nick Catsburg takes maiden win, as LADA dominate on home soil

Dutch racer Nick Catsburg completed a dominant run for the LADA Sport Rosneft outfit at this weekend’s Race of Russia for the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), as the home heroes secured their second 1-2 finish in a row at the 3.955-km circuit.

The Dutchman controlled the race from the very beginning, as the pole sitter would lead home another 1-2 finish for Viktor Shapovalov’s team ahead of Opening Race winner Gabriele Tarquini by just 1.011 seconds.

With track conditions starting to go from wet and greasy in the early goings towards mixed over the course of the race, it saw the trio of works Honda Civics come back into the fight, with Norbert Michelisz quickly making his way into third by the end of the very first lap.

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The Hungarian ended up rounding out the podium, with Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro rounding out a welcome 3-4-5 finish for the Japanese manufacturer, who recently lost their results from the Race of Marrakech a few weeks ago.

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel was the only driver to retire from the race, at the Dutchman’s car took a heavy impact that broke the Chevrolet’s right rear suspension on the first lap. Tom Chilton would also park his Citröen C-Elysée TC1 on the penultimate lap, after what was clearly a very difficult weekend for all works and privateer drivers.

Mannish Motorsport’s James Thompson would again take the win in the FIA WTCC Trophy category, having fought his way past LADA’s Hugo Valente for sixth with just two laps from the end.

Points leader Jose María López finished eighth, ahead of a charging Ferenc Ficza from ZENGO Motorsport, as the 19-year-old not only set the fastest lap of the race, but also battled his way past four-time champion Yvan Muller, who finished 11th.

Mehdi Bennani was the best of the Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroens, as the Moroccan took tenth place, which still keeps him second in the drivers standings, as well as the top independent this year.

Frederik Ekblom would be the best of the Volvos in 12th place behind Muller, whilst Björk would have to pit on lap five, having started the race from last, due to a parc fermé-related penalty.

The FIA WTCC moves to Vila Real in a fortnight’s time, as the Race of Portugal takes place between the 24th and 26th of June, with López looking to keep a firm hold on his sizeable lead towards taking a third successive WTCC title.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	17	33:00.149	1:54.729	1
2	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	17	1.011	1:54.680	2
3	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	17	13.681	1:55.357	5
4	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	17	20.120	1:54.880	11
5	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	17	25.497	1:54.435	10
6	15	T	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	17	29.838	1:55.564	4
7	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	17	30.611	1:55.980	3
8	37		José María LÓPEZ		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	17	36.168	1:55.140	6
9	55	T	Ferenc FICZA		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	17	37.289	1:53.843	16
10	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	17	42.772	1:56.459	9
11	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	17	45.498	1:56.320	8
12	61		Fredrik EKBLOM		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	17	54.460	1:56.692	13
13	11	T	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	17	56.782	1:56.721	14
14	27	T	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	17	1:05.333	1:56.598	15
15	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	17	1:19.323	1:54.658	17
16	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	16	1 Lap	1:56.632	12
R	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	1	16 Laps	N/A	7