Tom Coronel took victory in a sedate opening World Touring Car Championship race on the streets of Vila Real, controlling the race from pole to take the win ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton.
A clean start for Coronel allowed him to control the race early on, although he had to sustain consistent pressure from the independent Citroën of Chilton, who got the jump on LADA’s Nicky Catsburg at the very start of the race.
The Brit was, however, unable to find a way past on the fast street circuit and had to settle for second, his fourth podium of the season, ahead of Catsburg, who consolidated his second place in the drivers’ championship, despite reporting issues with his brake pedal.
The second Sébastien Loeb Racing of Mehdi Bennani finished where he started in fourth, ahead of points leader José María López in fifth. The leading works’ Citroën got past Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk at the start, but was unable to make further progress.
Rob Huff was the leading Honda driver in sixth, with the Brit making one of only a few overtaking moves once the race settled down. Throwing his Honda inside Björk’s Volvo at Turn 19 on the penultimate lap, Huff moved up to seventh in the drivers’ standings as a result.
Björk had to settle for seventh, two places lower than where he started, ahead of Honda’s Norbert Michelisz in eighth.
Neither Citroën’s Yvan Muller nor Honda’s Tiago Monteiro made any progress in the race, finishing ninth and tenth respectively. Monteiro focussed on staying out of trouble ahead of his start from pole in the Main Race, although the Portuguese driver did report issues with a vibration as the race went on.
Despite finishing outside the points in 11th, Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson remained with the leading pack of cars throughout the race.
Hugo Valente was the only retirement, due to the LADA driver brushing he barriers after eight laps and limping back to the pitlane for early repairs.
The Main Race follows at 16:15 WEST / BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 13 LAPS | 2:00.548 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 0.597 | 2:00.564 | 3 |
| 3 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 2.626 | 2:00.569 | 2 | |
| 4 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 3.145 | 2:00.473 | 4 |
| 5 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 3.626 | 2:00.432 | 6 | |
| 6 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 4.332 | 2:00.623 | 7 | |
| 7 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 13 | 5.155 | 2:00.805 | 5 | |
| 8 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 5.452 | 2:00.727 | 8 | |
| 9 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 7.411 | 2:00.510 | 9 | |
| 10 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 8.054 | 2:00.531 | 10 | |
| 11 | 15 | T | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 9.711 | 2:00.839 | 12 |
| 12 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 15.602 | 2:01.069 | 17 | |
| 13 | 63 | Robert DAHLGREN | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 13 | 20.282 | 2:00.983 | 11 | |
| 14 | 55 | T | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 30.555 | 2:02.404 | 15 |
| 15 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 32.774 | 2:02.166 | 14 |
| 16 | 11 | T | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 33.218 | 2:02.147 | 16 |
| 17 | 99 | T | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:07.844 | 2:04.630 | 18 |
| R | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 8 | 5 Lp. | 2:00.608 | 13 |