Tom Chilton heads British 1-2 in opening Argentina race

Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton scored his first World Touring Car Championship victory since 2014 in the Opening Race in Argentina, ahead of Honda’s Rob Huff and Citroën’s Yvan Muller.

Chilton got a strong start to take the lead from pole-sitter John Filippi as the lights went out, and the independent Citroën racer was then able to open up enough of a lead to ensure that he ended a 45-race winless streak.

Huff took second, having battled past Filippi for the position on the seventh lap, having earlier had to withstand pressure from Muller, who also followed past his protégé on the same lap.

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Muller had to settle for third, though, as he was unable to pass his old team-mate ahead of him, with the second works Honda of Tiago Monteiro closing in on him in fourth late in the race.

José María López, who had earlier been forced to start from the very back of the grid due to an overnight engine change, charged through the field to take fifth overall and limit the dent to his sizeable points tally at the top of the championship.

Norbert Michelisz took sixth for Honda, having been involved in a near race-long battle for the position with ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel, who took seventh, and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani, who was eighth. Bennani received a late-race warning for driving standards as a result of the skirmishes.

James Thompson took the chequered flag in ninth, having got his Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet past Filippi into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, leaving the Frenchman to settle for a solitary point in tenth.

Volvo continued to struggle for pace, but Polestar’s Thed Björk only just missed out on the points in 11^th.

It was a luckless race for LADA, with none of the yellow cars getting into the points, with Nicky Catsburg being the best of the trio in 12^th ahead of Gabriele Tarquini in 13^th. Hugo Valente retired to the pits after seven laps with engine issues.

Débutante Esteban Guerrieri had looked set for a strong haul of points before his Campos Racing Chevrolet slowed after two laps when he was running in eighth position, with the Argentine citing suspension damage whilst battling with one of the Hondas as the cause.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	23:08.487	1:46.148	2
2	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	13	0.792	1:46.335	5
3	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	1.384	1:46.271	7
4	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	13	2.471	1:46.158	3
5	37		José María LÓPEZ		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	7.646	1:45.994	18
6	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	13	9.897	1:46.313	9
7	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	13	11.528	1:46.397	8
8	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	13.150	1:46.402	4
9	15	T	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	13	15.333	1:46.728	10
10	27	T	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	13	17.352	1:46.627	1
11	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	13	17.476	1:46.422	14
12	11	T	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	17.742	1:46.899	11
13	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	13	18.875	1:47.334	13
14	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	13	19.024	1:47.120	17
15	99	T	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	13	36.180	1:48.815	16
16	63		Robert DAHLGREN		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	12	1 Lp.	1:47.173	15
R	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	7	6 Lp.	1:47.330	12
R	86	T	Esteban GUERRIERI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	4	9 Lp.	1:48.760	6