Citroën finish 1-2 in China as José María López wins Main Race

José María López took his eighth win of the current World Touring Car Championship season in the Main Race in Shanghai, as Yvan Muller finished second and independent Citroën driver Mehdi Bennani took third.

López led the entire race to take yet another victory, with his margin of over 11 seconds at the chequered flag being one of the biggest in the championship’s history.

By finishing in second, Muller gives himself a comfortable 31-point advantage over his nearest rival heading to the final round of the season.

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Third place for Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Bennani also gave the Moroccan racer his first-ever Independent’s title in the WTCC, which had already looked likely after the retirement of nearest rival Tom Chilton in the Opening Race.

LADA’s front-row starter Nicky Catsburg took fourth, having lost out to Muller and Bennani at the very start of the race with a slow getaway from his grid box. He finished just ahead of team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, who took fifth.

Polestar Cyan Racing duo Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk took sixth and seventh, the duo having swapped positions late in the race after Ekblom had earlier allowed his team-mate through to challenge for further positions.

Tiago Monteiro was the leading Honda driver in eighth after a difficult race for the marque that saw him as the only Civic racer to finish inside the top ten.

Chilton finished ninth, helpless to prevent team-mate Bennani lifting the WTCC Trophy, whilst ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel was the leading Chevrolet driver in tenth.

Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, who had led much of the Opening Race, finished outside the points in 11^th, having lost a couple of positions at the start when the lights went out.

LADA’s Hugo Valente finished in 12^th after a race-long scrap with Honda’s Rob Huff, who was forced to settle for 13^th.

It proved to be a relatively uneventful race, especially in comparison with the opener, and all 18 cars finished the race.

Several drivers came close to missing the start as a result of damage incurred in race one, although ultimately all made it, including Campos Racing’s John Filippi, who started from the pitlane and went on to finish in 15^th position.

The only change in championship positions after the race came from Tarquini, who moved up to ninth overall, seven points ahead of Coronel.

The season finale of the WTCC takes place in Qatar on 24 – 25 November 2016.

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	15	28:18.258	1:52.224	1
2	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	15	11.037	1:52.365	3
3	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	15	12.742	1:52.263	4
4	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	15	13.205	1:52.418	2
5	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	15	15.715	1:52.432	6
6	61		Fredrik EKBLOM		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	15	18.176	1:52.750	7
7	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	15	18.516	1:52.819	5
8	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	15	23.878	1:53.137	13
9	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	15	24.700	1:53.627	8
10	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	15	26.509	1:53.542	10
11	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	15	30.202	1:53.706	9
12	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	15	34.387	1:53.805	12
13	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	15	36.452	1:54.462	14
14	15	T	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	15	42.431	1:53.554	11
15	27	T	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	15	51.238	1:53.650	18
16	55	T	Ferenc FICZA		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	15	57.430	1:55.082	16
17	11	T	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	15	58.850	1:54.310	15
18	99	T	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	15	58.880	1:55.719	17