Norbert Michelisz led home a Honda 1-2-3 in the Opening World Touring Car Championship race at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, as Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro completed the podium.
Michelisz led the entire race from pole position in the reversed-grid race, with the Hungarian being unchallenged by his team-mates to allow him to take his fifth career win in the WTCC and his first as a works driver with Honda.
Huff finished second, despite having to withstand pressure from firstly the Polestar Volvo of Thed Björk, and then latterly from his own team-mate Monteiro. The result moves the Brit from fourth to third in the drivers’ championship standings.
Monteiro took the final podium spot, having come through the field from seventh on the grid. The Portuguese driver made most of his progress on the opening lap, getting up to fourth, before passing Björk’s Volvo on lap seven with a bold move into Turn 11.
Points leader José María López took fourth, although not without some controversial contact with his rivals – the Argentine passed LADA’s Nicky Catsburg on lap nine with a forceful move at Turn 2 which pushed the Dutchman wide off the circuit. As Catsburg then re-joined, he took a swipe out of López’s rear bumper, leaving superficial damage to the Citroën.
Yvan Muller followed his team-mate home in fifth, having earlier made a mistake at Turn 1 which allowed López to get a run on him and pass into Turn 3.
Polestar’s Björk ended up finishing in sixth after fading in the second half of the race, despite the Swede setting the fastest lap of the race early on.
Catsburg took seventh having been shown the black-and-white flag for driving standards due to the earlier contact with López.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton was eighth, despite appearing to have initially got off to a strong start that briefly saw him challenging for third. The Brit then slipped down the order on the second half of the opening lap after getting out of position, and he failed to push forwards thereafter.
Néstor Girolami finished in ninth in his first race for Polestar Cyan Racing, whilst LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini completed the top ten.
Japanese racer Ryo Michigami just missed out on the points in 11th in his first WTCC race for the factory Honda team.
Hugo Valente was the only driver to not finish the race, with the LADA driver having been on the receiving end of contact from the independent Citroën of Grégoire Demoustier on the opening lap.
There were drive-through penalties for the other two Sébastien Loeb Racing cars of Mehdi Bennani, for a false start, and Demoustier, for contact with Valente, which saw them finish down the order in 16th and 17th place respectively.
Although ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel originally finished in 12th on the road, the Dutchman was later hit with a post-race 30-second penalty as he didn’t have all four wheels of his car on the grid at the 3-minute signal prior to the race start.
Ferenc Ficza was to start the race from the pitlane in his Zengő Motorsport Honda, but the Hungarian initially missed the start of the race due to an oil leak. He later started the race several laps down in preparation for the Main Race.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 26:07.443 | 1:58.229 | 1 | |
| 2 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1.358 | 1:58.293 | 2 | |
| 3 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 2.173 | 1:58.581 | 7 | |
| 4 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 3.609 | 1:59.027 | 10 | |
| 5 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 4.805 | 1:58.632 | 9 | |
| 6 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 13 | 8.049 | 1:58.156 | 3 | |
| 7 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 8.738 | 1:58.810 | 4 | |
| 8 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 9.385 | 1:59.228 | 6 |
| 9 | 81 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 13 | 10.135 | 1:59.304 | 5 | |
| 10 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 10.456 | 1:59.332 | 14 | |
| 11 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 18.3 | 1:59.495 | 15 | |
| 12 | 15 | T | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 21.696 | 1:59.542 | 11 |
| 13 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 26.419 | 1:59.712 | 16 |
| 14 | 99 | T | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 26.935 | 2:00.625 | 18 |
| 15 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 28.127 | 1:59.390 | 8 |
| 16 | 11 | T | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 34.475 | 1:59.285 | 12 |
| 17* | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 48.691* | 1:59.666 | 19 |
| R | 55 | T | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | 8 Lp. | 2:01.510 | 17 |
| R | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 1 | 12 Lp. | – | 13 |
* 30 second penalty.