Mehdi Bennani finds the gap and claims Opening Race win

Mehdi Bennani claimed victory in the opening World Touring Car Championship race on the streets of Vila Real after getting a perfect start on the first lap to move from fourth on the grid to first.

Bennani got the best start when the lights went out, immediately jumping from fourth into the battle for the lead. The Moroccan then passed Honda’s Ryo Michigami for first a few corners later, before scampering away from the chasing pack as the Japanese racer held the field up.

Further back, Campos Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri ended up three-wide with Honda’s Tiago Monteiro and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton, with Polestar’s Nicky Catsburg also making contact with the Argentine.

The contact ultimately put paid to the Chevrolet driver’s race, and Guerrieri retired from the race further around the lap after slowing due to the damage.

At the front of the field Bennani was able to build up a 4.2-second lead before he took his joker lap, which proved to be enough to give him a second win of the season.

Home hero Monteiro took second, having started the race in seventh, after expertly judging the timing of his joker lap, which allowed him to pass team-mate Michigami and Polestar’s Néstor Girolami for the final podium position, also giving him the championship lead.

Indeed Michigami and Girolami were the biggest losers from the new joker lap format, with both drivers leaving it too late to take theirs, dropping from the final two podium places to fifth and eighth respectively in the immediate aftermath of their joker on lap seven.

That left Polestar’s Thed Björk to complete the podium in third, ahead of Chilton in fourth and Catsburg in fifth.

Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff was sixth, having muscled past Michigami on lap eighth, although the Japanese driver later dropped out of the points positions after picking up a front-right puncture.

Honda’s Main Race pole-sitter Norbert Michelisz was seventh, having taken few risks in the race, ahead of Girolami in eighth, who proved to be the biggest loser from the inaugural joker lap experience.

RC Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi completed the top ten.

Manuel Fernandes finished in 12^th on his WTCC début, whilst Kevin Gleason retired from the race after three laps due to hitting the barriers early in the race.

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel did not start due to the accident damage he sustained in Saturday’s bizarre first practice crash.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	22:00.741	1:59.343	4
2	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	11	0.799	1:59.036	7
3	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 Polestar	11	1.632	1:59.214	8
4	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	2.447	1:59.203	5
5	63		Nicky CATSBURG		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 Polestar	11	4.459	1:59.056	6
6	12	T	Rob HUFF		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	4.855	1:59.074	9
7	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	11	6.040	1:58.654	10
8	61		Néstor GIROLAMI		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 Polestar	11	12.317	1:59.865	2
9	68	T	Yann EHRLACHER		RC Motorsport	LADA Vesta WTCC	11	13.151	1:59.909	12
10	27	T	John FILIPPI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	16.210	2:00.021	11
11	8	T	Aurélien PANIS		Zengő Motorsport Kft	Honda Civic WTCC	11	34.376	2:01.461	15
12	22	T	Manuel FERNANDES		RC Motorsport	LADA Vesta WTCC	11	51.335	2:02.157	14
13	99	T	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport Kft	Honda Civic WTCC	11	57.739	2:03.307	16
R	34		Ryo MICHIGAMI		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	8	3 Laps	1:59.541	1
R	24	T	Kevin GLEASON		RC Motorsport	LADA Vesta WTCC	3	8 Laps	2:02.049	13
R	86	T	Esteban GUERRIERI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	0	DNF	N/A	3
NS	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	–	DNS	N/A	17