Esteban Guerrieri took a second World Touring Car Championship victory in the Opening Race at the Ningbo International Speedpark in China, with the race starting behind the safety car in sodden conditions.
The Ningbo Circuit has been heavily affected by wet weather all weekend, with non-stop rain saturating the new asphalt of the venue. As a result, the race began behind the safety car, with the first three laps being completed at a reduced pace to allow drivers to get a feel for the conditions.
The racing began in earnest on lap four, with reverse-grid pole-sitter Yann Ehrlacher leading the field away in his RC Motorsport LADA. The first few laps of the race saw little change for position at the front of the field, as drivers cautiously worked their way into the race.
Guerrieri had been running in fourth early on, and on lap six the Volvo ahead of him of Nicky Catsburg made a small mistake at Turn 2, allowing the Campos Racing driver into third.
Further back, contact between Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani and Volvo’s Néstor Girolami on at the final corner on lap five spelt the end of both driver’s races, with Bennani returning to the pits with broken right-rear suspension and Girolami also returning to his garage with less obvious damage.
Lap six also spelt disaster for Volvo title contender Thed Björk, who pitted with problems on his S60, meaning that the absent Tiago Monteiro will see little damage done to his points advantage at the top of the championship table.
Guerrieri made his move on the leading SLR Citroën of John Filippi for second on the seventh lap, whilst further back the second SLR car of Tom Chilton and Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff came together, ending both drivers’ races on the spot with accident damage and requiring a two-lap safety car intervention to clear the stranded C-Elysées.
When the racing resumed on lap 10, Guerrieri wasted little time in passing Ehrlacher for the lead, getting up the inside at Turn 1 and forcing the Frenchman out wide.
The Argentine then opened up a comfortable margin in atrocious conditions to take the win, and his second-ever WTCC victory.
Ehrlacher held on to take second, ahead of the sole remaining Volvo of Catsburg in third, who had earlier suggested to his team over the radio that the conditions were too dangerous and the race should be stopped.
Honda duo Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini took fourth and fifth, with the result moving Michelisz to 13 points of the championship lead.
Filippi secured his best-ever WTCC result with sixth, ahead of RC Motorsport’s Kevin Gleason in seventh, who was also enjoying his highest-ever classification in the championship, as was eighth-placed Dániel Nagy.
Honda’s Ryo Michigami and RC Motorsport’s Filipe de Souza completed the top ten, with ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel having dropped out of the points late on in the race with an issue on his Chevrolet.
Race two takes place at 16:30 local time (09:30 BST, 10:30 CEST).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 86 | T | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 15 | 33:29.509 | 2:03.753 | 4 |
| 2 | 68 | T | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 15 | 2.893 | 2:04.468 | 1 |
| 3 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 15 | 11.671 | 2:05.496 | 3 | |
| 4 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 17.409 | 2:05.958 | 9 | |
| 5 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 17.840 | 2:06.695 | 6 | |
| 6 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 15 | 23.760 | 2:05.476 | 2 |
| 7 | 24 | T | Kevin GLEASON |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 15 | 24.522 | 2:06.448 | 11 |
| 8 | 99 | T | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 24.946 | 2:05.659 | 14 |
| 9 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 26.334 | 2:06.540 | 16 | |
| 10 | 26 | T | Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 15 | 27.243 | 2:06.263 | 15 |
| 11 | 66 | T | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 39.340 | 2:06.486 | 17 |
| 12 | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | + 2 LAPS | 2:07.650 | 13 |
| 13 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 10 | + 5 LAPS | 2:08.019 | 8 | |
| R | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 6 | DNF | 2:06.107 | 5 |
| R | 12 | T | Rob HUFF | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 6 | DNF | 2:05.702 | 7 |
| R | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 6 | DNF | 2:09.023 | 12 |
| R | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 5 | DNF | 2:09.396 | 10 |