Tom Chilton wins Opening Race as Thed Björk edges closer to title

Tom Chilton beat Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Mehdi Bennani to victory in the opening World Touring Car Championship race in Qatar, as Volvo’s Thed Björk extended his championship lead.

Chilton started the reverse-grid race from fifth on the grid but a strong start saw the Brit jump up to third by the first sequence of turns, which then became second when he got past RC Motorsport’s reverse race pole-sitter Kevin Gleason on lap three.

Bennani had already passed the LADA driver on the second lap, and the Moroccan had opened up a 1.6-second lead by the end of lap three, with Chilton in hot pursuit.

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Chilton slashed the deficit to Bennani and by lap eight the duo were nose-to-tail for the lead. A thrilling battle then followed, with the two Citroëns duelling side-by-side with some contact before Chilton emerged as the leader.

He then held on to the lead for the next three laps to secure his third outright victory of the season, and crucially nudge into a 2.5 point lead in the WTCC Trophy standings for independents heading into the final race of the year.

Bennani had to settle for second, whilst Gleason secured his best-ever result in third and the first-ever podium finish for an American racer in the WTCC.

Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi equalled his best-ever finish in fourth, perhaps aided by the fact that Volvo’s Björk was immediately behind him in fifth and unwilling to take risks in the battle for the overall title.

Fifth for Björk means the Swede has a 16.5 point advantage over Honda rival Norbert Michelisz heading into the final race of the season, after the Hungarian was able to make little progress from his 11^th place grid position.

WTCC returnee Yvan Muller claimed sixth, guarding Björk from further attack, ahead of Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff in seventh, who despite looking aggressive was unable to find a way past Muller’s Polestar Volvo.

Nicky Catsburg brought his Volvo home in eighth, guarding against Michelisz, who had to settle for ninth. Michelisz had earlier allowed Honda team-mate Esteban Guerrieri to pass briefly in order to try to take the attack to Catsburg, but no such move materialised and the duo later switched back.

Guerrieri completed the top ten, unable to assist Michelisz’s title challenge.

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel just missed out on the points in 11^th, finishing as the leading Chevrolet driver after Campos Racing’s Kris Richard, who had started in third, got a poor start and dropped to 12^th by the end of the opening lap.

The Main Race takes place at 22:35 local time (19:35 GMT, 20:35 CET).

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	10	10 LAPS	2:02.828	5
2	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	10	2.175	2:02.496	4
3	24	T	Kevin GLEASON		RC Motorsport	LADA Vesta WTCC	10	6.178	2:04.159	1
4	27	T	John FILIPPI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	10	7.054	2:04.062	2
5	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 Polestar	10	7.571	2:04.154	7
6	64		Yvan MULLER		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 Polestar	10	7.945	2:03.730	6
7	12	T	Rob HUFF		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	10	8.577	2:04.196	8
8	63		Nicky CATSBURG		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 Polestar	10	9.248	2:04.114	9
9	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	10	9.537	2:03.976	11
10	86	T	Esteban GUERRIERI		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	10	10.304	2:04.016	10
11	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	10	12.587	2:03.843	12
12	11	T	Kris RICHARD		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	10	12.995	2:03.893	3
13	68	T	Yann EHRLACHER		RC Motorsport	LADA Vesta WTCC	10	13.857	2:03.992	14
14	34		Ryo MICHIGAMI		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	10	14.924	2:04.036	13
15	99	T	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport Kft	Honda Civic WTCC	10	22.05	2:05.126	16
16	66	T	Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ		Zengő Motorsport Kft	Honda Civic WTCC	10	27.132	2:05.250	15