José María López takes Main Race win in Argentina

Citroën’s José María López scored another home win in the main World Touring Car Championship race in Argentina, finishing ahead of ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel and Honda’s Rob Huff.

López started the race from pole position but lost out to Honda’s Norbert Michelisz when the lights went out at the start, leaving the two works Citroën’s of López and team-mate Yvan Muller to battle for second position.

The reigning champion then spent the next six laps trying to pass the Hungarian ahead who put up a stoic defence, before on lap seven he cracked and López and Muller got through.

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The move wasn’t without incident though, and Muller and Michelisz went off the circuit through the gravel in the process, with light contact between the duo dropping them down the order.

That left Coronel and Huff to move into the podium positions and take the chequered flag in second and third respectively, despite both drivers being under investigation for a jump start.

Monteiro benefitted from the incident between the Honda and Citroën ahead to take fourth, ahead of Muller in fifth, who moves up to third overall in the drivers’ championship standings as a result of his weekend performances.

Argentine Esteban Guerrieri took sixth for Campos Racing on his début ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani and Michelisz in eighth.

Opening Race winner Tom Chilton and Campos Racing’s John Filippi completed the top ten, with both drivers having been unable to make any headway in the race.

Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson just missed out on the points in 11^th, after taking home a handful of points in the Opening Race.

LADA once again failed to reach the points, with Nicky Catsburg being the best for the marque in 12^th, complaining about a lack of straight-line speed along the back straight.

As in the first race, Hugo Valente retired to the pits, although this time the Frenchman had picked up a front-left puncture whilst running in 13^th position.

Polestar Cyan Racing again endured a point-less race, with Thed Björk in 14^th and Robert Dahlgren in 16^th.

With his seventh win of the season, López has a huge 117-point lead in the drivers’ championship, with only 220 points still up for grabs in the remaining eight races.

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	14	24:52.898	1:45.899	1
2	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	14	2.032	1:46.275	3
3	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	14	2.583	1:46.201	6
4	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	14	3.956	1:46.057	8
5	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	4.305	1:46.027	4
6	86	T	Esteban GUERRIERI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	14	8.74	1:46.224	5
7	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	9.126	1:46.441	7
8	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	14	11.649	1:45.961	2
9	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	12.659	1:46.429	9
10	27	T	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	14	14.693	1:46.723	10
11	15	T	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	14	18.103	1:46.929	11
12	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	14	18.523	1:46.860	14
13	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	14	20.205	1:46.631	15
14	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	14	20.827	1:46.954	16
15	11	T	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	24.046	1:46.832	12
16	63		Robert DAHLGREN		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	14	24.931	1:46.471	17
17	99	T	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	14	37.987	1:48.165	18
R	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	8	6 Lp.	1:46.929	13