Honda’s Norbert Michelisz took a first win of the season in the main World Touring Car Championship race in Portugal ahead of Volvo’s Thed Björk, whilst Münnich Motorsport’s front-row starter Rob Huff stalled at the start.
Michelisz led the field away when the lights went out, but Huff was left on the line after he stalled his Citroën, dropping him to the very back of the pack.
That left the Hungarian leading Polestar Cyan Racing’s Björk, who had no answer to Michelisz’s pace. The two took their joker lap on the same tour on lap five, but the Swede simply couldn’t get close to the rear bumper of the Civic ahead and had to settle for second.
The win moves Michelisz into fourth in the championship standings, furthering his recovery in the standings after a mixed start to the season.
Local hero Tiago Monteiro completed the podium, and whilst there was no repeat of his dream home win of last year, the Portuguese Honda ace did open up a four-point advantage at the head of the standings as a result.
The second Polestar car of Nicky Catsburg finished in fourth, limiting the Dutchman’s deficit in the championship standings to ten points after he entered the weekend as the leader.
Huff turned out to be the one to watch during the race as he staged an impressive comeback drive. The Brit was 11th at the end of the opening lap, and through the use of the joker laps he moved up to sixth over the subsequent four laps, as he also posted the fastest lap of the race.
On lap seven Huff found a way past Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton for fifth on lap 11 after the latter made a poor exit from the chicane. There weren’t enough laps left to allow Huff to progress any further, but his drive demonstrates it was a case of ‘what could have been’.
Opening race winner Mehdi Bennani was left to settle for seventh behind team-mate Chilton. Eighth-placed Esteban Guerrieri took the position on the final lap of the race after getting past Volvo’s Néstor Girolami when the latter made a small mistake and dropped a place to ninth.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi completed the top ten for the second race in a row.
RC Motorsport duo Yann Ehrlacher and Kevin Gleason just missed out on points finishes and were 11th and 12th respectively, with the latter 20 seconds behind his team-mate after making several mistakes in the race.
Honda’s Ryo Michigami was 13th, with the Japanese driver having to start the race from the pitlane when his car wouldn’t start within the allocated repair time.
Aurélien Panis was the race’s only retirement after the Zengő Motorsport driver hit the wall on lap nine, breaking the front-right wheel of his Honda.
The results see Monteiro leave his home round as the championship leader by fourpoints over Volvo’s Björk, with the second Volvo of Catsburg only a further six points adrift.
The WTCC reconvenes in Argentina in three weeks’ time.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 25:47.552 | 1:58.518 | 1 | |
| 2 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 13 | 0.480 | 1:58.487 | 3 | |
| 3 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 2.200 | 1:58.340 | 4 | |
| 4 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 13 | 4.457 | 1:58.407 | 5 | |
| 5 | 12 | T | Rob HUFF |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 4.587 | 1:57.929 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 8.834 | 1:58.796 | 6 |
| 7 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 20.846 | 1:59.046 | 7 |
| 8 | 86 | T | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 23.834 | 1:59.867 | 8 |
| 9 | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 13 | 24.864 | 1:59.238 | 9 | |
| 10 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 25.384 | 1:59.506 | 11 |
| 11 | 68 | T | Yann EHRLACHER | |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 25.793 | 1:59.886 | 12 |
| 12 | 24 | T | Kevin GLEASON |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 45.075 | 2:01.135 | 16 |
| 13 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 45.624 | 2:00.040 | 10 | |
| 14 | 99 | T | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:26.761 | 2:03.263 | 15 |
| 15 | 22 | T | Manuel FERNANDES | |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 2:18.129 | 2:01.682 | 13 |
| 16 | 8 | T | Aurélien PANIS | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 3 Laps | 2:00.684 | 14 |
| NS | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | – | DNS | N/A | 17 |