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Suzuka WTCC: Jose Maria Lopez wins and becomes 2014 champion

Jose Maria Lopez wrapped-up the 2014 World Touring Car Championship drivers' title in style at Suzuka, claiming his ninth victory of the season in the opening race

The Argentinean only required a fourth place finish to secure the championship, but from pole position led throughout in a flawless performance.

Race two: Tarquini wins for Honda

Outgoing champion Yvan Muller ran second to Lopez through the early laps, but consistently dropped three or four tenths of a second a lap to his Citroen team-mate.

Muller was denied an almost certain runner-up position when his car suddenly slowed exiting Suzuka's cross-over on lap seven.

The Frenchman had enjoyed a comfortable 4.2s cushion over compatriot Hugo Valente before he suffered a slow puncture, but the failure set up a thrilling battle for second in the closing laps.

RML Chevrolet privateers Valente and Chilton provided some of the race's best action, but mistakes from both men created the race's two key moments.

ROAL driver Chilton had held third from Valente away from the lights, as the Cruze racers benefited from third-qualifier Sebastien Loeb suffering a poor initial getaway.

At his bogey corner from qualifying, Briton Chilton ran wide on the exit of the fast 130R on the opening lap to allow the closely following Valente to grab third. Thereafter Chilton's focus was divided between recovering the position and defending from a fired-up Loeb.

Honda runners Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini completed the five-car train, which after appearing to have settled into stalemate came alive when Valente missed the apex to the second part of Spoon corner one lap from home.

Chilton seized his chance and squeezed past, in what he described as a "beautiful" manoeuvre, but the shake-up to the order produced confusion at the chicane where Zengo man Michelisz took to the escape road.

Loeb had been gifted the final place on the podium when the struggling Valente ran wide at 130R, and Michelisz moved aside into Turn 1 to return his unfairly won position.

Valente, however, would take the chequered flag in fifth place behind Michelisz, who is under investigation from race officials.

RESULTS - 11 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 23m54.353s
2 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 8.473s
3 Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 9.693s
4 Norbert Michelisz Zengo Motorsport Honda 10.414s
5 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet 12.153s
6 Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda WTC Team Honda 12.707s
7 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 13.514s
8 Dusan Borkovic NIS Petrol by Campos Racing Chevrolet 14.340s
9 Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda WTC Team Honda 16.507s
10 Gianni Morbidelli All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet 17.846s
11 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda 20.907s
12 Rob Huff LADA Sport Lukoil Lada 21.696s
13 James Thompson LADA Sport Lukoil Lada 22.802s
14 Mikhail Kozlovskiy LADA Sport Lukoil Lada 32.602s
15 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 1m16.593s
16 John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT 1m19.083s
17 Henry Kwong Campos Racing SEAT 2m15.944s
- Yvan Muller Citroen Total WTCC Citroen Retirement
- Rene Munnich All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet Not classified
- Filipe Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW Retirement

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER 21 OF 24 ROUNDS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Jose Maria Lopez 414
2 Yvan Muller 295
3 Sebastien Loeb 269
4 Tiago Monteiro 172
5 Norbert Michelisz 154
6 Tom Chilton 143
7 Gabriele Tarquini 142
8 Tom Coronel 136
9 Gianni Morbidelli 104
10 Mehdi Bennani 85



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