Qatar WTCC: Citroen's Jose Maria Lopez dominates first night race
Citroen's Jose Maria Lopez was victorious in the World Touring Car Championship's first night race in Qatar, claiming a 10th win of the season in emphatic fashion
The world champion won by 7.361 seconds from the Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen of Mehdi Bennani, with victory and fastest lap also maintaining Lopez's faultless weekend record.
It was Sebastien Loeb himself who made the best getaway of the leading three Citroens at the start, but Lopez made sure the first corner was his by quickly switching to the inside line to preserve first place.
Bennani then muscled his way back past Loeb - who was also overtaken by Campos Racing's Hugo Valente - but that brief squabble gave Lopez all the encouragement he needed to stretch an early advantage, which he duly converted into an unassailable lead.
Second place was nevertheless a season's best for Bennani and justified by the strong pace he had displayed to qualify second.
The Moroccan enjoyed a similarly comfortable margin over third-place finisher Valente, who was the only non-Citroen in the top six.
He faced a brief challenge for his podium as Loeb fought back at the start of the second lap, but Valente held firm and defended his line into Turn 1, before gradually easing away from his compatriot.
Loeb was fourth and some way clear of the third works Citroen of Ma Qing Hua, the Chinese driver and his team-mate Yvan Muller some way off the pace of the leaders.
Norbert Michelisz - embroiled in a battle with Bennani for the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy - finished seventh.
Tiago Monteiro passed Nicky Catsburg for eighth towards the end, while Stefano D'Aste scored points for the third successive race with 10th - the Italian having fought off an early challenge from the recovering Nicolas Lapierre.
RESULTS - 12 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 24m33.158s |
2 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 7.631s |
3 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 11.774s |
4 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 12.717s |
5 | Ma Qinghua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 18.815s |
6 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 19.343s |
7 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 20.064s |
8 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 22.700s |
9 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 24.397s |
10 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 31.613s |
11 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 34.224s |
12 | Rob Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 34.530s |
13 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 35.129s |
14 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 36.178s |
15 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 37.292s |
16 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 39.646s |
17 | Stefano D'Aste | All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 55.426s |
18 | Gregoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 1 Lap |
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