Lopez gives Muller Motegi win and potentially seals 2016 WTCC title
Yvan Muller was gifted a bizarre first win of the 2016 World Touring Car Championship season, as team-mate Jose Maria Lopez provisionally secured a third championship crown at Motegi
Lopez had held a comfortable lead before slowing on the penultimate lap and allowing Muller through to take honours.
Second leaves Lopez 120 points clear of closest challengers Tiago Monteiro and Muller with 165 still officially available.
But the Thailand round is now expected to be cancelled for financial reasons, leaving just the China and Qatar events to go and only 110 points on the table.
Though confirmation of the loss of the Buriram date is not expected until the next FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, Citroen was confident enough to celebrate Lopez as champion for a third straight year at the finish.
The Formula E-bound Argentinian said he decided to let Muller have the win as a thank you for his support during their time as team-mates.
"I didn't know what to do, whether he'd respect it," said Lopez.
"But for me it was to say thank you to Yvan. To give up a victory for me is never easy, but Yvan as a racing driver and a person deserves this."
Muller duly took his first victory since the final race of the 2015 season, having held a comfortable second before Lopez allowed him through.
Lopez held station behind his team-mate over the final lap and a half to seal a Citroen one-two, with Honda driver Monteiro claiming his second third-place finish of the day after squirrelling up the inside of the Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen C-Elysee of Mehdi Bennani to take third.
Bennani followed the Civic throughout the race but was never able to mount a challenge for position, instead settling for fourth.
Nestor Girolami enjoyed a strong run to fifth in his second race with the Polestar team, which included a bold lunge to claim fifth from the second SLR C-Elysee of Tom Chilton.
Thed Bjork finished seventh in the second Polestar Volvo S60, forcing his way back past the Hondas of race one winner Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff during the race after dropping behind the pair at the start, with Michelisz leading Huff across the line for eighth.
Gabriele Tarquini once again claimed the final point for 10th in his Lada Vesta.
RESULTS - 14 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 28m03.653s |
2 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 1.045s |
3 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2.561s |
4 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 3.280s |
5 | Nestor Girolami | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 5.204s |
6 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 7.638s |
7 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 9.159s |
8 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 12.094s |
9 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 15.769s |
10 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 16.746s |
11 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 17.812s |
12 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 28.185s |
13 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 30.215s |
14 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 31.351s |
15 | Gregoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 31.950s |
16 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 34.863s |
17 | Ryo Michigami | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 39.613s |
18 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 40.074s |
19 | Daniel Nagy | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 3 Laps |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Jose Maria Lopez | 319 |
2 | Tiago Monteiro | 199 |
3 | Yvan Muller | 199 |
4 | Rob Huff | 178 |
5 | Norbert Michelisz | 172 |
6 | Mehdi Bennani | 159 |
7 | Nicky Catsburg | 145 |
8 | Tom Chilton | 143 |
9 | Gabriele Tarquini | 106 |
10 | Tom Coronel | 102 |
11 | Hugo Valente | 70 |
12 | Thed Bjork | 55 |
13 | Fredrik Ekblom | 35 |
14 | James Thompson | 24 |
15 | Nestor Girolami | 12 |
16 | Gregoire Demoustier | 11 |
17 | Esteban Guerrieri | 9 |
18 | John Filippi | 9 |
19 | Ferenc Ficza | 2 |
20 | Rene Munnich | 2 |
21 | Sabine Schmitz | 1 |
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