Lopez wins Nordschleife WTCC after big crash for Monteiro/Muller
Jose Maria Lopez won a dramatic opening World Touring Car Championship race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife after a huge shunt eliminated long-time race leader Tiago Monteiro and second-placed Yvan Muller
Lopez had started the final lap in third, but was able to avoid the accident - triggered when Monteiro went off - and held off Sebastien Loeb Racing's Tom Chilton for his fourth win of the season.
The groundwork for Muller and Lopez's road position was laid at the start of the race, as the Citroen factory pair took the outside line at Turn 1 for a better run off the corner, with Muller and Lopez driving around the outside of Chilton to grab fourth and fifth.
That became third and fourth when Mehdi Bennani went wide at Wipperman, and by the time the field had reached the end of the grand prix circuit loop at the start of the second lap the pair were second and third after Thed Bjork had retired his Polestar Volvo S60 from second with engine problems.
With Bjork's exit, reverse grid poleman Monteiro had been able to stretch a lead through the middle section of the lap, and held a one-second advantage going on to the Dottinger Hohe straight.
He survived a nervy moment towards the end of the straight as Muller and Lopez tried to outflank him into Hohenrain, backing up the pair onto the start/finish straight.
Monteiro built a gap thereafter as Lopez battled to keep third against Chilton behind him and looked to have victory in reach.
But the Portuguese then appeared to suffer a tyre failure and slid off halfway round the final lap, piling into the barrier before being spat back into the centre of the track.
Muller had nowhere to go and harpooned the Civic, with both retiring on the spot,but Lopez snuck around the outside of the accident and emerged unscathed.
His C-Elysee appeared to skate around in the final few corners, but despite Chilton closing up in the final sector the Argentinian held on to win by half a second.
The exit of the leading duo did promote a Honda on to the podium, with Norbert Michelisz taking fourth.
His team-mate Rob Huff produced a stirring drive, gaining 12 spots from 16th on the grid to finish just a second back in fourth - passing fifth-placed Bennani on the final lap.
Hugo Valente and Gabriele Tarquini were sixth and seventh in their Lada Vestas - the latter admitting to taking a conservative approach to the race - while Fredrik Ekblom came home eighth from the rear of the grid.
Nicky Catsburg dropped back from fourth on the grid but salvaged two points in ninth, with attrition handing Sabine Schmitz the final point in her Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze after muscling past Gregoire Demoustier.
RESULTS - 3 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 26m36.640s |
2 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 0.526s |
3 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 6.653s |
4 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 7.971s |
5 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 10.126s |
6 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 12.568s |
7 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 12.890s |
8 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 12.983s |
9 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 20.389s |
10 | Sabine Schmitz | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 29.462s |
11 | Gregoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 36.301s |
12 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 38.331s |
- | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | Retirement |
- | Yvan Muller | Citroen Racing | Citroen | Retirement |
- | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | Retirement |
- | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | Retirement |
- | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | Retirement |
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