Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Paul Ricard WTCC: Citroen's Jose Maria Lopez wins from eighth

Jose Maria Lopez won the second World Touring Car Championship race at Paul Ricard to make it a clean sweep of Citroen victories at its home circuit

Lopez came from eighth on the grid to take the win ahead of Norbert Michelisz, who relented his long-time lead three laps before the end.

He was able to narrowly keep ahead of the chasing Citroen duo of Ma Qing Hua and Yvan Muller, while their team-mate Sebastien Loeb had to retire after a large shunt with the tyre stacks at the chicane's exit.

It was around this mark that the works Citroens began to start their assault on the podium after the top 10 reverse grid format put Mehdi Bennani on pole in the Sebastien Loeb Racing C-Elysee ahead of Jaap van Lagen's Lada and Michelisz's Zengo Honda.

Bennani's lead was eradicated before the lights went out after he jumped the start, earning a drive-through penalty.

He quickly served it and began a recovery drive as van Lagen fell down the order.

Michelisz then had the road to himself and made it count, building a strong lead as the four Citroens worked their way through traffic

Muller in particular found himself bogged down in the midfield, running in 10th for the early stage of the race.

While his team-mates found it easy to carve through the field, Loeb's race soon came to an end.

Hoping to make it back to back wins and a clean sweep at his home race, Loeb was in the group catching the top three but he got his exit wrong at the chicane and smashed the front of his car into the tyre stacks before retiring.

The nine time World Rally champion's team-mates continued their charged but their advances were soon halted by Tiago Monteiro.

Lopez was quicker than the Honda man, but he couldn't work a gap until the halfway mark.

The Argentinian pursuer had the advantage on the straights and took a wide line out of Turn 1 as Monteiro took the racing line on the inside.

The different approaches meant Lopez hit the rear of his rival and pitched him into a spin that forced the Portuguese racer to retire.

That lengthy battle and subsequent collision had only strengthened Michelisz's lead at the front as Ma assumed second ahead of Lopez.

The team-mates were losing time on the race leader by battling, but Ma eventually relented.

He had previously moved across to deny Lopez's favoured outside line at Turn 1, but on the following lap Ma allowed Lopez past and nearly let Muller to take third from him too.

The reigning WTCC champion was then free to chase down Michelisz and the long-time race leader had no answer to him in the final stretches, as Lopez came through to take victory.

RESULTS - 16 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 24m50.700s
2 Norbert Michelisz Zengo Motorsport Honda 1.449s
3 Ma Qinghua Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 2.156s
4 Yvan Muller Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 3.165s
5 Gabriele Tarquini Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 12.071s
6 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet 16.645s
7 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 16.681s
8 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 16.792s
9 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 22.667s
10 Rickard Rydell Nika International Honda 24.009s
11 Jaap van Lagen LADA Sport Rosneft Lada 26.371s
12 Nicky Catsburg LADA Sport Rosneft Lada 28.673s
13 John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet 34.641s
14 Gregoire Demoustier Craft-Bamboo Racing Chevrolet 38.623s
15 Stefano D'Aste All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet 2 Laps
- Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Retirement
- Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WTCC Citroen Retirement
- Rob Huff LADA Sport Rosneft Lada Not started

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Jose Maria Lopez 282
2 Yvan Muller 243
3 Sebastien Loeb 208
4 Tiago Monteiro 114
5 Ma Qinghua 113
6 Norbert Michelisz 112
7 Gabriele Tarquini 110
8 Tom Chilton 76
9 Hugo Valente 63
10 Rob Huff 55
11 Mehdi Bennani 50
12 Tom Coronel 33
13 Stefano D'Aste 16
14 Nicky Catsburg 13
15 Jaap van Lagen 12
16 James Thompson 6
17 John Filippi 5
18 Rickard Rydell 4
19 Gregoire Demoustier 2
20 Nestor Girolami 1
20 Sabine Schmitz 1


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Paul Ricard WTCC: Sebastien Loeb dominates opener for Citroen
Next article Paul Ricard WTCC: Lopez rejects Monteiro collision criticism

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe