Argentina, Race 1: López shines in the sun for home WTCC success

The home hero overcame an early challenge from Yvan Muller

By Franck Drui

8 March 2015 - 19:55
Argentina, Race 1: López shines in (...)

José María López has made the best possible start to the new FIA World Touring Car Championship season by winning the opening race in Argentina.

The home hero overcame an early challenge from Citroën team-mate Yvan Muller to claim a standout victory in ambient temperatures of 34 degrees centigrade.

Roared by an estimated 40,000 fans, López beat Muller and fellow Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb with Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini fourth and fifth respectively for Honda.

Norbert Michelisz charged through from the back of the grid to top the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy category with Ma Qing Hua next up after the Chinese driver’s Citroën was slow away. Tom Chilton, Stefano D’Aste and Rickard Rydell completed the top 10 with Dušan Borković 11th, Grégoire Demoustier 12th and Mehdi Bennani 13th after the Moroccan was handed a drive-through penalty following a clash with LADA driver Rob Huff. Tom Coronel completed the finishers after pitting with a mechanical glitch.

James Thompson retired with a damaged right-rear wheel at the end of opening lap. John Filippi was also out after the first tour with damage to his front-left wheel, while team-mate Hugo Valente crashed out of 14th on lap five and inflicted substantial damage to the front of his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 for the second day in a row. Valente, who was nursing a sore thumb afterwards, again blamed the incident on a brake issue.

The second 13-lap race is due to start at 16h30 local time.

Pos. Driver Team Car Time
1 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 13 laps
2 Yvan Muller Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +3.170
3 Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +7.500
4 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +14.168
5 Gabriele Tarquini Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +16.322
6 Norbert Michelisz Zengo Motorsport Honda +18.470
7 Ma Qing Hua Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +20.164
8 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet +23.499
9 Stefano D’Aste Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet +27.306
10 Rickard Rydell Nika International Honda +30.266
11 Dusan Borkovic Proteam Racing Honda +34.387
12 Grégoire Demoustier Craft-Bamboo Racing Chevrolet +36.213
13 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen +37.906
14 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet DNF
15 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet DNF
16 Robert Huff LADA Sport Rosneft Lada DNF
17 James Thompson LADA Sport Rosneft Lada DNF
18 John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet DNF

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