Marrakech, Race 1: López strikes first in Moroccan WTCC street thriller

Ma Qing Hua and Sébastien Loeb completing the top 3

By Franck Drui

19 April 2015 - 17:50
Marrakech, Race 1: López strikes (...)

WTCC champion José María López has won the first Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco with Citroën team-mates Ma Qing Hua and Sébastien Loeb completing the top three following an intense contest on the streets of Marrakech.

Home hero Mehdi Bennani started second but lost out to Loeb at the first corner. Despite a determined charge to wrestle the place back from his team boss, the Moroccan driver settled for fourth with Yvan Muller fighting back from 10th to fifth at the flag.

Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini were sixth and seventh for Honda respectively with Norbert Michelisz eighth, Stefano D’Aste ninth and Tom Chilton 10th after he overtook LADA’s James Thompson.

However, a first-lap incident between Chilton and his ROAL Motorsport team-mate Tom Coronel is being investigated by the event stewards. Coronel was forced to retire following the clash at one of the track’s tight chicanes. Hugo Valente failed to make it off the grid due to a suspected mechanical fault.

Race two, which forms round four of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, is due to get underway at 17h30 local time.

Pos. Driver Team Car Time
1 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 14 laps
2 Ma Qing Hua Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +0.942
3 Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +4.492
4 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen +5.405
5 Yvan Muller Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +21.617
6 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +22.986
7 Gabriele Tarquini Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +23.410
8 Norbert Michelisz Zengo Motorsport Honda +24.799
9 Stefano D’Aste Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet +26.904
10 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet +30.552
11 Robert Huff LADA Sport Rosneft Lada +35.044
12 James Thompson LADA Sport Rosneft Lada +45.222
13 Mikhail Kozlvskiy LADA Sport Rosneft Lada +53.650
14 John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet +54.397
15 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet DNF
16 Grégoire Demoustier Craft-Bamboo Racing Chevrolet DNF
17 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet DNF
18 Dusan Borkovic Proteam Racing Honda DNS

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