Paul Ricard, Race 2: Defending WTCC champion López resists Monteiro to win

Muller finished fourth

By Franck Drui

3 April 2016 - 18:10
Paul Ricard, Race 2: Defending (...)

José María López held off a charging Tiago Monteiro to win the Main Race at the WTCC JVCKENWOOD Race of France and take an early lead in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

While López led the race from pole position and pulled away out fron, Monteiro had to recover from losing second place to Yvan Muller. On lap 9 he finally got past Muller after contact at the final corner, with his Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz following him through into third.

Monteiro set about cutting the gap to López and the lead pair were right together going onto the final lap. Citroën driver López just held on by 0.284 seconds, denying Honda a double victory at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Muller finished fourth ahead of LADA driver Nicky Catsburg. Opening Race winner Rob Huff was forced wide at the first corner after contact from Gabriele Tarquini, but recovered brilliantly to finish in sixth after passing Hugo Valente, who was also involved in the Turn 1 skirmish.

Mehdi Bennani took the WTCC Trophy honours for the second time in eighth overall ahead of his Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Tom Chilton. Polestar’s Fredrik Ekblom completed the top 10, but team-mate Thed Björk failed to finish. Tom Coronel beat John Filippi to 11th by just 0.024s in an all-RML Cruze battle.

After the opening weekend, López leads the drivers’ standings on 38 points, with Monteiro on 34 and Huff on 33.

Pos. Driver Team Car Time
1 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Total WTCC Citroen 17 laps
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +0.284
3 Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +3.111
4 Yvan Muller Citroen Total WTCC Citroen +8.652
5 Nicky Catsburg LADA Sport Lada +9.814
6 Rob Huff Honda Racing Team JAS Honda +19.934
7 Hugo Valente LADA Sport Lada +21.792
8 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen +22.130
9 Tom Chilton Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen +22.389
10 Fredrik Ekblom Polestar Cyan Volvo +27.554
11 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet +32.142
12 John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet +32.166
13 Grégoire Demoustier Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen +35.629
14 Gabriele Tarquini LADA Sport Lada DNF
15 Rene Munnich Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet DNF
15 Thed Bjork Polestar Cyan Volvo DNF
17 Ferenc Ficza Zengo Honda DNS
18 Daniel Nagy Zengo Honda DNS

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