Russia, Race 1: Tarquini storms to WTCC victory for LADA

Gabriele Tarquini charged to his first victory for LADA in the FIA World Touring Car Championship as wet weather shook up the FIA WTCC ROSNEFT Race of Russia.

The rain caused the start to be delayed when it fell on the formation lap, with all drivers on slick Yokohama tyres. All switched to wet tyres for the second start, which Tiago Monteiro initially led from pole before slipping behind Yvan Muller, Mehdi Bennani, José María López and Tarquini, who had made a great start from ninth on the grid.

As had been the case in qualifying, the LADA Sport Rosneft trio excelled in the wet, with Tarquini working his way up to second and cutting the gap to Muller to pass the Frenchman on lap five.

The Italian veteran was able to take his 21st WTCC victory by 4.782 seconds over team-mate Nicky Catsburg, who surged from 10th on the grid and passed Muller for second place on lap nine of 15.

Muller finished a distant third for Citroën, with Hugo Valente taking fourth in the remaining LADA ahead of López, who was chased across the line by the Honda duo of Monteiro and Rob Huff as well as the Chevrolet of James Thompson. The ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver claimed the WTCC Trophy honours with a pass on Bennani, who fell back to ninth as the race wore on.

Norbert Michelisz and Tom Coronel were handed drive-through places for being out of position at the start, and finished 10th and 12th.

The Main Race will follow with Catsburg and Tarquini starting from the front row of the grid.