Shanghai, Race 2: Bennani leads 1-2 for Honda!

“If it is a dream, wake me up!”: Mehdi Bennani will certainly never forget this day.

The Moroccan driver put a fantastic performance in Race 2 to take his maiden overall win in the WTCC and give Honda its first success of the year. It was also the first WTCC win for the Proteam Racing of Valmiro Presenzini.

The great afternoon of the Civic cars was completed by Tiago Monteiro, who signed the 1-2 for the Japanese manufacturer while Norbert Michelisz took the last spot of the top 5.

Citroën had a more difficult Race 2, as Muller and Loeb collided in the early laps and Ma made a couple of slight off-tracks. José María López took third but was never really in a position to threaten the two leading Honda cars, while Loeb and Ma concluded fourth and sixth. Coronel, Chilton, Valente and Borković took the remaining points with their Chevrolet cars; Engstler and De Souza encored victories in the TC2T class and the Asia Trophy respectively.

Key moments
— Grid – Lok does not make the grid and Chilton starts from the pit lane
— Start – Bennani takes an excellent start while Valente is slower and get passed by Tarquini and Monteiro.
— Lap 1 – Borković and Huff make contact, Bennani leads from Tarquini, Monteiro, Valente, Muller and Loeb
— Lap 2 – López passes Michelisz for 7th, with Ma right behind the Honda; at the end of the lap, Loeb hits Muller as they both are behind Valente who is defending his 4th place. Muller’s car is damaged and he retires
— Lap 3 – It’s three Honda cars ahead of everybody, with Bennani, Tarquini and Monteiro. Valente holds on fourth with great determination. Ma passes López but runs wide in T15
— Lap 5 – Huff crashes in T2 after a clash with Morbidelli; Tarquini slows down with a technical problem and retires; López manages to break Valente’s resilience and takes 4th
— Lap 6 – Bennani leads by 4 seconds over Monteiro, with López 8 seconds behind; Chilton, recovers to 10th.
— Lap 7 – Loeb overtakes Valente for fourth; Ma runs wide again at turn 15
— Lap 8 – Contact between Michelisz and Valente; the Hungarian takes the 5th spot
— Lap 9 – Ma passes Valente for 6th.
— Lap 10 – Chilton is 9th after passing Borković. Morbidelli is given a drive-through for the contact with Huff
— Lap 11 – Coronel passes Valente for 7th
— Lap 13 – Valente gets past also by Chilton, with Borković and Thompson chasing him
— Lap 14 – Bennani claims his maiden victory