How López survived the WTCC lion’s den to win

José María López made it 22 FIA World Touring Car Championship victories last sunday – but only after he made it through the lion’s den – a reference he made to the challenge posed by the WTCC’s new race format – unscathed.

Under new rules for 2016, the WTCC’s traditional reverse-grid race is now run first under the Opening Race banner with the starting order for the second Main Race based on the results of qualifying.

It means factory drivers like López, Citroën’s defending world champion, must weigh up the pros and cons of pushing all-out for early success from lower down the starting order or wait to chase the win from what is likely to be a more favourable grid slot in the Main Race – and with a fully-functioning car under them.

At Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday, López did everything in his power to keep out of trouble in the Opening Race before going on to triumph in the Main Race following a close-battle with Honda’s Tiago Monteiro.

“It’s important to not break the car, for sure,” said López. “That problem we didn’t have last year. Of course last year if you had a big impact you didn’t finish the second race and you didn’t score points, but it was only one race. Now, if something like this happens in the Opening Race, there is a chance that you don’t race in the second one, which is the one normally, in my case, I’m starting from pole. The middle of the pack is where the lions are and all the things happen. Sometimes you turn in and someone is coming and you hear the impact and that’s it.”