Hungaroring, Race 1: Monteiro boosts WTCC lead with victory in Hungary

Tiago Monteiro claimed victory for Castrol Honda in the opening race of the FIA World Touring Car Championship JVCKENWOOD Race of Hungary weekend, ahead of Tom Chilton.

Monteiro started from second on the grid, but was able to take the lead when reverse polesitter John Filippi stalled as the lights went out. Monteiro led from then on, although Chilton did launch a challenge in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC but was ultimately unable to make it happen. Monteiro’s win reinforces his lead in the championship.

Rob Huff, who will start this afternoon’s Main Race on pole for his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport team, enjoyed an exciting race-long battle for third position with the Volvo Polestar of Néstor Girolami. Huff went from ninth on the grid to third, chasing Girolami for several laps and finally making his successful move on the penultimate lap on the race.

Nicky Catsburg was fifth ahead of the Chevrolet Cruze of Esteban Guerrieri in sixth, while Mehdi Bennani recovered from a five-place grid penalty which demoted him to 13th on the grid to cross the line in seventh position.

RC Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher was eighth, while Tom Coronel and Aurélien Panis were ninth and tenth respectively.

Filippi was never really able to recover from his stall at the start of the race and things went from bad to worse when the Frenchman was forced to pull his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC off the circuit on the final lap with problems.

There was heartbreak too for home favourite Norbert Michelisz who was unable to complete the race after he sustained damage in an early race tangle with Thed Björk while the pair were battling for position. Björk was also unable to complete the full race distance.

The Main Race of the WTCC JVCKENWOOD Race of Hungary is set to get underway at 13h45 local time.