Motegi, Race 1: López lands Motegi WTCC gold

José María López has claimed victory in a thrilling first JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of Japan, which provided action, drama and overtaking aplenty.

Independent racer Norbert Michelisz, who started from pole in his Honda, was unable to prevent the Citroën driver from squeezing ahead on the run to the first corner and he was forced to settle for second followed closely by fellow Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini.

“I cannot believe it,” said López following his seventh victory of 2015. “I was not expecting this because the Honda makes a very good start. I was trying to do a safe start but I was confident. I have a fantastic team that pushes me to go further. The pace of the car was fantastic even with [60] kilos [of success ballast]. I should struggle more but this car seems unbeatable.”

Ma Qing Hua pulled off a sensational late-braking passing manoeuvre to snatch fourth from Citroën team-mate Yvan Muller, who took fifth ahead of Sébastien Loeb with Mehdi Bennani seventh and Rob Huff eighth following a thrilling battle with Tiago Monteiro and Hugo Valente. Nicolas Lapierre finished P11 on his WTCC debut but ROAL Motorsport twins Tom Coronel and Tom Chilton both retired, crashing out on consecutive laps at turn five.

Race two is due to get underway at 15h25 local time and there’s the possibility of a wet race with rain currently falling at Twin Ring Motegi.