Qatar GP || December 1 || 20h00 (Local time)

Motegi, Race 2: Monteiro scores in the WTCC for Honda at home

Valente resisted early pressure from Yvan Muller to take second

By Franck Drui

13 September 2015 - 09:05

Victory for Honda driver Tiago Monteiro in the second JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of Japan rounded out a thrilling weekend of racing at Twin Ring Motegi.

Monteiro snatched the lead from pole-sitter Hugo Valente on the charge to turn one to take a comfortable second win of 2015.

“I am so pleased, I have so many people to hank at the home race for Honda,” said Monteiro, who celebrated WTCC start number 200 in race one. “I had an early setback but the car was so competitive. I am so happy.”

Valente resisted early pressure from Yvan Muller to take second as Muller was forced to pit when the bonnet of his Citroën partially opened.

His misfortune handed third place to LADA’s Rob Huff, who determinedly fended off Sébastien Loeb – and then Gabriele Tarquini for a time – in a dramatic battle for third.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	13 laps
2	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	+9.222
3	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	+10.938
4	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	+11.703
5	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	+11.792
6	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	+11.894
7	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	+17.474
8	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	+21.284
9	Nicolas Lapierre	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	+28.053
10	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	+32.744
11	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	+35.253
12	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	+41.364
13	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	+42.109
14	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	DNF
15	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	DNF
16	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	DNF
17	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	DNF