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Paul Ricard, Race 2: López wins action-packed WTCC counter

Michelisz 2nd, Ma Qing Hua 3rd

By Franck Drui

28 June 2015 - 15:02

José María López has claimed a dramatic victory in the second JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France.

Starting from eighth on the grid, López snatched second place from Tiago Monteiro following a clash with the Portuguese Honda driver exiting the first corner on lap seven. He then caught and passed Norbert Michelisz for top spot and his fifth win of the season to rebuild his shrinking title advantage.

Honda driver Michelisz, who started third, moved into the lead when pole-sitter Mehdi Bennani was forced to take a drive-through penalty for a jumped start. But the Hungarian was unable to fend off Citroën driver López on lap 14, settling instead for second and top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy points.

Ma Qing Hua finished third with Yvan Muller fourth and Gabriele Tarquini fifth for Honda.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	16 laps
2	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	+1.449
3	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	+2.156
4	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	+3.165
5	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	+12.071
6	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	+16.645
7	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	+16.681
8	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	+16.792
9	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	+22.667
10	Rickard Rydell	Nika International	Honda	+24.009
11	Jaap van Lagen	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	+26.371
12	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	+28.673
13	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	+34.641
14	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	+38.623
15	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	DNF
16	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	DNF
17	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	DNF
18	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	DNF