Slovakia Ring, Race 1: Loeb wins rain aborted race

Sébastien Loeb took his second WTCC win in a dramatic Race 1 at the Slovakia Ring that had to be neutralized with the safety-car in lap 7 because of the heavy rain and was red-flagged two laps later.

The Frenchman benefitted from an excellent start from P2 on the grid to overtake team-mate and poleman José María López.

A faultless race by the two, despite the conditions, gave Citroën another 1-2. Third was Norbert Michelisz (Honda) ahead of the Chevrolet RML cars of Coronel, Chilton and Morbidelli, with the Honda cars of Monteiro and Tarquini right behind.

Rob Huff took the points of ninth for LADA and Yvan Muller finished tenth after having to serve a drive-through for jump start.

In his first real WTCC appearance, Petr Fulín (Campos Racing) imposed his SEAT among TC2 cars, after John Filippi went into the gravel during the safety-car period.

Key moments

— Formation lap - Kozlovskiy experiences an oil leak and pits; it will not start
— Start – Loeb kicks off better and takes the lead ahead of López, Michelisz, Muller (who will get a drive-through for jumping the start), Chilton, Coronel, Morbidelli and Huff.
— Lap 1 – Engstler and Thompson go out at turn 1 but continue.
— Lap 3 – Muller serves the drive-through and rejoins 14th. Borković goes side-ways at turn 6 and Bennani goes wide to avoid him.
— Lap 4 – Fulín passes Di sabatino and takes the lead in TC2. Borković is again off at T6 with some body damage in the rear left.
— Lap 5 – López is now getting closer to Loeb; Muller passes Bennani for 13th. Coronel passes Chilton for 4th after a short fight. Filippi passes Di Sabatino for 2nd in TC2 and shortly after takes the lead from Fulín. Also Engstler passes Di Sabatino.
— Lap 6 – Valente is suffering aquaplaning on the straight. Huff attacks Tarquini for 8th.
— Lap 7 – As rain increases, the safety-car is deployed.
— Lap 8 – Filippi stops in the pits after an excursion into the gravel.
— Lap 9 – The race is red-flagged and will not resume.