Sonoma, Race 1: Chilton breaks his duck

Tom Chilton converted his first-ever WTCC pole position into his maiden victory in the series when he held off a determined challenge from Tiago Monteiro in a Castrol Honda Civic.

Chilton’s teammate Yvan Mulller, on the verge of securing his fourth WTCC title, started from second place on the grid but was passed by Monteiro in only the second corner of the thirteen-lap race. Muller then drove a comfortable race to finish in third place ahead of the highest-placed Yokohama Trophy competitor Alex MacDowall in a bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze.

One of the drives of the race came from Tom Coronel in a ROAL Motorsport BMW. Starting from thirteenth on the grid, Coronel carved his way through the field and, following contact with Rob Huff’s SEAT Leon on Lap 10, Coronel passed the reigning World Champion to take seventh place.

In all, four Chevrolet Cruze cars finished in the top five, with Monteiro and sixth-placed Gabriele Tarquini taking a valuable points haul for the Castrol Honda team in their bid to leave California as Manufacturers’ Champions. Behind Coronel and Huff, Marc Basseng and Stefano D’Aste rounded off the top ten.

Key moments

— Lap 1 – Monteiro passes Muller for 2nd at Turn 2; Tarquini passes Huff for 6th
— Lap 2 – Bennani spins at T4; Coronel passes Basseng for 8th
— Lap 3 – O’Young spins at T7 and pits
— Lap 4 – Boardman passes Thompson for 12th
— Lap 6 – Coronel attacks Huff; D’Aste passes Oriola for 10th
— Lap 8 – Basseng attacks Coronel
— Lap 10 – Coronel and Huff make contact; Coronel passes Huff for 7th
— Lap 11 – Nykjær passes Thompson for 13th
— Lap 12 – Valente passes Thompson for 14th
— Lap 13 – Chilton takes the victory