Las Vegas GP || November 23 || 22h00 (Local time)

Thailand, Race 1: López wins thrilling Thai opener, takes WTCC title

Yvan Muller was eliminated in a first-lap clash

By Franck Drui

1 November 2015 - 11:05

José María López has won the inaugural WTCC Race of Thailand to clinch his second FIA World Touring Car Championship in succession.

López led from the start and resisted race-long pressure from Citroën team-mate Sébastien Loeb to secure his ninth victory of 2015 with Ma Qing Hua and Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy winner Mehdi Bennani completing a Citroën top four.

Gabriele Tarquini charged through from P12 on the grid to take fifth in his factory Honda ahead of LADA pilot Rob Huff, who started on the back row of the grid.

In a dramatic contest at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, López’s title rival Yvan Muller was eliminated in a first-lap clash, which also involved several other cars and resulted in the safety car being deployed.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	16 laps
2	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	+1.380
3	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	+6.376
4	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	+7.202
5	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	+14.500
6	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	+15.177
7	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	+18.493
8	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	+21.004
9	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	+22.830
10	Tin Sritrai	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	+27.416
11	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	DNF
12	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	DNF
13	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	DNF
14	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	DNF
15	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	DNF
16	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	DNF
17	Nicolas Lapierre	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	DNF
18	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	DNF