José María López took the 2014 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) title with victory in race one at Suzuka, as Citroën team-mate Yvan Muller retired from the race with a left-rear puncture whilst running in second.
Argentine López led the entire race from start to finish to secure his maiden title in the WTCC and the first for a driver from Argentina in an FIA World Championship since Juan Manuel Fangio won the F1 title in 1957.
Muller was running in second until lap seven when the Frenchman picked up a left-rear puncture that ended his hopes of challenging López for the win. It is the first time in his WTCC career that he has failed to finish two consecutive races, summarising the reigning champion’s season.
The retirement of Muller had initially promoted Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente up to second, who had been running in a strong position having got past ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton and Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb at the start of the race. However on the penultimate lap Valente lost out to Chilton exiting the Spoon curve, before going wide at the following 130R turn to also allow Loeb and Norbert Michelisz past.
The move promoted Loeb to third and Michelisz, who had to take avoiding action at the final chicane, to fourth, with Valente eventually finishing the race in fifth.
The top Honda driver at their home circuit was Gabriele Tarquini in sixth. The Italian moved up from tenth on the grid to seventh at the start of the race, getting the better of Chevrolet drivers Tom Coronel and Dušan Borković on the opening lap.
ROAL Motorsport’s Coronel finished seventh ahead of Campos Racing’s Borković in eighth. The second works’ Honda of Tiago Monteiro was ninth, ahead of Münnich Motorsport’s Gianni Morbidelli in tenth.
The WTCC’s newest race winner last time out in Shanghai, Mehdi Bennani, finished just outside the points in 11th, struggling for pace in his Proteam Racing Honda.
No LADA drivers were able to make any progress in the race and all three drivers finished in the order they started, with Rob Huff in 12th ahead of team-mates James Thompson and Mikhail Kozlovskiy.
Liqui Moly’s Franz Engstler won in TC2 ahead of Campos Racing’s John Filippi and Henry Kwong.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 23:54.353 | 2:09.979 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 8.473 | 2:09.855 | 4 |
| 3 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 9.693 | 2:10.319 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 10.414 | 2:10.364 | 6 |
| 5 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 12.153 | 2:09.712 | 5 |
| 6 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 12.707 | 2:10.428 | 10 |
| 7 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 13.514 | 2:10.558 | 8 |
| 8 | 98 | TC1 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
NIS Petrol by Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 14.34 | 2:10.644 | 9 |
| 9 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 16.507 | 2:10.598 | 11 |
| 10 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 17.846 | 2:10.578 | 7 |