It was a tense twenty-one laps in Marrakech as Tom Coronel won his first race of the 2016 season, his first since Slovakia 2013, finishing just three-tenths ahead of championship leader and Citroën driver José María López.
The Dutchman took advantage of a chaotic first lap where poleman James Thompson was punted off at turn three by Hugo Valence. Volvo’s Thed Bjork was also removed from the asphalt as a result of contact with Citroën’s Yvan Muller.
It was an impressive race for the Citroën team, with López and Muller taking advantage of Björk’s slow start and resulting incidents to file in behind Coronel’s Chevrolet. In the ensuring tussle for the lead, Coronel used all his experience to keep López, in superior machinery, behind.
Following them closely were Honda’s Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff, who were line astern in a queue behind Muller, hoping to force him into a mistake that would allow all three through.
Muller’s mistake did not materialise however, as he crossed the line third ahead of the three Hondas, with a disgruntled Monteiro bemoaning that “the Citroëns controlled the pace they wanted”.
Behind all of this, it was a miserable race for Lada drivers Hugo Valente and Nicky Catsburg, as the former was awarded a drive through penalty for hitting Thompson, while both cars ventured into the pits for repairs.
Huff had a quiet race in sixth, as the race two pole setter is aiming for a wall-free run in preparation for the second race of the day.
The Main Race starts at 17:30 local time (17:30 British Summer Time).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 21 | 29:30.458 | 1:23.791 | 4 |
| 2 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 21 | 0.319 | 1:23.447 | 7 | |
| 3 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 21 | 2.185 | 1:23.459 | 5 | |
| 4 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 21 | 2.492 | 1:23.685 | 8 | |
| 5 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 21 | 3.77 | 1:23.600 | 9 | |
| 6 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 21 | 4.433 | 1:23.483 | 10 | |
| 7 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 21 | 9.517 | 1:23.837 | 11 | |
| 8 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 21 | 11.403 | 1:24.081 | 12 |
| 9 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 21 | 12.294 | 1:24.241 | 14 |
| 10 | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 21 | 16.54 | 1:24.359 | 13 | |
| 11 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 21 | 22.376 | 1:23.329 | 3 | |
| 12 | 11 | T | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 21 | 31.551 | 1:24.482 | 16 |
| 13 | 55 | T | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 21 | 44.659 | 1:24.802 | 17 |
| R | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 8 Lp. | 1:24.423 | 15 |
| R | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 9 Lp. | 1:23.087 | 2 | |
| R | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 7 | 14 Lp. | 1:24.562 | 6 | |
| R | 15 | T | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 6 | 15 Lp. | 1:24.771 | 1 |