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José María López completes Nordschleife clean sweep

Citroën’s José María López completed a clean-sweep at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, taking victory in the main World Touring Car Championship race ahead of Honda’s Norbert Michelisz and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton.

López’s only challenge for the win came at the very start of the race, when fellow front-row start Norbert Michelisz put his Honda inside the Citroën at Turn One to briefly take the lead. That didn’t last long for the Hungarian, with López repassing the Civic at the Schumacher-S bend further around the opening lap.

It is only the second time in the defending champion’s WTCC career that he has won both races in the same weekend, after his double victory in Argentina in 2014, and it moves the points leader to a huge 69 points clear of Honda’s Tiago Monteiro, who was unable to start the race due to his Opening Race accident.

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Chilton completed the podium, marking his second top three finish of the season so far, despite heavy late-race pressure from the Honda of Rob Huff, who had to settle for fourth.

The second Sébastien Loeb Racing C-Elysée of Mehdi Bennani finished in fifth, getting past the LADA of Nicky Catsburg on the second lap, leaving the Dutchman to settle for sixth.

One of the main duels in the race was between the other two LADAs of Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente, the two Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo’s of Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk and the Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet of Sabine Schmitz.

Whilst Tarquini initially held the advantage in seventh, it was clear early on that he was holding up both his team-mate and the duelling Volvo’s behind. Ekblom got past Valente on the second lap, before muscling past Tarquini at Aremberg on the final lap.

Björk took both Schmitz and Valente on the second lap of the race, before dragging past Tarquini on the long straight out of Döttinger Hohe on the final lap to take eighth.

That left Tarquini to settle for ninth, with Valente in tenth having struggled to make any inroads during the race. Schmitz just missed out on the points in 11th, failing to follow up her points finish from race one.

Along with Monteiro, Citroën’s Yvan Muller was unable to take the start of the race due to his accident with the Honda driver, whilst Tom Coronel’s puncture and subsequent contact with the barriers in race one also prevented him lining up for race two.

Race result

POS NO CL DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME/GAP BEST GD
1 37 José María LÓPEZ Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 3 26:29.665 8:50.308 1
2 5 Norbert MICHELISZ Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 3 0.435 8:48.933 2
3 3 T Tom CHILTON Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 3 0.915 8:48.759 3
4 12 Rob HUFF Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 3 1.908 8:48.972 5
5 25 T Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 3 2.431 8:48.463 6
6 10 Nicky CATSBURG LADA Sport Rosneft LADA Vesta WTCC 3 4.905 8:50.288 4
7 61 Fredrik EKBLOM Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 WTCC 3 6.072 8:48.582 7
8 62 Thed BJÖRK Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 WTCC 3 8.008 8:48.580 14
9 2 Gabriele TARQUINI LADA Sport Rosneft LADA Vesta WTCC 3 8.675 8:49.329 8
10 7 Hugo VALENTE LADA Sport Rosneft LADA Vesta WTCC 3 13.86 8:50.620 9
11 8 T Sabine SCHMITZ ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 3 23.305 8:53.030 10
12 27 T John FILIPPI Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 3 28.18 8:56.215 11
13 55 T Ferenc FICZA Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC 3 33.913 8:58.463 13
14 11 T Grégoire DEMOUSTIER Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 3 38.285 8:59.255 12
NS 18 Tiago MONTEIRO Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC DNS N/A
NS 68 Yvan MULLER Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC DNS N/A
NS 9 T Tom CORONEL ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 DNS N/A

Complete race results

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