Tiago Monteiro scored his first World Touring Car Championship win since 2010 in the second race in China, heading team-mate Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz as Honda scored a 1-2-3 result.
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Monteiro led the race from pole position and was never headed, as he led Tarquini home in dry conditions to record his fifth WTCC win and the second Honda podium lock-out of the season.
Zengő Motorsport’s Michelisz finished in third, having got the jump on Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff into the first corner on the opening lap of the race.
Huff was forced to settle for fourth, despite applying significant pressure to Michelisz throughout the duration of the race. RML’s Yvan Muller came through from tenth on the grid to finish in fifth, having made a superb pass on James Nash for the position around the outside of turn one on lap eight, completing the move into turn two.
Nash himself had to settle for sixth, meaning that the Yokohama Independent’s Trophy battle remains open between him and his bamboo-engineering team-mate Alex MacDowall heading to the season finale in Macau.
Pepe Oriola finished in seventh, ahead of the top BMW of Tom Coronel in eighth. Coronel made rapid progress in the early laps of the race to move into the top ten from 12th on the grid, although the Dutchman also made contact with Nika Racing’s Rickard Rydell into turn one on the opening lap of the race, dropping the Swede down the order.
Stefano D’Aste and Tom Chilton completed the top ten in their BMW and Chevrolets respectively, with race one winner Chilton making little progress laden with 45 kg of success ballast.
Contact between Fredy Barth and Darryl O’Young on lap seven effectively ended both drivers races whilst battling for entry into the top ten. Barth half-spun his BMW at the hairpin into the path of O’Young, who collected the Wiechers-Sport car. They were classified in 21st and 30th positions respectively. MacDowall, who finished 13th, was also held up by the incident.
Volvo’s Thed Björk finished his first WTCC race in 15th, making little progress through the field in his Volvo C30.
Yukinori Taniguchi once again took victory in the EuroSport Asia Trophy in his turbocharged Campos Racing SEAT, finishing in 23rd ahead of China Dragon Racing’s Felipe Clemente de Souza.
Rickard Rydell failed to finish the race, pulling off the circuit after seven laps whilst running in 18th.