Citroën’s José María López took victory in the opening World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race in Thailand to become the 2015 champion, as his only title rival Yvan Muller retired from a chaotic race that saw just ten finishers.
López led the race from lights-to-flag, with team-mate Sébastien Loeb finishing in second having had no answer to the Argentine’s dominance.
Behind López it was a chaotic race. The safety car was called out after the first lap due to two separate incidents on different parts of the circuit. The first involved ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel and the two LADAs of Nicky Catsburg and Nicolas Lapierre, who came together at the first corner, resulting in damage to all three cars.
The second incident came a few corners later, when Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente made contact with the Honda of Tiago Monteiro and the Citroën of Muller, triggering a cascading reaction that also ended the race of Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz.
When the safety car returned to the pits after lap four, López was briefly under pressure from Loeb, before opening a one-second advantage to his team-mate and holding it until the chequered flag.
Ma Qing Hua made it a Citroën 1-2-3 on the podium, despite late-race pressure from the independent C-Elysée of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani, who had to settle for fourth.
Gabriele Tarquini was the leading Honda driver in fifth, having benefitted when Campos Racing’s John Filippi made an ill-judged move on Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro at turn three on lap six. The move cost Filippi a chance of points, as he retired to the pits with damage to his front-left suspension.
Rob Huff was the sole surviving LADA driver, surging through from the back of the grid to finish in sixth, having passed Monteiro for the position on lap ten with a decisive cut-back on the exit of turn three.
Monteiro finished in seventh, nursing damage to his car from the earlier incident with Valente, ahead of Münnich Motorsport’s Stefano D’Aste in eighth and Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Grégoire Demoustier in ninth, who took his best result in the WTCC to-date.
Local Thai racer Tin Sritrai completed the finishers, taking points with a tenth place finish on his WTCC début.
ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton had been running in a solid fifth position, but the Brit retired to the pits on lap ten with apparent technical troubles.
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 | 16 | 16 LAPS | 1:39.647 | 1 | |
| 2 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 1.38 | 1:39.577 | 2 | |
| 3 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 6.376 | 1:39.900 | 4 | |
| 4 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 7.202 | 1:39.964 | 5 |
| 5 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 14.5 | 1:40.586 | 15 | |
| 6 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 16 | 15.177 | 1:40.141 | 18 | |
| 7 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 18.493 | 1:40.661 | 9 | |
| 8 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 21.004 | 1:40.762 | 17 |
| 9 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 22.83 | 1:40.834 | 13 |
| 10 | 99 | Y | Tin SRITRAI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 27.419 | 1:41.122 | 16 |
| R | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 5 Lp. | 1:40.693 | 8 |
| R | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 6 | 10 Lp. | 1:41.039 | 11 |
| R | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 12 Lp. | 1:39.933 | 3 | |
| R | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 1 | 15 Lp. | – | 10 |
| R | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 0 | – | – | 6 |
| R | 10 | Nick CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 0 | – | – | 7 | |
| R | 47 | Nicolas LAPIERRE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 0 | – | – | 12 | |
| R | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 0 | – | – | 14 |