Honda’s Tiago Monteiro took victory in the second World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race in Thailand ahead of Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb, with the race being red-flagged two laps early.
The race was initially led by pole man Norbert Michelisz, before Monteiro passed the Zengő Motorsport driver for the lead on lap three.
Michelisz had no answer to Monteiro’s pace and immediately the Portuguese driver began to open up a lead, whilst the Hungarian driver saw himself handed a drive-through penalty for violating the parc fermé regulations.
That handed second to Citroën’s Loeb, who initially could do little to dent Monteiro’s advantage. The Frenchman continued to press, and by lap 12 had closed to the rear bumper of the Honda, before the race was stopped early due to fading light.
Ma Qing Hua completed the podium in his Citroën, although the Chinese driver was controversially involved in an incident at the start which saw him make contact with team-mate Yvan Muller and the independent Citroën of Mehdi Bennani. The contact caused the second retirement in a row for Muller, who retired with a broken front-left wheel at the first corner.
New champion José María López took fourth, having battled his way up the order in the race. In particular, López expressed consternation with Ma after the race, after the duo made contact on the start straight heading onto lap two.
The Argentine was later passed by the Honda of Gabriele Tarquini, and spent much of the latter stages battling with the Italian and ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton, before finally breaking free and holding fourth.
Chilton went on to finish in fifth, having lost out to Tarquini on lap 11 which ultimately didn’t count as the red flags were flown and the result wound back to the previous lap, leaving Tarquini in sixth.
Rob Huff was the only LADA driver to start the race, with the Brit finishing in seventh. Team-mates Nicky Catsburg and Nicolas Lapierre failed to take the start after their coming together in the opening race.
Bennani finished in eighth, having lost ground in his tangle with Muller and Ma at the start of the race.
Münnich Motorsport’s Stefano D’Aste and Thai local Tin Sritrai completed the top ten, with the latter scoring points in both of the weekend’s races as a result.
Another dismal weekend for ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel saw the Dutchman fail to start the race as a result of damage sustained in race one, marking a fourth straight non-score and the second weekend in a row in which he has failed to take the start of race two. Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente also failed to start as a result of damage incurred in race one.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 16:39.856 | 1:39.558 | 2 | |
| 2 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 2.062 | 1:39.378 | 8 | |
| 3 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 7.784 | 1:39.329 | 6 | |
| 4 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 12.596 | 1:40.172 | 9 | |
| 5 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 13.815 | 1:39.904 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 14.076 | 1:39.275 | 10 | |
| 7 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 10 | 14.671 | 1:39.864 | 14 | |
| 8 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 15.118 | 1:39.933 | 5 |
| 9 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 18.301 | 1:40.385 | 12 |
| 10 | 99 | Y | Tin SRITRAI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 19.705 | 1:40.966 | 13 |
| 11 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 20.225 | 1:40.545 | 11 |
| 12 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 23.746 | 1:41.079 | 15 |
| 13 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 35.062 | 1:40.017 | 1 |
| R | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 0 | 10 Laps | N/A | 7 | |
| NS | 10 | Nick CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | – | DNS | N/A | 4 | |
| NS | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | – | DNS | N/A | 16 |
| NS | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | – | DNS | N/A | 17 |
| NS | 47 | Nicolas LAPIERRE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | – | DNS | N/A | 18 |