Mehdi Bennani wins dramatic wet Hungaroring race one

Rainfall had turned the first race of the World Touring Car Championship at the Hungaroring into a dramatic thriller, as Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani comfortably took the win, with Britain’s Tom Chilton making it a 1-2 for the team.

Chilton, who started 10th, progressively showed good pace as some of the top contenders, including Yvan Muller and Jose María López, dropped down the order, having opted to go for slick tyres.

LADA Sport’s Nicky Catsburg would round out the podium, whilst Polestar Cyan Racing would secure their best finish of the season so far, as Frederik Ekblom had to fight for a well-deserved fourth place.

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The local crowd would see Honda’s Norbert Michelisz suffer a dramatic turbocharger failure on the first of two formation laps, which saw the Hungarian pull off track.

Gabriele Tarquini made it two LADAs in the top five, as the Italian opted to pit as the lights went off, and scythed his way through the field to fifth place at the end of 14 laps.

Hugo Valente was in the hunt for the lead of the race in the early goings, but would eventually have to settle for sixth behind his Italian team mate. The Frenchman finished ahead of Grégoire Demoustier, which saw all three Sébastien Loeb-run Citroëns take points.

The best-placed of the Chevrolet Cruzes was Campos Racing’s John Filippi in eighth, who managed to make his way up to sixth, before having to take a drive-through penalty for a jump start.

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel also opted to go for slick tyres, which saw the Dutchman battle with the Volvo S60 of Thed Björk, who pitted at the same time for wets. The pair finished 15th and 16th respectively, after swapping positions multiple times during their encounter.

Zengó Motorsport’s Ferenc Ficza gave the home crowds something to cheer about, as the Honda Civic driver took ninth, ahead of René Munnich, who rounded out the top ten, despite a collision with Coronel handing him a drive-through penalty.

Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro tried to keep themselves up the sharp end of the grid, despite staying on slicks for the race.

However, they would finish ahead of both López and Muller after the chequered flag, meaning that it was the first time since Yves Matton’s squad entered the WTCC, that any of their drivers had failed to score points.

Race two starts at 17:15 local time (16:15 British Summer Time).

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	25	Y	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	30:49.813	2:10.570	1
2	3	Y	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	3.313	2:10.030	10
3	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	14	6.367	2:10.305	4
4	61		Fredrik EKBLOM		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	14	13.918	2:11.883	2
5	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	14	14.566	2:09.970	11
6	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	14	29.575	2:11.288	12
7	11	Y	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	14	34.53	2:11.112	16
8	27	Y	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	14	47.418	2:11.596	13
9	55	Y	Ferenc FICZA		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	14	52.927	2:13.547	15
10	77	Y	René MÜNNICH		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	14	1:48.021	2:13.970	14
11	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	14	1:58.809	2:16.828	7
12	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	14	2:26.774	2:17.297	6
13	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	1 Lap	2:10.820	3
14	37		José María LÓPEZ		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	1 Lap	2:09.820	9
15	9	Y	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	13	1 Lap	2:13.047	8
16	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	13	1 Lap	2:12.728	17
R	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	0	DNF	00.000	5