Rob Huff took victory in the opening World Touring Car Championship race in France, ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani and Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz.
Brit Huff took the lead from LADA’s Hugo Valente as the lights went out at the start, with Bennani also getting a solid start to move from fourth on the grid into second.
Valente was able to settle into third after his poor getaway, and spent the first half of the race following the leading duo around.
Huff himself was never challenged for the win by Bennani, managing a comfortable two-second gap to the Moroccan to take his 28th career victory and his first since the season finale in 2014.
Bennani held on to take second, making it two podiums in consecutive meetings for the independent racer, who was also on the podium at the season finale in 2015.
Valente struggled to hold on to third, however, and with just three laps to go he was passed by the Honda of Michelisz. The third works Honda of Tiago Monteiro followed past shortly afterwards, leaving the Frenchman to settle for fifth on his LADA début.
Defending champion José María López ended the race in sixth, making it the first time that the Argentine has not been at the top of the championship standings since he joined the series full-time in 2014.
Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk was seventh on the team’s full-season WTCC début, with the Swede snatching the position from Dutchmen Nicky Catsburg and Tom Coronel on the final lap of the race.
LADA’s Catsburg held on to finish in eighth, having had an eventful race in the midfield, ahead of ROAL Motorsport’s Coronel in ninth.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Grégoire Demoustier completed the top ten, ahead of his team-mate Tom Chilton.
It was a disastrous race for the second works Citroën of Yvan Muller, with the Frenchman being handed a drive-through penalty for a jump start. He failed to make any real progress thereafter and finished outside the points in 13th.
LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini failed to finish the race, retiring with right-rear suspension damage following contact from Demoustier just before the half-way stage of the race.
The second Cyan Racing Volvo of Fredrik Ekblom also retired from the race with left-rear suspension damage, seemingly due to a failure rather than contact from a rival competitor.
The main race takes place at 16:15 BST (17:15 CEST).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 16 LAPS | 1:30.455 | 2 | |
| 2 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 2.184 | 1:31.043 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 6.737 | 1:31.146 | 5 | |
| 4 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 7.911 | 1:30.579 | 9 | |
| 5 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 16 | 12.554 | 1:31.187 | 1 | |
| 6 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 12.955 | 1:31.177 | 10 | |
| 7 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 16 | 22.162 | 1:31.559 | 16 | |
| 8 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 16 | 23.708 | 1:31.288 | 6 | |
| 9 | 9 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 24.892 | 1:31.295 | 7 |
| 10 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 25.738 | 1:31.970 | 13 |
| 11 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 26.249 | 1:32.143 | 12 |
| 12 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 26.908 | 1:31.780 | 14 |
| 13 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 40.095 | 1:31.585 | 8 | |
| 14 | 77 | Y | René MÜNNICH |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 16 | 42.417 | 1:32.590 | 15 |
| R | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 6 | 10 Lp. | 1:31.292 | 11 | |
| R | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 6 | 10 Lp. | 1:31.555 | 3 |