Tiago Monteiro took victory in the opening World Touring Car Championship race in Slovakia, benefitting from a strong start and a late-race pass on Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani.
At the start of the race Monteiro got off to a strong start from fourth on the grid, immediately slotting into second behind leader Bennani, who had moved into the lead from the front row of the grid.
Bennani then led the race for the first nine laps, before Monteiro finally got past the independent Citroën, also laden with the same 80 kg of compensation weight as the works’ cars, for the lead.
Rob Huff had looked equally fast in the second works’ Honda, but the Brit was unable to get past Bennani and had to settle for third.
LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini took the chequered flag in fourth, being forced to defend heavily from Citroën’s José María López in fifth in the closing laps of the race.
The third works Honda of Norbert Michelisz was sixth, with the Hungarian passing Yvan Muller for the position on the final lap of the race and almost passing López in the process.
That left main race poleman Muller to settle for seventh, ahead of the Polestar Volvo of Thed BJörk in eighth.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton and Volvo’s Fredrik Ekblom completed the top ten, with the latter having had to come through from the back of the grid.
Just outside of the points in 11th was LADA’s Nicky Catsburg, who went off on the opening lap and dropped to the back of the pack, whilst pole man Valente eventually finished in 12th, having dropped nine places on the opening lap alone.
On his return to the WTCC Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson struggled and could only finish in 16th position and last of the field, behind an equally struggling Tom Coronel.
The race’s only retirement was for Zengő Motorsport’s Ferenc Ficza, whose Honda caught fire in the gravel after eight laps.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 11 LAPS | 2:07.267 | 4 | |
| 2 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2.526 | 2:07.304 | 2 |
| 3 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 3.119 | 2:07.105 | 6 | |
| 4 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 9.247 | 2:07.477 | 3 | |
| 5 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 9.453 | 2:07.600 | 8 | |
| 6 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 10.085 | 2:07.627 | 7 | |
| 7 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 10.659 | 2:07.470 | 10 | |
| 8 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 11 | 11.129 | 2:07.731 | 5 | |
| 9 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 11.606 | 2:08.273 | 11 |
| 10 | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 11 | 12.567 | 2:08.212 | 16 | |
| 11 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 14.766 | 2:08.238 | 9 | |
| 12 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 18.505 | 2:08.686 | 1 | |
| 13 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 22.752 | 2:08.838 | 13 |
| 14 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 23.189 | 2:09.012 | 12 |
| 15 | 9 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 25.262 | 2:09.331 | 15 |
| 16 | 15 | Y | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 25.743 | 2:09.216 | 14 |
| R | 55 | Y | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 8 | 3 Lp. | 17 |