Esteban Guerrieri controlled rising brake temperatures in Marrakech to take victory in the World Touring Car Championship curtain-raiser, and a first win for Campos Racing.
Thed Bjork’s Volvo S60 took a close second, with local hero Medhi Bennani third in his Citroen C-Elysee at Circuit Moulay el Hassan.
Pole-sitter Tom Coronel was able to break clear at a trouble-stricken start, before degrading brakes at half-distance curtailed his defence as he went straight on at the gradual left-hander of turn three.
Coronel had earlier inherited pole position after Yann Ehrlacher and Ryo Michigami had their qualifying times deleted for not stopping for a post-session weigh-in on Saturday.
The start proved disastrous for Tom Chilton, who bogged down in the Sebastien Leob Racing Citroen from third, whilst further back a stall for John Filippi left debutante Ehrlacher with nowhere to go – the resulting damage nearly ruled the latter out of this afternoon’s feature race.
The resulting safety car to recover the stricken LADA split the field in two. Rob Huff dived into the pit lane after overheating but those behind – assuming the safety car had continued to lead the field through the pit lane on safety grounds – lost ground to the leading pack.
Coronel managed his lead on the restart, using Guerrieri as a barrier to the faster Volvo and Honda machines behind. The leader reported at half-distance a problem with his brakes, which manifested a lap later at turn three as he went straight, and dropped to seventh. He would later fall to eighth behind Chilton.
The works Honda pairing of Tiago Monteiro and Norbert Michelisz were unable to take advantage of their lighter package to progress on the tight street circuit, whilst Bjork proved similarly incapable of undoing Guerrieri’s defence at the front.
The Argentine managed his brakes better than Coronel to make the perfect start to his WTCC career.
Daniel Nagy hit the wall late on to give his team-mate Aurelien Panis points on his debut in the series.
Monteiro will start the feature race from pole position later this afternoon with Nestor Girolami alongside on the front row.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 20 | 20 LAPS | 1:25.137 | 9 |
| 2 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 20 | 0.654 | 1:25.036 | 7 |
| 3 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 20 | 1.289 | 1:24.704 | 5 |
| 4 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 20 | 1.921 | 1:24.803 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 20 | 2.201 | 1:24.853 | 3 |
| 6 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 20 | 2.803 | 1:24.913 | 1 |
| 7 | 3 | Tom CHILTON |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 20 | 14.032 | 1:24.567 | 8 |
| 8 | 9 | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 20 | 20.390 | 1:25.155 | 10 |
| 9 | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 20 | 20.858 | 1:24.566 | 2 |
| 10 | 8 | Aurélien PANIS |  |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 20 | 21.950 | 1:25.149 | 15 |
| 11 | 99 | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 17 | 3 Laps | 1:24.513 | 11 |
| R | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 5 | DNF | 1:25.391 | 12 |
| R | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | DNF | N/A | 4 |
| R | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 2 | DNF | N/A | 13 |
| R | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 0 | DNF | N/A | 14 |