Tom Chilton took victory at the line from RML team-mate Yvan Muller in the first World Touring Car Championship race in China, as Chevrolet drivers finished 1-2-3-4-5 in slippery conditions.
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With light rain falling before the start of the race, the decision was made to start proceedings behind the safety car. The race eventually got underway on lap three and it was Tuenti Racing’s Pepe Oriola who got off to the strongest start, passing both Chilton and Muller for the lead of the race, benefitting from starting on wet tyres.
However as the race went on and no further rain fell, Oriola’s tyres soon start to wear out and on lap seven Muller passed the Spaniard at the hairpin. Chilton followed past and heading onto the final lap of the race was right on the Muller’s bumper. Chilton took the win, his second in the WTCC, by just 0.010 seconds, having got a better run than the Frenchman out of the final turn.
James Nash finished third for bamboo engineering, scoring his fifth podium finish of the season. The Brit was at the head of a pack of ten cars that were covered by less than four seconds, such was the intense midfield battling that was going on. His team-mate Alex MacDowall held on to finish in fourth.
Oriola himself dropped down the order to finish in fifth, ahead of the top SEAT of Rob Huff in sixth, who spent much of the race battling with MacDowall.
Gabriele Tarquini was the top Honda driver in seventh, ahead of LADA’s James Thompson in eighth. Special Tuning Racing’s Tom Boardman finished ninth to take his first points finish of the season after a strong drive from 19th on the grid.
Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz completed the top ten, pipping works Honda driver Tiago Monteiro into the points.
Tom Coronel posted the fastest lap of the race but could only finish in 12th. WTCC returnee Rickard Rydell dropped down to 14th in the Nika Racing Chevrolet after electing to start the race on wet tyres which rapidly went off.
Volvo’s Thed Björk retired on the opening lap of the race with battery problems. Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente also failed to finish after spinning into the gravel on the eighth lap.