China WTCC: Guerrieri charges to victory in heavy rain

The Chevrolet Cruze driver started the race from fourth but made up two places after a delayed rolling start before clearing early leader Yann Ehrlacher after a mid-race restart and pulling away.

The field spent the first three laps of the race in grid order, with heavy rain necessitating a safety car start.

When racing did get going on lap four, it was the RC Motorsport Lada Vesta of Ehrlacher that pulled an early lead, as John Filippi (Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen C-Elysee) spent the first racing lap fending off the leading Volvo S60 Polestar of Nicky Catsburg.

While Ehrlacher extended a more comfortable advantage in the following laps, Guerrieri had dispatched Catsburg and Filippi by the time the race was again neutralised at mid-distance after Britons Rob Huff and Tom Chilton collided and abandoned their hobbled cars by the side of the track.

Ehrlacher was given a far harder time on the second restart by the charging Guerrieri and succumbed to the Argentinian on the run off the kink at the end of the start/finish straight to the second corner.

Guerrieri blasted clear in the following two laps to stretch a gap of four seconds back to the Lada and, suitably clear, cruised home in the remaining three laps to win and back up his victory from the opening round of the season in Marrakech.

Ehrlacher was still a comfortable second and well ahead of the sole remaining Volvo of Catsburg, who had reported the race was fine to start during the initial safety car running before complaining with three laps to go that conditions had become too tricky.

Pre-event standings leader Tiago Monteiro remains at the head of the points, after main title rival Thed Bjork was unable to score.

Bjork had started eighth in his S60 but lost out to fellow title hopeful Norbert Michelisz on the opening lap and later appeared to be involved in contact with Mehdi Bennani's C-Elysee that broke the Moroccan's right-rear suspension.

Bennani was not classified and while Bjork did return to the track after a visit to the pits, he ended up five laps down in 13th.

That opened the door for Monteiro's Honda teammate Michelisz to make up ground in the standings, with the Hungarian's fourth-place finish - him having been protected from behind by Monteiro's replacement Gabriele Tarquini throughout the race - drawing him within four points of Bjork and 13 of the overall lead.

Filippi came out on top in a late four-car tussle for sixth place, with he and the following Kevin Gleason (RC Motorsport Vesta) and the Zengo Motorsport Civic of Daniel Nagy each claiming their best finishes in the WTCC.

Race results

Cla	#	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time
1	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Chevrolet	15	-
2	68	Yann Ehrlacher	LADA	15	2.893
3	63	Nicky Catsburg	Volvo	15	11.671
4	5	Norbert Michelisz	Honda	15	17.409
5	2	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda	15	17.840
6	27	John Filippi	Citroën	15	23.760
7	24	Kevin Gleason	LADA	15	24.522
8	99	Daniel Nagy	Honda	15	24.946
9	34	Ryo Michigami	Honda	15	26.334
10	26	Filipe C. De Souza	LADA	15	27.243
11	66	Zsolt Szabo	Honda	15	39.340
12	9	Tom Coronel	Chevrolet	13	2 laps
13	62	Thed Björk	Volvo	10	5 laps
	25	Mehdi Bennani	Citroën	7	8 laps
	3	Tom Chilton	Citroën	6	9 laps
	12	Rob Huff	Citroën	6	9 laps
	61	Nestor Girolami	Volvo	5	10 laps