José María López leads Citroën trio in race 1 at Marrakech
Citroën dominated the opening race of the 2014 World Touring Car season, going 1-2-3 with José María López leading the charge.
Photo by: XPB Images
José María López took a triumphal victory for the Citroën Total WTCC team.
The Argentine crossed the line first ahead of team-mates Sébastien Loeb and Yvan Muller. The three C-Elisée cars led from lights to flag, creating a huge gap between them and the rest of the field.
Tom Chilton finished fourth, but only eight seconds behind; the Briton was followed by Borković, Monteiro and local hero Bennani.
Franz Engstler dominated the TC2T class from his team-mate Di Sabatino.
Key moments
Start – López takes perfect start ahead of Loeb, Muller, Chilton, Monteiro and Borković. Münnich cuts chicane and is penalized with a drive-through for jumping the start.
Lap 2 – Valente touches Bennani in turn 15 right ahead of Coronel. The Honda loses the rear bumper in the incident
Lap 4 – Borković attacks Monteiro at the braking of turn 15; in the contact Monteiro loses the rear bumber and fifth position.
Lap 5- The advantage of the Citroën trio reaches 7 seconds, with Loeb closing the gap on the leader, López.
Lap 6 – Huff in the pits (misfiring), Morbidelli passes Kozlovskiy for 12th. Loeb posts best lap time.
Lap 8 – Engstler leads comfortably in TC2T, ten seconds clear of Di Sabatino, with Filippi third.
Lap 9 – Coronel (front splitter) and Morbidelli (bodywork) in the pits.
Lap 11 – Valente jumps on the kerbs of the first chicane and loses a front dive plain.
Lap 12 – Münnich in the pits (bent steering).
Lap 13 – Bennani passes Michelisz for 7th in turn 5 and so does also Valente shortly after.
Lap 14 – Triple win for the Citroëns with López, Loeb and Müller in their WTCC debut.
FIA WTCC
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments