López closes in on WTCC Championship following Race of China
28 Sep 2015

José María “Pechito López”, Citroën Racing, continued his progression to renew his World Championship title. At the weekend’s racing in Shanghai, during the FIA World Touring Car Championship Race of China, López managed a splendid race 1 with a lights to flag win and his eighth victory of the season.

Citroën’s dominance was to be expected and hopes held high for the local hero Ma. However Ma’s luck on home soil, did not shine.  He was slow at the start on a virtual standstill and then was unable to recover the big distance. The first lap was full of incidents and cars forced to retire including Coronel, and the appearance of the safety car. In the later part of the race, Huff and Chilton also had to abandon the race after an earlier collision.

The other Citroën team mates, Yvan Muller and Sebastien Loeb did however pull away in hot pursuit of López and obtained the valuable points Citroën had been waiting for to ensure the Manufacturer’s title.  In the end a López, Muller, Loeb podium, which has been quite a regular occurrence this season. In fourth, Nicky Catsburg gave LADA a cheer in China. In 5^th and picking up points for the YOKOHAMA Trophy Mehdi Bennani followed with Norbert Michelisz completing a stunning 6^th place from a 15^th grid place at the start. 

In race 2, Yvan Muller displayed his full repertoire of talent to get the better out of veteran Gabrielle Tarquini, who had kept Honda in the lead for most of the race. With his 46^th career victory Muller was extremely pleased at the chequered flag. The four-time champion stated it had been vital for him to preserve his YOKOHAMA tyres in the early part of the race which meant he was faster towards the closing stages to close the gap and eventually overtake Tarquini. The Italian driver had led for 8 laps.

In the end, dramatic scenes and excitement with López chasing Tarquini for second, but the Italian veteran holding off and achieving a superb second place with only 0.025s difference. Sebastien Loeb was fourth and Rob Huff with LADA in fifth.

The next race in the FIA WTCC Championship, which has YOKOHAMA as Official Tyre supplier, will be held in Buriram, Thailand, on 30^th Oct – 1^st Nov 2015.