Lopez leads all-Citroen top five

Jose Maria Lopez made the most of an excellent start to take his second win of the World Touring Car Championship season in Marrakech, as Citroen filled the top five.

Lopez held off fast-starting team-mate Ma Qing Hua away from the lights and wasn't really challenged on his way to his 13th WTCC victory. The reigning champion even set a lap quicker than his qualifying time on the penultimate lap of the race.

The battle for third was settled with four laps to go, as home favourite Mehdi Bennani handed back the position to team owner Sebastian Loeb, after passing him off the track.

Bennani had dived down the inside of Loeb, but couldn't get his customer Citroen stopped and had to use the run-off at the corner exit. He lapped consistently quicker than Loeb throughout the race, but couldn't find a way past the nine-time World Rally champion.

Yvan Muller – who starts race two on pole – put in a great recovery drive after starting eighth due to a driving standards penalty carried over from the season opener in Argentina. He spent the first stint of the race stuck between the Hondas of Tiago Monteiro and Gabrielle Tarquini, and he finally found a way past Monteiro at Turn 5 on lap nine.

Monteiro managed sixth ahead of Tarquini, with Stefano D'Aste, Norbert Michelisz and Tom Chilton – who made contact with ROAL teammate Tom Coronel on the first lap – rounding out the top 10.

RESULTS - 14 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com