World Touring: Loeb wins race two after start chaos

Sebastien Loeb surged through from eighth on the grid to lead home a Citroen 1-2-3 in the second World Touring Car Championship race at the Slovakia Ring. Loeb finished ahead of dueling teammates Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller. Race one winner Muller made several stout challenges before backing off in the final laps.

Lada's Jaap van Lagen started the reverse-grid race on pole position with the factory Honda Civic of Gabriele Tarquini alongside on the front row, but his lead would last just a few feet as Tarquini made the better getaway.

On the row behind, Ma Qing Hua wrought confusion for a second race in succession as he appeared to pre-empt the lights, then stalled as he brought his C-Elysee to a halt. Third-place starter Tom Chilton's Chevrolet was already being swallowed up by the fast-moving Loeb, Lopez and Muller even as he reached the first corner.

As the midfield and tail end of the grid negotiated the obstacle of Ma's stationary Citroen, 18th placed Nestor Girolami had to swerve on to the grass when the Chevrolets of Stefano D'Aste and John Filippi immediately ahead suddenly peeled left and right to avoid the C-Elysee.

By the start of the third lap Loeb had demoted Tarquini at Turn 1, and Lopez and Muller followed in quick succession. That order prevailed until the checkered flag, with Van Lagen recovering from his slow start and a long battle with teammate Rob Huff to challenge Hugo Valente's Chevrolet for fifth in the closing laps. Huff, along with the third Lada Vesta driven by Nicky Catsburg, headed to the pits to retire with a suspected engine problem on lap nine.

Chilton ran seventh and would have been the second independent runner home had he not gone off-track on lap 10, allowing Mehdi Bennani's Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen through.

Norbert Michelisz and Tiago Monteiro started their Hondas 13th and 17th but spent most of the race bumper-to-bumper, briefly joined by the recovering Ma before he served a drive-through penalty for the jump-start, and the stewards also took an interest in a collision between the two Civics as Monteiro made an optimistic overtaking move.

Tom Coronel arrived just behind this battle in the closing laps to end the race in 10th place, fighting off a challenge from the impressive Girolami.

RESULTS - 11 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com