Advertisement
Advertisement
WTCC: Huff leads Honda clean sweep in Morocco
By alley - May 8, 2016, 2:01 PM ET

WTCC: Huff leads Honda clean sweep in Morocco

Rob Huff led home a Honda 1-2-3 to clinch his second World Touring Car Championship win of the season with a controlled performance in the wet in Marrakech.

Rain before the start threatened to wreak havoc and the intensity meant wet tyres were the only viable option. Huff held his lead from pole and while the gap between himself and team-mate Norbert Michelisz fluctuated during the middle phase of the race, Huff always looked in control.

Michelisz hounded his teammate after a sluggish start to the race but was forced to settle for second, finishing 0.611 seconds back to achieve his third podium of the season. The Hungarian's slow start to the race allowed the third factory Honda Civic of Tiago Monteiro to briefly squeeze up into second through Turn 1, but better exits for both Michelisz and Citroen's Jose Maria Lopez relegated Monteiro to fourth by Turn 3.

Lopez appeared to be well-placed after the opening handful of laps, but he soon fell back into Monteiro's clutches and a mistake under braking before the back straight on lap five handed Monteiro the position back. The Argentinian stayed with the train of Civics but could not find a way past, crossing the line a second and a half behind Monteiro.

Yvan Muller was a distant fifth behind his teammate in the second Citroen C-Elysee, the Frenchman having to fend off Lada's Gabriele Tarquini in the final laps.

Hugo Valente was seventh in the second Lada Vesta, he and teammate Tarquini having made contact as the Italian forced his way through to sixth.

Valente finished comfortably clear of Mehdi Bennani, who salvaged points once again after a difficult qualifying session on Saturday.

James Thompson scored two points after an entertaining tussle with Tom Coronel, with Tom Chilton also getting by the race 1 winner to finish 10th.

RESULTS - 22 LAPS:

Pos

Driver

Team

Car

Gap

1

Rob Huff

Honda Racing Team JAS

Honda

34m31.337s

2

Norbert Michelisz

Honda Racing Team JAS

Honda

0.611s

3

Tiago Monteiro

Honda Racing Team JAS

Honda

1.251s

4

Jose Maria Lopez

Citroen Racing

Citroen

2.710s

5

Yvan Muller

Citroen Racing

Citroen

9.916s

6

Gabriele Tarquini

LADA Sport

Lada

10.517s

7

Hugo Valente

LADA Sport

Lada

32.503s

8

Mehdi Bennani

Sebastien Loeb Racing

Citroen

36.143s

9

James Thompson

Munnich Motorsport

Chevrolet

37.222s

10

Tom Chilton

Sebastien Loeb Racing

Citroen

44.097s

11

Nicky Catsburg

LADA Sport

Lada

46.695s

12

Tom Coronel

ROAL Motorsport

Chevrolet

1m04.823s

13

John Filippi

Campos Racing

Chevrolet

1m07.716s

14

Ferenc Ficza

Zengo Motorsport

Honda

1m08.035s

15

Thed Bjork

Polestar Cyan Racing

Volvo

1 Lap

16

Fredrik Ekblom

Polestar Cyan Racing

Volvo

1 Lap

-

Gregoire Demoustier

Sebastien Loeb Racing

Citroen

Retirement

 

Originally on Autosport.com

Comments

Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences

If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.