WTCC: Lopez wins after big crash for leaders

Jose Maria Lopez won a dramatic opening World Touring Car Championship race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife after a huge crash eliminated long-time race leader Tiago Monteiro and second-placed Yvan Muller.

Lopez had started the final lap in third, but was able to avoid the accident – triggered when Monteiro went off – and held off Sebastien Loeb Racing's Tom Chilton for his fourth win of the season.

The groundwork for Muller and Lopez's road position was laid at the start of the race, as the Citroen factory pair took the outside line at Turn 1 for a better run off the corner, with Muller and Lopez driving around the outside of Chilton to grab fourth and fifth.

That became third and fourth when Mehdi Bennani went wide at Wipperman, and by the time the field had reached the end of the grand prix circuit loop at the start of the second lap the pair were second and third after Thed Bjork had retired his Polestar Volvo S60 from second with engine problems.

With Bjork's exit, reverse grid poleman Monteiro had been able to stretch a lead through the middle section of the lap, and held a one-second advantage going on to the Dottinger Hohe straight. He survived a nervy moment toward the end of the straight as Muller and Lopez tried to outflank him into Hohenrain, backing up the pair onto the start/finish straight.

Monteiro built a gap thereafter as Lopez battled to keep third against Chilton behind him and looked to have victory in reach. But the Portuguese then appeared to suffer a tire failure and slid off halfway round the final lap, piling into the barrier before being spat back into the center of the track. Muller had nowhere to go and hit the Civic, with both retiring on the spot,but Lopez snuck around the outside of the accident and emerged unscathed. His C-Elysee appeared to skate around in the final few corners, but despite Chilton closing up in the final sector the Argentinian held on to win by half a second.

The exit of the leading duo did promote a Honda on to the podium, with Norbert Michelisz taking fourth. His teammate Rob Huff produced a stirring drive, gaining 12 spots from 16th on the grid to finish just a second back in fourth, passing fifth-placed Bennani on the final lap.

Hugo Valente and Gabriele Tarquini were sixth and seventh in their Lada Vestas, the latter admitting to taking a conservative approach to the race,while Fredrik Ekblom came home eighth from the rear of the grid.

Nicky Catsburg dropped back from fourth on the grid but salvaged two points in ninth, with attrition handing Sabine Schmitz the final point in her Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze after muscling past Gregoire Demoustier.

Originally on Autosport.com