WTCC: Catsburg completes Lada's Moscow clean sweep

Nicky Catsburg claimed his first World Touring Car Championship win in the main race at Moscow Raceway, leading a second Lada one-two of the weekend.

Dutchman Catsburg raced clear at the start, but was forced to dig deep as team-mate and race one winner Gabriele Tarquini closed in near the finish on a drying track.

Starts have been something of a problem for Catsburg this season, but he converted his pole into a Turn 1 lead as Tarquini and the third Lada of Hugo Valente slotted in behind.

Honda's Norbert Michelisz swept by James Thompson at the start and soon caught Valente, the pair jostling for third on the opening lap before Michelisz made the position his with a pass at Turn 1 at the start of lap two. But that was as far as the Hungarian would progress, as Catsburg and Tarquini stretched their legs at the front.

Catsburg had the upper hand at first, before Tarquini came back at his team-mate in the second half of the race and reeled off a number of fastest laps.

The Italian closed to a second behind Catsburg with three laps to go, but could not make any more progress from there and settled for second, with Catsburg's win completing a sensational weekend for himself and the Lada team.

"It's unbelievable, I'm so happy," said Catsburg. "We couldn't imagine this victory, in front of our home crowd.

"It might have looked easy but Gabriele was so fast. I had to keep pushing until the last lap."

Michelisz claimed a lonely third and, with his Honda team making adjustments between the two races that significantly improved the performance of its cars, his team-mates Rob Huff and Tiago came through from 11th and 10th on the grid to finish fourth and fifth respectively.

That was a strong recovery for the pair, but their results capped a bittersweet weekend for the team, which looked well placed to dominate early on before its wet weather pace deserted it.

Thompson claimed a second independents' win of the weekend in sixth, the Briton having squeezed his Munnich Chevrolet Cruze past Valente on the penultimate lap.

Double champion and points leader Jose Maria Lopez was a subdued eighth, though he had to be wary of a late charge from Zengo Motorsport's Ferenc Ficza, the 19-year-old passing three Citroens in the final laps on his way to ninth, having also set the fastest lap of the race.

Mehdi Bennani was the last of the cars that Ficza overtook, and clung on for a solitary point in 10th.

RESULTS - 17 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com