WTCC: Chilton wins race one in Argentina

Tom Chilton claimed his first victory of the season in the opening World Touring Car Championship race in Argentina.

Chilton, older brother of IndyCar driver Max Chilton, started second on the grid and took the lead from polesitter John Filippi into the first corner and maintained it throughout the race. He steadily built a comfortable lead over closest challenger Rob Huff, who finished second.

Huff stole second from Filippi as the Frenchman ran wide at Turn 1, with Filippi continuing to drop back to eventually finish 10th.

Yvan Muller was third for Citroen ahead of the Honda of Tiago Monteiro in fourth. Fifth went to the charging Citroen of Jose Maria Lopez who started at the back of the grid following an engine change overnight.

In sixth, seventh and eighth were Norbert Mischelisz, Tom Coronel and Medhi Bennani respectively - all of whom were engaged in a tight battle and continually swapped places over the course of the 13-lap race. Ninth place was taken by James Thompson ahead of polesitter Filippi.

It was a race to forget for debutant Esteban Gurrieri, who suffered a gearbox failure and retired in the hope of salvaging the car for the main race.

RACE 1 RESULTS:

Originally on Autosport.com