WTCC Race of China: Wins for Bjork and Lopez, Bennani takes WTCC Trophy

Volvo driver Thed Bjork scored his first WTCC victory while Jose Maria Lopez in Citroen confirmed his supremacy by scoring the eighth victory of the season but the hero of the day at Shanghai INternational Circuit was Mehdi Bennani who won the WTCC Trophy.

Opening race

In the opening race, Thed Bjork scored his maiden WTCC triumph. The Volvo driver surprised and took the win after overtaking Honda driver Norbert Michelisz on the last lap. The Hungarian quickly took the lead from John Filippi and his advantage grew after a collision between Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Chilton.

Norbert Michelisz

Bjork moved up to second and waited for his chance to overtake much heavier Honda. That happened on the last lap and Cyan Polestar team driver achieved a surprising win. Michelisz had to settle for the second place while Yvan Muller finished third, ahead of his Citroen teammate and champion Jose Maria Lopez.

Thed Bjork

Nicky Catsburg, Hugo Valente, Tom Coronel, Fredrik Ekblom, Ron Huff and Tiago Monteiro also scored points in the opening race at Shanghai International Circuit.

Main race

Lopez defended his pole position while Yvan Muller and Mehdi Bennani easily overtook Nick Catsburg to take positions 2 and 3 respectively. And that was the all interesting what had happened in this race which more was looking more like free practice.

Jose Maria Lopez

The drivers obviously weren’t motivated enough, excluding Bennani who could secure WTCC Trophy for the drivers of the independent teams. The Moroccan racer managed to keep his position and as he has an advantage of 32 to Tom Chilton, Bennani won the trophy with two race remaining.

Lopez and Muller took 1-2 ahead of Bennani, while the other points in the main race went to Catsburg, Tarquini, Ekblom, Bjork, Monteiro, Chilton and Coronel.