WTCC: Monteiro and Muller crashed, Lopez wins opening race

The reigning WTCC Jose Maria Lopez has strengthened lead in the WTCC after he has won opening race at the legendary Nurburgring. The Argentinian ace scored the fourth victory in 2016 and is on a good way to secure the third title in a row.

Tiago Monteiro had a pole position for the opening race after he has finished 10th in qualifying. Mehdi Bennani was next to Honda driver at the first starting row, while Thed Bjork and Nick Catsburg started from the second row.

Tom Chilton took 2nd place at Nurburgring

As it was expected, both Citroens with Yvan Muller and Jose Maria Lopez quickly moved up from the middle of the grid and soon they put a leader under pressure. At the very late stage of the race, Tom Coronel crashed badly when he was running at fourth place while soon after Monteiro also had a crash.

The Portuguese slid off the track and Yvan Muller collected him. They both were out of the race what allowed Pechito Lopez to take a lead and win the race. Tom Chilton did well to take the second position while Norbert Michelisz claimed the third position, leaving Rob Huff on the fourth place.