Yvan Muller wins race one in Argentina ahead of Oriola

Yvan Muller has extended his lead in the WTCC drivers’ championship at Termas de Río Hondo after a comfortable race victory, whilst Pepe Oriola took his best result in the Chevrolet to date with second, working his way forward from fifth.

The first start was aborted as RML’s Tom Chilton was out of position at the start and not running down the grid markers on the left side of the track. At the second attempt, Chilton lost two spots at the first corner after running wide, allowing Norbert Michelisz’s Zengõ Honda and Pepe Oriola’s Tuenti Racing Chevrolet past.

Chilton was able to get back ahead of Oriola’s Chevrolet on lap four and then reclaimed second position on the following lap.

At the end of lap, both Pepe Oriola and Michel Nykjaer in the Nika Racing Chevrolet were also able to get past Michelisz’z Honda, but James Nash in the bamboo Chevrolet ran into Michelisz at the first corner of lap six, also clipping the back of Nykjaer’s car which allowed Gabriele Tarquini’s Honda back past all of them.

José María López was on a charge in the Wiechers-Sport BMW and was also moving forward from his ninth spot on the grid, passing James Nash’s Chevrolet on lap eight for sixth and moved ahead of Nykjaer for fifth on the penultimate lap to claim the win in the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy on his WTCC debut.

From the back of the grid, reigning word champion Rob Huff managed to work his way all the way to eighth place after starting 23rd in his SEAT León, whilst Castrol Honda’s Tiago Monteiro put on a similar charge to get to tenth position from 22nd on the grid.

Muller’s win sees his lead in the drivers’ standings increased to 144 points over Michel Nykjaer, with Gabriele Tarquini now moving up to third position 20 points behind the Danish driver.

In race two, López starts from pole position with Michel Nykjaer’s Chevrolet sharing the front row which gets underway at 16:20 ART (20:20 BST/21:20 CET).