Tom Chilton wins the first race in Qatar as title goes to the wire
Tom Chilton has won the opening race at the Losail circuit in Qatar, after an enthralling battle with his Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën team-mate Mehdi Bennani, while ninth for Norbert Michelisz keeps the Hungarian narrowly in contention for the title.
Kevin Gleason started from pole position in the RC Motorsport Lada, but lost out at the start of the second lap to SLR’s Mehdi Bennani, who’d jumped both team-mate John Filippi and the Chevrolet of Kris Richard at the start.
The title battle was further behind, with Thed Björk going straight past Polestar Volvo team-mate Yvan Muller to move up to fifth, while Norbert Michelisz was let through by team-mate Esteban Guerrieri to tenth, and soon picked off Richard’s Chevrolet, who was dropping like a stone through the order.
Tom Chilton passed team-mate John Filippi on lap two and closed up on Gleason, passing the American at the start of lap three at Turn 1 and began to close down race leader Bennani.
Further behind, Yvan Muller was defending against former team-mate Rob Huff for fifth, with the battle raging on until the end. Just behind them, Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg was also fending off Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, with Honda switching Michelisz and Guerrieri to allow the Argentinian a run at Catsburg, but to no avail, with the two swapping back before the end of the race.
On lap seven, the battle for the lead erupted as Bennani and Chilton ran side-by-side for the lead. Bennani was able to hold on, but Chilton was able to pass the Moroccan one lap later and pulled out a two second lead to take his third win of the year, which he declared “the race of his life.”
Kevin Gleason completed the podium, with an American driver finishing on the podium in the first time in WTCC history, with John Filippi matching his career-best finish with fourth.
With Thed Björk fifth, the Swede now moves 16.5 points clear of Norbert Michelisz in the drivers’ championship with 30 points available from the final race, while Tom Chilton is now 1.5 points clear of team-mate Mehdi Bennani in the independents’ battle.
Esteban Guerrieri starts from pole position for the final race of the WTCC TC1 era at 22:35 AST (20:35 CET).
