2015 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina

FIA WTCC Race of Argentina Argentina 8 March 2015 Termas de Río Hondo.svg 1 12 Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo 4.805 13 15 ARG José María López Citroën Total WTCC 1:45.461 ARG José María López Citroën Total WTCC FRA Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC FRA Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC ARG José María López 1:47.702 Citroën Total WTCC FRA Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC ARG José María López Citroën Total WTCC POR Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing JAS FRA Sébastien Loeb 1:46.708 Citroën Total WTCC The 2015 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina was the opening round of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Argentina. It was held on 8 March 2015 at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Termas de Río Hondo, Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina. Both races were won by Citroën Total WTCC with race one won by José María López and race two won by Sébastien Loeb. Background A total of eighteen cars were entered for the first round of the season, all built to the TC1 regulations introduced the previous year.Entry List http://www.fiawtcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FIA-WTCC-2015-Race-of-Argentina-entry-list.pdf World Touring Car Championship Kigema Sport Organisation 7 March 2015 27 February 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140221/http://www.fiawtcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FIA-WTCC-2015-Race-of-Argentina-entry-list.pdf 2015-04-02 dead With this the Yokohama Trophy rules were changed to reward the best placed driver from an independent team. Unlike previous seasons, certain drivers were not eliminated from this trophy based on previous career accomplishments. Report Testing and free practice Sébastien Loeb set the pace in testing on Friday in damp conditions. Mehdi Bennani was the fastest independent driver in fifth.Sébastien Loeb heads Citroën 1-2-3 in Argentina testing http://www.touringcartimes.com/2015/03/06/sebastien-loeb-heads-citroen-1-2-3-in-argentina-testing/ TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB 7 March 2015 6 March 2015 First free practice on Saturday morning saw reigning champion José María López set the fastest time. The session was interrupted by a red flag when Tom Chilton's ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet suffered a left–front puncture.Codling Stuart Argentina WTCC: Jose Maria Lopez leads practice one for Citroen http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117945 Autosport Haymarket Publications 7 March 2015 7 March 2015 López topped the times once again in free practice two with Ma Qing Hua and Yvan Muller making it a Citroën 1–2–3. Hugo Valente suffered brake failure and damaged his engine by downshifting in an attempt to stop; the car subsequently caught fire.Codling Stuart Argentina WTCC: Jose Maria Lopez stays on top in practice two http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117947 Autosport Haymarket Publications 7 March 2015 7 March 2015 Qualifying Prior to the first session starting, it was confirmed that the Campos Racing car of Valente would miss qualifying following his practice shunt; the car required a substantial rebuild, due to the damage suffered. In the first part of qualifying, Lada Sport Rosneft's Robert Huff was the quickest driver ahead of the privateer Citroën of Bennani. Norbert Michelisz lost his front-right wheel on his first attempt at a flying lap, suffering damage that put him out of the rest of the session and he would line up on the back row for both races. Ma topped the times in the second part of qualifying and along with López, Muller, Tiago Monteiro and Sébastien Loeb would continue to the Q3 segment. James Thompson was tenth and would line up on pole for race two. Q3 saw López claim pole position by 1.2 seconds over Muller with Loeb, Ma and Monteiro completing the top five.Hudson Neil José María López takes sensational pole at home in Argentina http://www.touringcartimes.com/2015/03/07/jose-maria-lopez-takes-sensational-pole-at-home-in-argentina/ TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB 8 March 2015 7 March 2015 Race One Muller jumped ahead of López briefly at the start while Ma failed to get going off the line and Chilton dived around him. Muller ran out wide on the exit of turn one and López retook first place. Thompson and Campos' John Filippi were out on the first lap with broken suspension on both of their cars after making contact. On lap three Chilton was under attack from Bennani until the Moroccan driver slid and gave Huff a chance to move up to seventh place. Later on in the lap Bennani was attempting to pass Huff up the inside and collided with the rear of the Lada, breaking the right–rear suspension. On lap four Valente went off and crashed into the barriers which brought his race to an end. Bennani was held up by Chilton until lap six when the defensive driving of Chilton had reduced the grip his tyres, following Bennani through were Michelisz and the recovering Ma. Lap eight saw Bennani given a drive–through penalty for his earlier collision with Huff, moving Michelisz up to sixth and Rickard Rydell into the top ten. López won the race by 3.1 seconds from Muller with Loeb completing a Citroën 1–2–3, Michelisz was the winning Yokohama independent driver.Abbott Andrew José María López wins first race of season http://www.touringcars.net/2015/03/jose-maria-lopez-wins-first-race-of-season Touring-Cars.net Andrew Abbott 9 March 2015 8 March 2015 Race Two After their collisions in the first race, neither Huff nor Valente made the start of the race. Thompson dropped down the order at the start as Tom Coronel moved into the lead from second, followed by the two factory Hondas and Stefano D'Aste who followed Gabriele Tarquini in running off the track onto the grass. By the end of the back straight Ma was up to third behind Monteiro and at the end of the lap both Ma and Loeb led Coronel. The second lap saw Loeb take the lead of the race after a mistake by Ma as López picked off Monteiro and closed in on the back of Coronel. Thompson pulled into the pits at the end of the first lap while Coronel went off the circuit dropping him further down the order and collecting grass in his radiator grill. The safety car came out on lap three due to spilt oil on the exit of turn two as the stranded car of D'Aste was towed off the circuit. During the safety car period Ma pitted due to overheating and to have his radiator cleaned out, dropping him to the back of the field. The race resumed on lap six and López used his straight line speed advantage to pick off Tarquini on the back straight and leaving Tarquini to deal with Muller behind. The start of lap seven saw Chilton take Dušan Borković for eighth with Rydell following him through, Borković then dropped a wheel off the track and ripped the front bumper of his Proteam Racing Honda off on the kerbing. Lap ten saw Muller run into the right–rear end of Bennani as both pursued Tarquini; Bennani dropped from fourth to seventh as a result. Muller continued to have problems when he drifted wide and lost a place to Monteiro, Muller went into the pits on lap twelve for repairs. Loeb comfortably beat López to win the race, Monteiro took the final podium place and Bennani in fifth was the Yokohama Trophy winner.Loeb leads home López in WTCC Race of Argentina http://www.fiawtcc.com/loeb-leads-home-lopez-in-wtcc-race-of-argentina/ https://web.archive.org/web/20150402165833/http://www.fiawtcc.com/loeb-leads-home-lopez-in-wtcc-race-of-argentina/ dead 2 April 2015 World Touring Car Championship Kigema Sport Organisation 9 March 2015 8 March 2015 After the race, Muller was given a five–place grid drop for the next race in Morocco for causing the collision with Bennani. Michelisz was dropped a place in the results for a collision with Ma near the end of the race.Hudson Neil Yvan Muller and Norbert Michelisz receive penalties for contact http://www.touringcartimes.com/2015/03/08/yvan-muller-and-norbert-michelisz-receive-penalties-for-contact/ TouringCarTimes Mediaempire Stockholm AB 9 March 2015 8 March 2015 Results Qualifying Pos. Position No. Car number Name Team Car C Class Q1 Q2 Q3 Points 1 37 ARG José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 1:47.300 1:45.891 1:45.461 5 2 68 FRA Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 1:47.445 1:46.149 1:46.701 4 3 9 FRA Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 1:47.056 1:46.641 1:47.061 3 4 33 CHN Ma Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 1:47.326 1:45.808 1:47.203 2 5 18 PRT Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 1:47.321 1:46.469 1:47.633 1 6 3 GBR Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 1:47.511 1:46.738 7 2 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 1:47.441 1:46.967 8 26 ITA Stefano D'Aste ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 1:47.240 1:47.120 9 4 NLD Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 1:48.038 1:48.322 10 15 GBR James Thompson Lada Sport Rosneft Lada Vesta WTCC 1:48.033 1:50.165 11 12 GBR Robert Huff Lada Sport Rosneft Lada Vesta WTCC 1:46.878 1:50.553 12 25 MAR Mehdi Bennani Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCCY 1:47.040 13 98 SRB Dušan Borković Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCCY 1:48.443 14 27 FRA John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 1:48.507 15 11 FRA Grégoire Demoustier Craft Bamboo Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 1:49.042 16 19 SWE Rickard Rydell Nika International Honda Civic WTCC 1:49.267 17 5 HUN Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCCY no time set 18 7 FRA Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y no time set Bold denotes Pole position for second race. Race 1 Pos. Position No. Car number Name Team Car C Class Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 37 ARG José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 13 23:25.060 1 25 2 68 FRA Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 13 +3.170 2 18 3 9 FRA Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 13 +7.500 3 15 4 18 PRT Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 13 +14.168 5 12 5 2 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 13 +16.322 7 10 6 5 HUN Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCCY 13 +18.470 17 8 7 33 CHN Ma Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 13 +20.164 4 6 8 3 GBR Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 13 +23.499 6 4 9 26 ITA Stefano D'Aste ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 13 +27.306 8 2 10 19 SWE Rickard Rydell Nika International Honda Civic WTCC 13 +30.266 16 1 11 98 SRB Dušan Borković Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCCY 13 +34.387 13 12 11 FRA Grégoire Demoustier Craft Bamboo Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 13 +36.213 15 13 25 MAR Mehdi Bennani Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCCY 13 +37.906 12 14 4 NLD Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 9 +4 Laps 9 Ret 7 FRA Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 4 Race incident 18 Ret 12 GBR Robert Huff Lada Sport Rosneft Lada Vesta WTCC 4 Race incident 11 NC 15 GBR James Thompson Lada Sport Rosneft Lada Vesta WTCC 2 +11 Laps 10 Ret 27 FRA John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 1 Race incident 14 Bold denotes Fastest lap. Race 2 Pos. Position No. Car number Name Team Car C Class Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 9 FRA Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 15 29:33.508 8 25 2 37 ARG José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 15 +4.690 10 18 3 18 PRT Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 15 +10.149 6 15 4 2 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 15 +11.564 4 12 5 25 MAR Mehdi Bennani Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCCY 15 +14.956 12 10 6 33 CHN Ma Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 15 +19.697 7 8 71 1 5 HUN Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCCY 15 +17.948 16 6 8 3 GBR Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 15 +21.338 5 4 9 19 SWE Rickard Rydell Nika International Honda Civic WTCC 15 +30.607 15 2 10 11 FRA Grégoire Demoustier Craft Bamboo Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 15 +32.304 14 1 11 68 FRA Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 15 +43.627 9 12 27 FRA John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 15 +1:12.280 18 Ret 98 SRB Dušan Borković Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCCY 8 Race incident 13 Ret 4 NLD Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 4 Retired 2 Ret 12 GBR Robert Huff Lada Sport Rosneft Lada Vesta WTCC 2 Retired 11 Ret 15 GBR James Thompson Lada Sport Rosneft Lada Vesta WTCC 1 Retired 1 Ret 26 ITA Stefano D'Aste ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 0 Race incident 3 DNS 7 FRA Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1Y 0 Did not start 17 Bold denotes Fastest lap. 1 1 — Michelisz was dropped one place in the final classification for a collision with Ma. Standings after the event Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 ARG José María López 48 2 FRA Sébastien Loeb 43 3 POR Tiago Monteiro 28 4 FRA Yvan Muller 22 5 ITA Gabriele Tarquini 22 Yokohama Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 HUN Norbert Michelisz 18 2 MAR Mehdi Bennani 15 3 GBR Tom Chilton 15 4 FRA Grégoire Demoustier 9 5 ITA Stefano D'Aste 6 Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 FRA Citroën 95 2 JPN Honda 59 3 RUS Lada 1 Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings. References External links World Touring Car Championship official website FIA WTCC Race of Argentina 2015 2014 Guia Race of Macau 2015 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina 2016 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina Argentina FIA WTCC Race of Argentina