2014 FIA WTCC Race of France

2014 FIA WTCC Race of France

Race details
Round 2 of 12 in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France.
Date	20 April, 2014
Location	Le Castellet, France
Course	Circuit Paul Ricard 3.841 kilometres (2.387 mi)
Race One
Laps 16 Pole position Driver Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Time 1:29.857 Podium First Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Second Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Third Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda Team Fastest Lap Driver Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Time 1:43.675
Race Two
Laps 18 Podium First José María López Citroën Total WTCC Second Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Third Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda Team Fastest Lap Driver José María López Citroën Total WTCC Time 1:31.468

The 2014 FIA WTCC Race of France (formally the FIA WTCC JVC Kenwood Race of France) was the second round of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of France. It was held on 20 April 2014 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France.

Both races were won by Citroën Total WTCC, reigning champion Yvan Muller won race one and José María López won race two.

Background

After the opening round of the season, José María López was leading the drivers' championship by one point over of teammate Sébastien Loeb. Franz Engstler was leading the Yokohama Trophy for drivers in TC2 specification cars.

After a crash in race two caused significant damage to his car, Tom Coronel missed the French round while his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 was repaired. ^[1] Mehdi Bennani came into the weekend with a three–place grid penalty for race one having been deemed to have caused the collision. ^[2]

Report

Testing and free practice

López led a Citroën 1–2 in Friday testing, he headed Loeb and the Zengő Motorsport Honda of Norbert Michelisz. ^[3]

Loeb headed Campos Racing's Hugo Valente in free practice one on Saturday. The session was interrupted when Yvan Muller collided with a tyre stack and damaged his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC. ^[4]

Valente was quickest in the second practice session with Tom Chilton in second making it a Chevrolet 1–2. ^[5]

Qualifying

Muller was quickest in the first part of qualifying while the Lukoil Lada Sport drivers all missed out, as Mikhail Kozlovskiy suffered a steering arm issue, James Thompson stopped on the circuit and Robert Huff narrowly missed out on a Q2 place to Tiago Monteiro.

Muller set the pace once again in the second part of qualifying ahead of his Citroën team mates. Gabriele Tarquini in fifth put a Honda through to Q3 for the first time this season.

In the Q3 shoot–out it was Loeb who came out on top to claim his first WTCC pole position with López and Muller second and third. Tarquini was fourth ahead of the Chevrolet of Valente. ^[6]

Loeb and López were later excluded from qualifying due to an error with their automatic fuel cut-off systems. They would start at the back for both races with Muller gaining pole position for race one and Mehdi Bennani promoted to pole for race two. ^[7]

Race One

The race began on a damp track, Muller got a slow start and was passed by Tarquini and Michelisz before the first corner. Muller regained the lead on lap three while Valente was under pressure from Huff who had put himself up to fifth place with a good start. By lap three Loeb had worked his way up to sixth place and the Frenchman made the move at the start of lap four. Loeb then took fourth from Valente and Huff followed him through to demote Valente again. Loeb had eventually fought his way up to third behind Tarquini while López was delayed by the Lada of Huff who he finally cleared on lap seven. On lap ten Michelisz came together with López, sending the Citroën sideways although neither car sustained damage and they continued in fourth and fifth. After a number of laps fighting over second place, Tarquini made a mistake over one of the kerbs and this allowed Loeb to close in and pass the Honda. Further back Valente tried a pass up the inside of Huff although the Chevrolet lost grip and had a near-miss with Huff and Michelisz. Shortly after Huff and Valente moved up to fifth and sixth at the expense of Michelisz. Muller claimed his first win of the season with Loeb second and Tarquini on degrading tyres third. Engstler finished 16th and was the Yokohama Trophy winner. ^[8]

Race Two

Monteiro leapt ahead of Bennani at the start, Morbidelli was spun around further back in the pack by Chilton. At the end of lap two Muller and Loeb collided as Muller tried to go up the inside of his teammate. On lap five Tarquini passed Bennani to move up to second behind Monteiro who had put a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Both López and Muller then moved up ahead of Bennani in their pursuit of the factory Hondas. On lap seven Tarquini made a mistake at the chicane which allowed López and Muller through. At this point Loeb took out one of the tyre stacks while attempting a pass on Dušan Borković and the debris on the track led to the safety car being brought out. The race was restarted on lap 10, Monteiro defended from López immediately as the Citroën tried to go around the outside at the first corner. This opened the door for Muller to try to pass López for second place. At the back of the field John Filippi collided with Engstler which brought out the safety car for a second time, Chilton meanwhile was issued with a drive–through penalty for causing the collision with Morbidelli on the opening lap. The race resumed on lap 12, Loeb tried to pass Borković at the first corner and the pair came together with Loeb being pushed into a half spin. On lap 14 López passed Monteiro to take the lead, Muller followed through and took part of Monteiro's front bumper off as he went through. On lap 17 Valente drifted wide allowing Huff to have a look, the pair touched with Valente going wide and Morbidelli behind saw an opportunity to pass and move himself up to ninth place. Loeb had passed Borković after a number of laps and was now looking to catch Bennani, he had a lunge at the first corner. At the front López led Muller home at the checkered flag with Monteiro taking the final podium spot. Engstler took the Yokohama Trophy victory once again. ^[9]

Results

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Car	C	Q1	Q2	Q3	Points
1	1	Yvan Muller	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	1:30.269	1:29.566	1:29.857	5
2	2	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	1:31.198	1:30.741	1:30.808	4
3	7	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	1:30.644	1:30.451	1:31.139	3
4	5	Norbert Michelisz	Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	1:31.110	1:30.751		2
5	3	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	1:30.932	1:30.897		1
6	98	Dušan Borković	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	1:31.568	1:31.099
7	10	Gianni Morbidelli	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	1:31.042	1:31.207
8	18	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	1:31.693	1:31.224
9	77	René Münnich	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	1:31.239	1:31.345
10	25	Mehdi Bennani	Proteam Racing	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	1:31.487	1:32.458
11	12	Robert Huff	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	1:32.142
12	11	James Thompson	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	1:33.162
13	14	Mikhail Kozlovskiy	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	1:34.210
14	27	John Filippi	Campos Racing	SEAT León WTCC	TC2T	1:35.972
15	6	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	BMW 320 TC	TC2T	1:36.022
16	8	Pasquale Di Sabatino	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	BMW 320 TC	TC2T	1:36.083
107% time: 1:36.587
EX 1	9	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	Excluded
EX 1	37	José María López	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	Excluded

• Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

^1  — Loeb and López were excluded from qualifying after their automatic fuel cut-off systems were found not to be working during scrutineering. ^[7]

Race 1

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Car	C	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Yvan Muller	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	16	27:58.347	1	25
2	9	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	16	+12.727	17	18
3	2	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	16	+15.026	2	15
4	37	José María López	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	16	+18.663	18	12
5	12	Robert Huff	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	16	+31.393	10	10
6	7	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	16	+34.415	3	8
7	5	Norbert Michelisz	Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	16	+34.896	4	6
8	18	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	16	+37.918	8	4
9	3	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	16	+41.014	5	2
10	11	James Thompson	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	16	+45.739	11	1
11	10	Gianni Morbidelli	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	16	+48.720	7
12	77	René Münnich	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	16	+49.234	9
13	25	Mehdi Bennani	Proteam Racing	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	16	+57.136	13
14	98	Dušan Borković	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	16	+1:02.522	6
15	14	Mikhail Kozlovskiy	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	16	+1:05.813	12
16	6	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	BMW 320 TC	TC2T	16	+1:46.587	15
17	8	Pasquale Di Sabatino	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	BMW 320 TC	TC2T	15	+1 lap	16
18	27	John Filippi	Campos Racing	SEAT León WTCC	TC2T	15	+1 lap	14

• Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Car	C	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	37	José María López	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	18	30:24.551	18	25
2	1	Yvan Muller	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	18	+1.886	10	18
3	18	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	18	+7.994	3	15
4	2	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	18	+8.459	9	12
5	25	Mehdi Bennani	Proteam Racing	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	18	+17.407	1	10
6	9	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	TC1	18	+17.924	17	8
7	98	Dušan Borković	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	18	+18.592	5	6
8	5	Norbert Michelisz	Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	TC1	18	+18.927	7	4
9	10	Gianni Morbidelli	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	18	+20.531	4	2
10	7	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	18	+21.787	8	1
11	12	Robert Huff	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	18	+22.216	11
12	77	René Münnich	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	18	+23.391	2
13	11	James Thompson	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	18	+25.800	12
14	14	Mikhail Kozlovskiy	Lukoil Lada Sport	Lada Granta 1.6T	TC1	18	+26.475	13
15	3	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	TC1	18	+41.250	6
16	6	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	BMW 320 TC	TC2T	18	+44.222	15
17	8	Pasquale Di Sabatino	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	BMW 320 TC	TC2T	18	+46.048	16
Ret	27	John Filippi	Campos Racing	SEAT León WTCC	TC2T	9	Race incident	14

• Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 José María López 85 2 Sébastien Loeb 73 2 3 Yvan Muller 65 4 Gabriele Tarquini 31 1 5 Hugo Valente 31

Yokohama Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Franz Engstler 45 2 Pasquale Di Sabatino 30 3 John Filippi 21

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Citroën 186 2 Honda 103 3 Lada 75

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

1. "TOM CORONEL TO MISS FRANCE". World Touring Car Championship . Kigema Sport Organisation. 16 April 2014. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
2. "BORKOVIĆ LOST ONE POSITION". World Touring Car Championship . Kigema Sport Organisation. 13 April 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
3. "MICHELISZ CHASES THE CITROËN CARS". World Touring Car Championship . Kigema Sport Organisation. 18 April 2014. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
4. "PRACTICE 1 – VALENTE RIGHT BEHIND LOEB". World Touring Car Championship . Kigema Sport Organisation. 19 April 2014. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
5. "Valente goes fastest in second practice". Touring-Cars.net. Andrew Abbott. 19 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
6. Mills, Peter (19 April 2014). "Paul Ricard WTCC: Sebastien Loeb scores maiden pole position". Autosport . Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 19 April 2014.
7. Hudson, Neil (19 April 2014). "Citroën's Loeb and López excluded from qualifying in France". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
8. Mills, Peter (20 April 2014). "Paul Ricard WTCC: Muller wins, Loeb charges from last to second". Autosport . Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 20 April 2014.
9. "López denies Honda first win of season". Touring-Cars.net. Andrew Abbott. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.

External links

• World Touring Car Championship official website

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