Esteban Guerrieri claimed victory in a dramatic Opening Race of the new FIA World Touring Car Championship season, a first for his Campos Racing team in the TC1 era and a first for the Argentine ace.
The drama started last night when reverse-grid pole-sitter and rookie Yann Ehrlacher was demoted to the back of the grid after he mistakenly failed to stop at a mandatory weight check during qualifying, handing the first spot on the grid to ROAL Motorsport driver Tom Coronel, last year’s Opening Race winner in Marrakech.
Coronel led from the start, but a tangle at the rear of the grid in which Ehrlacher made contact with John Fillipi’s stalled Citroën brought out the safety car, as both drivers retired.
Honda’s Ryo Michigami also retired after a spin at the start and contact with the Citroën of Tom Chilton, who slipped from third on the grid to ninth with a slow getaway. Rob Huff was also in trouble, retiring with broken powersteering.
Coronel continued to lead after racing resumed but problems with his brakes resulted in him running wide and falling back to seventh. He then had battles with Chilton and Daniel Nágy for position, before eventually being overtaken by Chilton and finishing in eighth after Nágy retired following contact with a barrier.
Guerrieri, meanwhile, inherited the lead and kept in front ahead of Thed Björk in second and local hero Mehdi Bennani in third place.
Polestar Cyan Racing’s Nicky Catsburg and Honda’s Norbert Michelisz were four and fifth respectively with Main Race pole-sitter Tiago Monteiro sixth, while Aurélien Panis scored points on his WTCC debut with P10 behind Néstor Girolami.