There is a special feeling between Tom Coronel and Japan. Every time the Dutchman visits the Country of the rising sun he gives his best.
And this was proved again today in the second race, when Coronel managed to overtake a pugnacious Mehdi Bennani to claim his second victory of the season.
It was an unexpected one-two for BMW, with Bennani who won the Yokohama and was close once again to win his first race. Just like two weeks ago in Sonoma.
Third finished Tiago Monteiro, who partly salvaged what was a very tough weekend for Castrol Honda Racing that had high expectations for its home race meeting.
Charles Ng claimed his best result ever in WTCC, ranking seventh after a close, but fair fight with Rob Huff.
Key moments
— Start – Bennani takes the lead from Coronel; Michelisz and Muller make contact and crash
— Lap 2 – Coronel begins to put pressure on Bennani
— Lap 4 – Tarquini and Monteiro fight for 3rd place
— Lap 6 – Kozlovskiy and Boardman make contact
— Lap 10 – Coronel dives inside of Bennani at T1, but Bennani keeps the leadership
— Lap 12 – Oriola (who was 5th) and Kozlovskiy are given a drive through for jump start
— Lap 13 – Huff overtakes Ng for 8th place
— Lap 17 – Coronel steals the lead from Bennani
— Lap 18 – Thompson, Basseng, D’Aste and O’Young fight for 10th place
— Lap 24 – MacDowall drops from 9th to 13th
— Lap 25 – Ng retakes 7th place from Huff
— Lap 26 – Thompson loses 9th place to Basseng and drops to 12th
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom CORONEL | BMW 320 TC | 26 laps - 23m56.929s |
| 2 | Mehdi BENNANI | BMW 320 TC | + 2.259 |
| 3 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic | + 9.935 |
| 4 | Gabriele TARQUINI | Honda Civic | + 10.732 |
| 5 | James NASH | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | + 11.438 |
| 6 | Tom CHILTON | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | + 11.802 |
| 7 | Charles NG | BMW 320 TC | + 13.762 |
| 8 | Rob HUFF | SEAT Leon WTCC | + 14.088 |
| 9 | Marc BASSENG | SEAT Leon WTCC | + 23.300 |
| 10 | Stefano D’ASTE | BMW 320 TC | + 23.564 |
| 11 | Darryl O’YOUNG | BMW 320 TC | + 23.753 |
| 12 | James THOMPSON | Lada Granta | + 23.780 |
| 13 | Alex MACDOWALL | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | + 24.249 |
| 14 | Fernando MONJE | SEAT Leon WTCC | + 24.497 |
| 15 | René MUNNICH | SEAT Leon WTCC | + 24.739 |
| 16 | Masaki KANO | BMW 320 TC | + 26.576 |
| 17 | Yukinori TANIGUCHI | BMW 320 TC | + 36.768 |
| 18 | Jeronimo BADARACO | Chevrolet Cruze LT | + 54.197 |
| 19 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY | Lada Granta | + 1 lap |
| 20 | Kin Veng NG | Chevrolet Cruze LT | + 1 lap |
| 21 | Henry HO | BMW 320si | + 3 laps |
| 22 | Takuya IZAWA | Honda Civic | + 7 laps |
| 23 | Tom BOARDMAN | SEAT Leon WTCC | + 10 laps |
| 24 | Hiroki YOSHIMOTO | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | + 12 laps |
| 25 | Pepe ORIOLA | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | + 13 laps |
| 26 | Ka Lok MAK | BMW 320si | + 16 laps |
| 27 | Filipe de SOUZA | Chevrolet Cruze LT | + 25 laps |
| 28 | Norbert MICHELISZ | Honda Civic | + 25 laps |
| 29 | Yvan MULLER | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | DNF |