José María López has won the inaugural WTCC Race of Thailand to clinch his second FIA World Touring Car Championship in succession.
López led from the start and resisted race-long pressure from Citroën team-mate Sébastien Loeb to secure his ninth victory of 2015 with Ma Qing Hua and Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy winner Mehdi Bennani completing a Citroën top four.
Gabriele Tarquini charged through from P12 on the grid to take fifth in his factory Honda ahead of LADA pilot Rob Huff, who started on the back row of the grid.
In a dramatic contest at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, López’s title rival Yvan Muller was eliminated in a first-lap clash, which also involved several other cars and resulted in the safety car being deployed.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 16 laps |
| 2 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | +1.380 |
| 3 | Ma Qing Hua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | +6.376 |
| 4 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | +7.202 |
| 5 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | +14.500 |
| 6 | Robert Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | +15.177 |
| 7 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | +18.493 |
| 8 | Stefano D’Aste | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | +21.004 |
| 9 | Grégoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | +22.830 |
| 10 | Tin Sritrai | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | +27.416 |
| 11 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | DNF |
| 12 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | DNF |
| 13 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | DNF |
| 14 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | DNF |
| 15 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | DNF |
| 16 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | DNF |
| 17 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | DNF |
| 18 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | DNF |