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2014 FIA WTCC Race of China, Beijing

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China 2014 FIA WTCC Race of China, Beijing
Race details
Date5 October, 2014
LocationBeijing, China
CourseGoldenport Park Circuit
2.391 kilometres (1.486 mi)
Race One
Laps 28
Pole position
Driver United Kingdom Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport
Time 1:04.321
Podium
First United Kingdom Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport
Second France Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC
Third Argentina José María López Citroën Total WTCC
Fastest Lap
Driver United Kingdom Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport
Time 1:05.382
Race Two
Laps 26
Podium
First United Kingdom Robert Huff Lada Sport
Second Netherlands Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport
Third France Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC
Fastest Lap
Driver Argentina José María López Citroën Total WTCC
Time 1:05:934

The 2014 FIA WTCC Race of China, Beijing was the ninth round of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season and the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of China. It was the first of two rounds held in China in 2014, the second taking place at the Shanghai International Circuit the following weekend. It was held on 5 October 2014 at the Goldenport Park Circuit in Beijing, China.

Race one was won by Tom Chilton for ROAL Motorsport and race two was won by Robert Huff for Lada Sport, the manufacturer's first victory in the World Touring Car Championship.

Background

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José María López led the drivers' championship coming into the round, sixty points ahead of teammate Yvan Muller. Franz Engstler held the lead of the Yokohama Trophy.

The event was a late replacement for the FIA WTCC Race of the United States which was cancelled in June 2014 due to logistical issues.[1] The Beijing race will form half of a Chinese double–header with the originally planned Shanghai race the following weekend.

Felipe De Souza joined Liqui Moly Team Engstler for the remained of the 2014 season, replacing Pasquale Di Sabatino. Michael Soong joined Campos Racing in a TC2T SEAT León and Ma Qing Hua returned to Citroën Total WTCC.[2]

When the compensation weights were revised after the previous round; the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC retained the maximum ballast to keep their weight at 1,160 kilograms (2,557 lb). The Honda Civic WTCCs gained 10 kilograms (22 lb) of ballast to weigh–in at 1,130 kilograms (2,491 lb) and the Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1s lost 20 kilograms (44 lb) to drop their weight to 1,120 kilograms (2,469 lb). The Lada Granta 1.6Ts remained at the base weight of 1,100 kilograms (2,425 lb).[3]

Report

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Testing and free practice

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The first test session took place in wet conditions and Tiago Monteiro set the fastest time ahead of López and Robert Huff.[4]

Monteiro was quickest again in the first free practice session with Citroën pair López and Ma Qing Hua second and third. The session ended 40 seconds early when López beached his car in the gravel at turn eight.[5]

Ma set the fastest time in the final free practice session ahead of Huff and Gianni Morbidelli as the sun set, the session was stopped two minutes early due to the deteriorating light conditions.[6]

Qualifying

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Monteiro topped the first part of qualifying which was stopped twice; early on De Souza went off at the last corner and beached his Engstler BMW in the gravel trap. Later on Dušan Borković spun off and damaged his car which was then recovered by the marshals. Franz Engstler qualified 18th to take pole in the TC2T class.

López was fastest in the second part of qualifying while Monteiro finished 11th having led three out of the four sessions so far during the weekend. James Thompson was eighth and his Lada teammate Huff was tenth and therefore took pole for race two with Tom Coronel starting alongside him. López, Muller, Gabriele Tarquini, Morbidelli and Chilton made it through the Q3 shootout with Norbert Michelisz narrowly missing out.

Having been fifth in Q2, Chilton set his time first and it would go unbeaten for the rest of the session. Tarquini was second with the Citroëns of Muller and López ahead of Morbidelli.[7]

Race One

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Chilton got away from pole while Muller jumped ahead of Tarquini to take second. After three laps the safety car came out following a collision between René Münnich and Borković. The race resumed on lap 11 with no immediate change in the order at the front although Tarquini was enduring pressure from López for third place. Michelisz moved up to fifth place at the expense of Sébastien Loeb who had also lost a place to Morbidelli. Monteiro went into the pits at half distance having struggled to get his car around the last lap. At the front Chilton was extending his lead while further back Ma took eighth off Thompson to put himself on the tail of teammate Loeb. On lap 23 Ma went off and dropped behind Thompson, Huff and Mehdi Bennani down to eleventh place. The following lap Tarquini returned to the pits for repairs, as did Coronel, Mikhail Kozlovskiy and Ma. Hugo Valente slowed with a puncture as Chilton claimed his first victory of the season ahead of Muller and López. Franz Engstler took victory in the TC2T class.[8]

Race Two

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Prior to the race Honda had taken Monteiro's car out of parc fermé and he was dropped to the back of the grid for race two. Kozlovskiy was unable to start the race following on from technical issues in race one. Huff started on pole and narrowly beat Coronel into the first corner as Loeb jumped up to third ahead of Thompson who then lost another place to Michelisz. Bennani was given a drive–through penalty for a breach of the start procedure on the second lap. By the third lap Monteiro had moved up to 12th ahead of Ma as further back De Souza spun and recovered. Chilton had moved up to eighth since the start and had passed a struggling Muller, by half distance he was attacking Morbidelli for seventh although he would be unable to make further progress during the race. López had taken fourth place on lap 17 to increase his points haul over Muller, leaving him with ten laps to close the three second gap to Loeb who was still running third. In the final laps Coronel began closing in on race leader Huff while López had more than halved the gap to Loeb. Huff claimed the first WTCC victory for Lada, Coronel finished second while Loeb and Lopez were neck–and–neck to the line with Loeb claiming the final podium spot by three-hundredths of a second ahead. Franz Engstler claimed the TC2T class victory once again.[9]

Results

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Name Team Car C Q1 Q2 Q3 Points
1 3 United Kingdom Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1:04.887 1:04.524 1:04.321 5
2 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCC TC1 1:05.177 1:04.373 1:04.353 4
3 1 France Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 1:04.953 1:04.356 1:04.411 3
4 37 Argentina José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 1:05.166 1:04.081 1:04.776 2
5 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1:05.316 1:04.486 1:04.840 1
6 5 Hungary Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC TC1 1:05.017 1:04.788
7 9 France Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 1:04.972 1:04.872
8 11 United Kingdom James Thompson Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 1:05.553 1:04.937
9 4 Netherlands Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1:05.574 1:04.937
10 12 United Kingdom Robert Huff Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 1:05.588 1:05.019
11 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCC TC1 1:04.884 1:05.152
12 7 France Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1:05.440 1:05.428
13 25 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCC TC1 1:05.663
14 33 China Ma Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 1:05.874
15 14 Russia Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 1:06.069
16 98 Serbia Dušan Borković Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1:06.147
17 77 Germany René Münnich ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1:06.210
18 6 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2T 1:08.028
19 27 France John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC TC2T 1:08.693
20 80 Hong Kong Michael Soong Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC TC2T A 1:11.443
107% time: 1:12.789 (TC2T)
26 Macau Felipe De Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2T A no time set
  • Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

Race 1

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Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 United Kingdom Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 28 35:44.890 1 25
2 1 France Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 28 +2.493 3 18
3 37 Argentina José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 28 +5.132 4 15
4 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 28 +10.473 5 12
5 9 France Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 28 +14.455 7 10
6 5 Hungary Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC TC1 28 +17.238 6 8
7 11 United Kingdom James Thompson Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 28 +18.338 8 6
8 12 United Kingdom Robert Huff Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 28 +19.104 10 4
9 25 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCC TC1 28 +37.966 13 2
10 6 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2T 28 +54.871 18 1
11 14 Russia Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 27 +1 Lap 15
12 7 France Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 27 +1 Lap 12
13 27 France John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC TC2T 26 +2 Laps 19
14 26 Macau Felipe De Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2T A 25 +3 Laps 20
15 33 China Ma Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 24 +4 Laps 14
16 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCC TC1 24 +4 Laps 2
17 4 Netherlands Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 22 +6 Laps 9
Ret 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCC TC1 13 Race incident 11
Ret 98 Serbia Dušan Borković Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1 Race incident 16
Ret 77 Germany René Münnich ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 1 Race incident 17
DNS 80 Hong Kong Michael Soong Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC TC2T A 0 Did not start

Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2

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Pos. No. Name Team Car C Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 United Kingdom Robert Huff Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 26 28:52.502 1 25
2 4 Netherlands Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 26 +0.766 2 18
3 9 France Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 26 +3.072 4 15
4 37 Argentina José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 26 +3.102 7 12
5 5 Hungary Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC TC1 26 +8.673 5 10
6 11 United Kingdom James Thompson Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 26 +9.938 3 8
7 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 26 +11.111 6 6
8 3 United Kingdom Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 26 +11.553 10 4
9 1 France Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 26 +12.463 8 2
10 2 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCC TC1 26 +12.805 9 1
11 7 France Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 26 +19.571 11
12 33 China Ma Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC TC1 26 +21.714 13
13 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCC TC1 26 +24.261 18
14 6 Germany Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2T 25 +1 Lap 15
15 27 France John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC TC2T 25 +1 Lap 16
Ret 25 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCC TC1 6 Retired 12
Ret 26 Macau Felipe De Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2T A 2 Retired 17
DNS 14 Russia Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6T TC1 0 Did not start 14
DNS 98 Serbia Dušan Borković Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 0 Did not start 19
DNS 77 Germany René Münnich ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 TC1 0 Did not start
DNS 80 Hong Kong Michael Soong Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC TC2T A 0 Did not start

Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

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

References

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  1. ^ Hudson, Neil (2 June 2014). "USA round of the WTCC cancelled due to logistics problem". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  2. ^ "ENTRY LIST" (PDF). World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  3. ^ "Honda gain 10kg in compensation weight for China". TouringCarTimes. MediaEmpire Stockholm AB. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Monteiro fastest in wet test session". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Practice 1 – López ends up in the gravel trap". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Practice 2 – Ma Qing Hua beats Huff at nightfall". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  7. ^ Abbott, Andrew (5 October 2014). "Tom Chilton takes surprise pole in Beijing". Touring-Cars.net. Andrew Abbott. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  8. ^ Mills, Peter (5 October 2014). "Beijing Goldenport WTCC: Tom Chilton takes first victory of 2014". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  9. ^ Mills, Peter (5 October 2014). "Beijing Goldenport WTCC: Rob Huff gives Lada maiden WTCC win". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
[edit]
World Touring Car Championship
Previous race:
2014 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina
2014 World Touring Car Championship season Next race:
2014 FIA WTCC Race of China, Shanghai
Previous race:
2013 FIA WTCC Race of China
FIA WTCC Race of China Next race:
2014 FIA WTCC Race of China, Shanghai