» WTCC: Bennani wins red-flagged race

Mehdi Bennani claimed victory in the Opening Guia Race of Macau, which was red-flagged on the penultimate lap after championship contender Norbert Michelisz triggered a multi-car pile-up.

Starting his Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën from a reversed-grid pole position, Bennani outdragged Tom Coronel off the start line and led the field on the long sprint to the Lisboa corner to claim a lead he wouldn’t lose.

Coronel slotted into second place ahead of Honda’s Ryo Michigami, while championship leader Thed Björk managed to get his Polestar Volvo in front of Kevin Gleason’s RC Motorsport LADA.

2017 FIA WTCC Guia Race of Macau - Opening Race start

Reversed-grid pole sitter Bennani got the jump on Coronel to claim victory in the red-flagged Opening Race.

Gleason tried valiantly to defend against the chasing Hondas of Michelisz and teammate Esteban Guerrieri, but was eased aside by the two Hondas on the second lap. The American equally had no response to the two Citroëns of Main Race pole winner Rob Huff and SLR’s Tom Chilton, who both got by, along with Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg.

Huff and Chilton were quickly able to close in on the Hondas of Michelisz and Guerrieri, but on the penultimate lap Michelisz slid wide on the cement dust at Police which was left after a huge crash in the earlier GT race.

The Hungarian slapped the wall and was T-boned by Guerrieri; Huff and Chilton had no time to respond and joined the fracas. The narrow section of track was completely blocked, forcing officials to unfurl the red flags. The race was declared on a two-lap countback, with Bennani declared the winner ahead of Coronel.

Ryo Michigami celebrated becoming the first Japanese driver to claim a WTCC podium by finishing third ahead of Björk, who marginally extended his Drivers’ Championship advantage to 16.5 points over Michelisz, who was classified in fifth.

Björk’s teammate Catsburg is third, a further 14.5 points adrift, while Bennani’s race win vaults him to fourth overall (-33.5 points) and mathematically in contention for overall title honours.

2017 FIA WTCC Guia Race of Macau – Opening Race Final Classification (5 laps)
	Driver	Team	Result	Cat
1.	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	12:26.832	IND
2.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	+ 1.952	IND
3.	Ryo Michigami	Honda Racing Team JAS Civic WTCC	+ 3.265	MF
4.	Thed Björk	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	+ 3.627	MF
5.	Norbert Michelisz	Castrol Honda WTCC Team Civic WTCC	+ 4.577	MF
6.	Esteban Guerrieri	Castrol Honda WTCC Team Civic WTCC	+ 5.379	MF
7.	Rob Huff	Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée	+ 6.635	IND
8.	Tom Chilton	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	+ 8.068	IND
9.	Nick Catsburg	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	+ 10.688	MF
10.	Kevin Gleason	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	+ 12.040	IND
11.	John Filippi	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	+ 13.946	IND
12.	Yann Ehrlacher	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	+ 14.592	IND
13.	Néstor Girolami	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	+ 18.512	MF
14.	Ma Qing Hua	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	+ 18.683	IND
15.	Dániel Nagy	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 25.074	IND
16.	Zsolt David Szabó	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 37.025	IND
17.	Mak Ka Lok	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	+ 46.075	IND
18.	Po Wah Wong	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	+ 2:00.220	IND