» WTCC: Guerrieri wins finale, Björk claims 2017 title

Volvo’s Thed Björk is the 2017 FIA World Touring Car Champion. The Swedish driver finished in fourth place in the Main Race of the season-ending round in Qatar to clinch the Drivers’ Championship title, while Honda stand-in Esteban Guerrieri claimed victory in the race.

Guerrier led the field away from pole position, chased by Münnich Motorsport driver Rob Huff who managed to leap ahead of Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg at the start.

The battle for the WTCC Trophy title for non-manufacturer drivers was resolved on the opening lap when title contender Mehdi Bennani came together with Volvo’s Yvan Muller. The contact saw Bennani – who was just 1.5 points behind teammate Tom Chilton in the points standings – slide down the order and eventually retiring with a puncture.

Muller’s car was also damaged in the incident and the Frenchman lost sixth place to the Campos Racing Chevrolet of Kris Richard. That put the former WTCC champion right ahead of Norbert Michelisz, who gained three places after the start to move into eighth place.

Michelisz would need a miracle to overhaul Björk’s 16.5-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings, and Muller played the perfect defensive role to help Björk by keeping the Honda driver at bay.

Up at the front of the field, Michelisz’s teammate Guerrieri could do nothing to help his teammate and cruised serenely to victory ahead of Huff, while Nicky Catsburg completed the podium in his Polestar Volvo.

Catsburg briefly handed third place to Björk during the race to aid his teammate’s quest for a maiden championship title, but when the Swede’s position was assured he returned the position to Catsburg on the final lap.

2017 FIA WTCC Race of Qatar – Main Race Final Classification (12 laps)
	Driver	Team	Result	Cat
1.	Esteban Guerrieri	Castrol Honda WTCC Team Civic WTCC	24:43.996	MF
2.	Rob Huff	Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée	+ 3.708	IND
3.	Nick Catsburg	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	+ 7.319	MF
4.	Thed Björk	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	+ 7.466	MF
5.	Tom Chilton	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	+ 8.785	IND
6.	Kris Richard	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	+ 10.589	IND
7.	Yvan Muller	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	+ 11.459	MF
8.	Norbert Michelisz	Castrol Honda WTCC Team Civic WTCC	+ 12.023	MF
9.	John Filippi	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	+ 15.942	IND
10.	Ryo Michigami	Honda Racing Team JAS Civic WTCC	+ 22.140	MF
11.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	+ 22.769	IND
12.	Yann Ehrlacher	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	+ 24.275	IND
13.	Dániel Nagy	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 30.126	IND
14.	Kevin Gleason	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	+ 34.895	IND
15.	Zsolt Dávid Szabó	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 48.988	IND
	Not Classified
DNF.	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	Puncture	IND