Gabriele Tarquini put on a record breaking performance for the Russian manufacturer at their home circuit, leading home the team’s first 1-2 as the rain hit Moscow just ahead of the opening race. The 2009 champion drove from ninth to first to also score the first win for the Lada Vesta in the WTCC, followed across the finish line by team-mate and Race 2 pole-sitter Nicky Catsburg.
The three Ladas started eighth, ninth and tenth for the opening race courtesy of the reversed grid, while Honda’s Tiago Monteiro started from pole in the Honda Civic ahead of the two Citroëns of Mehdi Bennani and Yvan Muller.
As the field headed out on to the formation lap, the rain returned to the Moscow Raceway circuit, forcing a 15-minute delay allowing the teams to change to wet tyres.
When the race was restarted, Monteiro led the way into Turn 1 with Muller moving up to second in the factory Citroën, but it soon became clear the Honda was still struggling with its wet set-up, with the Portuguese driver soon finding himself falling down the order, with Muller leading the race ahead of Bennani and team-mate José María López at the end of the first lap, but Tarquini was already up to fourth and was showing strong pace in the wet conditions.
Tarquini passed López at the final corner at the end of lap two, with minor contact made between them, an incident which is under investigation, while the Italian’s Lada’s team-mates Catsburg and Hugo Valente were also working their way forward, with Catsburg up to fifth by the end of lap three.
Tarquini overtook Bennani’s privateer Citroën on lap three and set about chasing his friend and former team-mate Yvan Muller for the lead, taking the position from the Frenchman at the end of lap five, and went on to build up to an eight second lead in the slippery conditions.
Muller made it much harder for Catsburg to pass, holding off the Dutchman for several laps, before the 28-year-old finally made it past the four-time champion on lap nine, but had no time to close down the gap to team-mate Tarquini for the finish.
López lost fourth to the other Lada of Valente on the same lap, but likewise, the gap to Muller was too big to overcome in the remaining six laps and Valente had to settle for fourth.
López finished fifth and extended his points lead over Bennani to 102 points, with Muller closing to 110 points in the standings in third.
The best-placed Honda in the race was that of Tiago Monteiro, who crossed the line sixth ahead of team-mate Rob Huff, with the top Chevrolet that of Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson, who finished in eighth position and was also the first of the independents’ trophy drivers.
The 17-lap main race follows with Lada well placed for another strong result, starting 1-2-3 on the grid with Catsburg on pole ahead of Tarquini and Valente.