José María López snatches win on the last lap in Slovakia mayhem

José María López won the main race at Slovakiaring after a thrilling final lap, overtaking Lada’s Nicky Catsburg, who had looked set to secure his first win in the WTCC until he lost ground to both López and Monteiro.

The Citroën driver finished the race ahead of Honda Racing’s Tiago Monteiro, who leaves Slovakia with the lead of the championship by one point, and Lada’s Nicky Catsburg, with three different manufacturers on the podium.At the start of the race López took the lead ahead of team-mate Yvan Muller, but a first corner contact with Catsburg saw the Frenchman drop down to third, followed closely by the Honda Rac

An investigation in respect of the contact between Catsburg and Muller ended up with no further action taken by the stewards, just as the Lada driver got closer and closer to López and eventually passed him to take the lead and build a margin. The Argentinian was left defending from Monteiro, while Muller dropped back after first being passed by Monteiro and then subsequent contact with Huff.

After spending a few laps defending from Honda’s Monteiro, López began catching up on Catsburg and with two laps to go he was back on the Lada’s rear bumper. Meanwhile Rob Huff went off at Turn 6, leaving fourth in the hands of team-mate Michelisz.It was all down to the last lap, when López made good use of a better exit out of the last corner to make an pass on Catsburg. Monteiro also moved in, with them going three-wide on the main straight with the Argentinian taking the lead, and Monteiro able to also pass Catsburg’s Lada Vesta for second.

More drama was to come as Michelisz started attacking the Lada from fourth, but only ended up being caught by Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk, who overtook him via a slight touch to claim Volvo’s best result in the WTCC.

Michelisz would finish fifth ahead of Muller, suffering a puncture just after crossing the chequered flag, with independents’ class winner Mehdi Bennani seventh outright in his Citroën C-Elysée ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Tom Chilton.Fredrik Ekblom went from the back of the grid to ninth in a solid race, finishing ahead of Tom Coronel who completed the top ten in the best-placed Chevrolet Cruze.

Tiago Monteiro now leads the championship by just one point over López, with Michelisz in third, 27 points shy of the leader. Honda leave Slovakia still leading the manufacturers’ championship, with a three-points margin over Citroën.