Hungaroring WTCC: Morbidelli becomes first non-Citroen 2014 winner
Gianni Morbidelli became the first man to win a 2014 World Touring Car Championship round in anything other than a Citroen as he took Hungaroring victory in his Munnich Chevrolet
Reigning Superstars champion Morbidelli had to soak up intense pressure from factory Honda driver Tiago Monteiro in the reversed-grid event.
He was tapped into a slide by his fellow former Formula 1 racer Monteiro at the Turn 6 chicane on the final lap.
The incident gave the lead duo a slow and scruffy exit to the chicane, and allowed polesitter Hugo Valente to close onto Monteiro's bumper at the following corner.
No further bold manoeuvres followed in the final half a lap and the first three crossed the finish separated by just 1.2 seconds.
Watch highlights videos on the AUTOSPORT WTCC page
From the outside of the front row, Morbidelli had escaped a squeeze from Valente away from the line to lead into Turn 1, and thereafter produced a faultless performance.
The victory is Chevrolet team Munnich Motorsport's second successive win in the Hungaroring reverse-grid race, following Rob Huff's triumph in the team's SEAT Leon last year.
Tom Coronel executed a strong defensive drive to hold race one winner Yvan Muller at bay for 14 laps.
The reigning WTCC champion did briefly steal the Dutchman's fourth place at Turn 1 on the second lap, only to make a slow exit that allowed Coronel to immediately recover the position.
Championship leader Jose Maria Lopez finished just 0.170s behind Muller, having been forced to lock his tyres on a number of occasions to avoid contact with his factory Citroen team-mate.
Proteam racer Mehdi Bennani non-started race two owing to a turbo failure on his Honda Civic at the conclusion of race one.
Results - 14 laps Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Gianni Morbidelli Munnich Chevrolet 26m15.851s 2. Tiago Monteiro Honda +0.350s 3. Hugo Valente Campos Chevrolet +1.206s 4. Tom Coronel ROAL Chevrolet +5.104s 5. Yvan Muller Citroen +5.435s 6. Jose Maria Lopez Citroen +5.605s 7. Tom Chilton ROAL Chevrolet +6.306s 8. Gabriele Tarquini Honda +7.828s 9. Sebastien Loeb Citroen +8.308s 10. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda +8.842s 11. Dusan Borkovic Campos Chevrolet +11.724s 12. Rob Huff Lada +21.487s 13. Rene Munnich Munnich Chevrolet +23.210s 14. James Thompson Lada +26.391s 15. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW +55.381s* 16. Pasquale di Sabatino Engstler BMW +59.926s* 17. John Filippi Campos SEAT +1m19.313s* 18. Yukinori Taniguchi Nika Honda +2 laps* Retirements/not classified Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 3 laps * TC2
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