The 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Japan (formally the 2014 FIA WTCC JVC Kenwood Race of Japan) was the eleventh round of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 26 October 2014 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan. This was the first time the race was held on the full Grand Prix layout.

Race one was won by José María López for Citroën Total WTCC and race two was won by Gabriele Tarquini for the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team. López secured his first World Touring Car Championship drivers' title in race one, becoming the first Argentine driver to win a world drivers' championship since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957.

Background

López led the drivers' championship coming into the round, ninety–three points ahead of teammate Yvan Muller. Franz Engstler had secured the Yokohama Trophy title at the previous race in Shanghai.

Campos Racing put another different driver in their second TC2 SEAT with Henry Kwong replacing William Lok. Citroën Total WTCC reduced to three cars with Ma Qing Hua not participating in the Japanese round.

When the compensation weights were revised after the previous round; the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC retained the maximum ballast to keep their weight at . The Honda Civic WTCCs gained of ballast to weigh–in at and the Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1s lost to equal their weight to the Hondas on . The Lada Granta 1.6Ts remained at the base weight of .

Report

Testing and free practice López set the pace in Friday testing, the session had been stopped briefly following an off for Kwong which left gravel scattered across the track.

Muller was at the top of timing pages in first free practice on Saturday morning, López was second and Gabriele Tarquini's Honda was third.

Muller was quickest ahead of Gianni Morbidelli in free practice two. Dušan Borković hit trouble early on, oversteering into the trackside barriers at turn eight and causing considerable damage to his Chevrolet.

Qualifying Muller was quickest in the first part of qualifying. The session was interrupted at the halfway stage when Felipe De Souza spun off and beached his Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW in the gravel. After a brief delay the session resumed with ten minutes remaining, Tom Chilton was quickest early on before López and Muller set their first competitive times. The Ladas waited in the pit lane before going out with Robert Huff in twelfth place in the times. In the final few minutes of the session Norbert Michelisz moved into eleventh place, bumping Huff down and out of a place in Q2.

Muller was quickest once again in the second session ahead of López and Sébastien Loeb, Chilton and Hugo Valente were fourth and fifth. All four Honda drivers missed out on progressing to Q3 but Gabriele Tarquini finished tenth which would put him on pole for race two, Dušan Borković would share the front row with him.

In Q3 López took pole with Muller and Loeb helping Citroën fill the top three places. Chilton and Valente completed the Q3 results.

Race One

López led Muller in the open stages of the race, behind them the battle for third was being contested between Chilton, Valente and Loeb. On lap seven Muller suffered a left-rear puncture and crawled back to the pits to retire, promoting Valente to second. Chilton passed Valente to take second at Spoon Curve on lap ten, Valente then ran wide at 130R which allowed Loeb through and Michelisz ran through the Casio Chicane while he also tried to pass the slow Chevrolet of Valente. After leading every lap, López won the race and secured the drivers' championship title in his first full season. Franz Engstler was the winner in the TC2 class.

Race Two

Tarquini led Borković away from the start, at the end of the first lap Michelisz tapped the back of Borković forcing the Serbian driver to cut the chicane. On the second lap López had a moment at 130R and ran wide as he ran in the slipstream of his Citroën teammates, Loeb ahead of him did the same on the following lap. On lap five Loeb braked too late into the hairpin, at the same time Muller ran into the back of Valente who suffered rear suspension failure in the collision and slowed. As Muller and Loeb slowed, López was able to catch and pass Loeb to move up to sixth place. Borković began to close in on Tarquini in the last few laps but Tarquini held on to take the win with Borković leading Michelisz across the line. John Filippi was the Yokohama Trophy winner for then first time in 2014.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Q1 Q2 Q3 Points 1 37 José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 2:06.277 2:05.605 2:05.439 5 2 1 Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 2:06.115 2:05.512 2:05.514 4 3 9 Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 2:06.854 2:05.761 2:05.590 3 4 3 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 2:06.790 2:06.035 2:06.321 2 5 7 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 2:07.716 2:06.745 2:06.703 1 6 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCCTC1 2:07.803 2:06.865 7 10 Gianni Morbidelli ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 2:07.251 2:06.906 8 4 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 2:07.343 2:06.993 9 98 Dušan Borković Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 2:07.523 2:07.132 10 2 Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCCTC1 2:07.041 2:07.305 11 18 Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCCTC1 2:07.650 2:07.715 12 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCCTC1 2:07.851 2:08.140 13 12 Robert Huff Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 2:08.241 14 11 James Thompson Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 2:08.677 15 14 Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 2:09.472 16 77 René Münnich ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 2:10.014 17 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCTC2T 2:13.585 18 27 John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT León WTCCTC2T 2:13.892 19 26 Felipe De Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCTC2T A 2:16.951 107% time: 2:22.935 (TC2T) – 19 Henry Kwong Campos Racing SEAT León WTCCTC2T A no time set Bold denotes Pole position for second race.

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 37 José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 11 23:54.343 1 25 2 3 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +8.473 4 18 3 9 Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 11 +9.693 3 15 4 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 +10.414 6 12 5 7 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +12.153 5 10 6 2 Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 +12.707 10 8 7 4 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +13.514 8 6 8 98 Dušan Borković Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +14.340 9 4 9 18 Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 +16.507 11 2 10 10 Gianni Morbidelli ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +17.846 7 1 11 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 +20.907 12 12 12 Robert Huff Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 11 +21.696 13 13 11 James Thompson Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 11 +22.802 14 14 14 Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 11 +32.602 15 15 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCTC2T 11 +1:16.593 17 16 27 John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT León WTCCTC2T 11 +1:19.083 18 17 19 Henry Kwong Campos Racing SEAT León WTCCTC2T A 11 2:15.944 20 Ret 1 Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 7 Puncture 2 NC 77 René Münnich ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 7 +4 Laps 16 Ret 26 Felipe De Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCTC2T A 2 Retired 19 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Gabriele Tarquini Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 23:55.783 1 25 2 98 Dušan Borković Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +1.725 2 18 3 5 Norbert Michelisz Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 +4.360 5 15 4 4 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +5.497 3 12 5 1 Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 11 +6.116 9 10 6 37 José María López Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 11 +6.346 10 8 7 9 Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCCTC1 11 +6.665 8 6 8 10 Gianni Morbidelli ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +14.062 4 4 9 18 Tiago Monteiro Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team Honda Civic WTCCTC1 11 +14.791 11 2 10 3 Tom Chilton ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 +15.104 7 1 11 12 Robert Huff Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 11 +16.916 13 12 11 James Thompson Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 11 +18.818 14 13 14 Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lukoil Lada Sport Lada Granta 1.6TTC1 11 +26.036 15 14 27 John Filippi Campos Racing SEAT León WTCCTC2T 11 +1:26.585 18 15 26 Felipe De Souza Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCTC2T A 11 +1:50.307 20 16 77 René Münnich ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 11 2:21.310 16 Ret 7 Hugo Valente Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1TC1 5 Race incident 6 NC 19 Henry Kwong Campos Racing SEAT León WTCCTC2T A 5 +6 Laps 19 Ret 6 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TCTC2T 4 Driveshaft 17 Ret 25 Mehdi Bennani Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCCTC1 0 Technical 12 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 José María López 422 2 Yvan Muller 305 3 Sébastien Loeb 275 4 Tiago Monteiro 174 5 Norbert Michelisz 169

Yokohama Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Franz Engstler 226 2 John Filippi 143 3 Pasquale Di Sabatino 98 4 Felipe De Souza 26 5 Camilo Echevarría 12

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Citroën 927 2 Honda 649 3 Lada 371

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

External links

World Touring Car Championship official website