José María López makes significant gain in revised championship standings
Honda’s exclusion from Morocco, where they took a 1-2-3 in both qualifying and the main race, has had a significant impact on their championship challenge, with Honda’s leading points-scoring driver Tiago Monteiro now dropping to joint-third with Citroën’s Yvan Muller, with José María López now awarded the Morocco main race win, souring to a 94-point lead over his new closest rival, the independent entry of Sébastien Loeb Racing driver Mehdi Bennani.
With all four Hondas excluded from Morocco, and with the privateer car of Zengő Motorsport’s Ferenc Ficza also disqualified from the Hungaroring, as the small team chose not to appeal the FIA stewards ruling, López now has the largest points margin he’s had at this point of the season. The two-time champion leads the standings for Citroën on 209 points, with Bennani on 115, and the drivers sharing third, Monteiro and Muller, all with less than half of the Argentinian’s points tally on 94.
Honda driver Rob Huff has lost out the most in terms of championship position, dropping from third to sixth on 85 points, and is now three points behind Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz, and also just one point ahead of the only other Briton in the field, Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën driver Tom Chilton.
