Citroën Racing extended its lead at the top of the manufacturers’s standings in this year’s World Touring Car Championship campaign, despite both defending champion José María López and Yvan Mulller failing to score in the first race in Hungary.
The marque was able to extend its lead due to both Mehdi Bennani and Tom Chilton’s good form in the Opening Race, as well as the pair of factory drivers making the best of the conditions to make it a double score for Yves Matton’s squad in the Main Race.
“When it came to deciding what tyres to use for the opening race, we were hesitating between various options. I based my strategy on that of my rivals for the championship,” said López, who now has a 12 point lead heading into the next event in Morocco.
The Argentine, who has just three non-scores since he made his WTCC début back in 2014, admitted that the penalty issued to Rob Huff for “avoidable contact” incident, enabled him to have some breathing room in the latter stages of race two.
“That was a mistake, but it didn’t have huge consequences. My win in the main race was one of the trickiest of my career. I never felt totally comfortable, particularly when I was put under pressure first by Yvan, and then by Rob!”
Team Principal Yves Matton was very pleased with the team’s best-ever Hungaroring effort.
“This pair of one-two finishes represents our best ever result at the Hungaroring. The rain and the tricky track conditions made the races eventful affairs, with lots of overtaking,” said Matton, who admitted that the decision for both López and Muller to go onto slicks for race one was the wrong call.
This decision was taken by several drivers, which included Tom Coronel, Rob Huff, Tiago Monteiro and Thed Björk, which saw Muller and López pit in the last quarter of the race for wets.
“In the end, it was the private drivers who scored the points for Citroën,” explained Matton, who congratulated the privateer duo for their 1-2 victory in race one. Along with the race two results, this saw Citroën Racing take its best results to date at the Hungaroring.
“In the main race, Pechito and Yvan produced a perfect performance, showing that the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC was well and truly the best car in these difficult conditions.”
Citroën Racing now moves clear of chief rivals Honda Racing and LADA Sport, as the French outfit is now 40 points ahead of its Japanese rival.