The Chevrolet team enjoyed a strong weekend in Germany, with Yvan Muller taking a win in the first race and Rob Huff and Alain Menu both taking podium finishes for the team.
In the first race the RML squad scored its third consecutive 1-2 finish when Muller led Huff home to victory. It was also the third time in a row that the top two finishers were the same, as the Frenchman continued his title challenge against the Englishman.
“In Race one, things may have appeared to be easy for me on TV, but they weren’t in reality, as I had a set-up for the wet and the track started drying up after a couple of laps.,” said Muller. “Still, I managed to keep the advantage and win.”
Rob Huff on the other hand admitted that he was struggling in the first race – which became evident to spectators as he went into the gravel on the third lap.
“Second in Race one was not too bad, after the mistake I did in lap 3, when I ran wide exiting too fast from a corner,” admitted Huff. “I was simply pushing too hard. I was lucky to be able to rejoin the race and then I did my best to come back, so second just behind Yvan is a good result.”
The second race of the day saw a stronger result for Menu, who took second having started from fifth. Muller and Huff were forced to fight their way through the field and finished in 5th and 6th.
Menu admitted that he simply did not have the pace to challenge eventual winner Franz Engstler and he congratualted him on his first win.
“In Race two, I had a good start, then managed to take third from Monteiro quite early into the race, but there was little I could do against the BMWs,” said Menu. “When Michelisz made a mistake, I became second and I was not far from Engstler but was never in a position to attack him. I congratulate him for his first victory, he is a nice guy and he deserves it.”
Muller said of his second race: “Race two was definitely more lively, as Rob and I got tangled in a couple of fights with other drivers, but I managed to score some points and further reduce the difference with respect to Rob, so I cannot complain.”
However Huff bemoaned the difficult of racing against lighter cars, and in particular passing Monteiro which cost him a crucial position to rival Muller.
“I go away from Germany still leading the championship, although the margin has been reduced, so I cannot complain,” he said. “Race two was difficult, I was ahead of Yvan but Monteiro pushed me wide at the first chicane, forgetting that Yvan was there too and opening the way for him passing both of us, but that’s racing! It was difficult to battle with cars which had less compensation weight, so there is little more I could do.”