Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente admits that he is ‘disappointed’ not to have been able to take advantage of his front-row start in race two in Slovakia, leaving the Frenchman with his first zero-points weekend of the season.
Valente started from ninth in race one but dropped to 11th and out of the points by the end of the race, after struggling with his car in the conditions which ultimately led to the race being red-flagged.
“The car was very bad in race one,” said Valente to TouringCars.Net. “I had a lot of aquaplaning in the straights, so it was very difficult to drive. I thought I would take advantage of my grid position in race two but unfortunately it’s not happening!”
After race two was cancelled, Valente admitted that he was disappointed not to be able to take up his second front-row start of the season.
“It was a bit expected, it hasn’t stopped raining since race one so obviously conditions are a bit worse,” added Valente. “I’m disappointed because I think we could have gone under the safety car. Obviously it would have been a good decision for me because [we could have gone] under the safety car, do a few laps and I would have got half the points.
“I was willing to go because it was a good position for me to start in and probably to finish in as well because we would have only done safety car [laps].”
In addition to the benefits to himself, Valente believes the WTCC should have done more to show the fans that they were willing to attempt to race at the Slovakiaring.
“I think maybe we should have at least shown the fans that came here and spent the whole day outside in the rain that we wanted to race at this track, even if deep inside we knew we were not going to race,” said Valente. “We could have maybe shown them that we would try it. It would have been better for the image. But if they say it’s too dangerous, it’s too dangerous.”
The next race for Valente will be at the Salzburgring in two weeks time and the 21-year-old is hoping that the circuit will suit his Chevrolet more than the recent twisty circuits.
“I think the car will perform there [Salzburg], so hopefully we’ll be closer to Citroën,” added Valente. “Hopefully we’ll score a lot of points there because I definitely lost a lot of points this weekend. It’s never good to not score points during a weekend. I think the track will be good for us with the Chevrolet so I’m looking forward to it.”