Citroën’s Yvan Muller ‘still believes’ he has a chance at the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) title, after the Frenchman closed the gap to points leader José María López by 16 points in Russia.
Muller better López in all the important sessions at the Moscow Raceway, taking pole position and a win in race one before coming home sixth in race two – with López crucially not scoring any points in the second encounter.
Muller has now won three races to López’s four, with both drivers having finished outside the points on just one occasion so far in 2015. Race two in Moscow showed that even the Argentine driver can be on the receiving end of misfortune when he was given a drive-through penalty for a jump start.
Muller praised his C-Elysée WTCC car as being the best on the grid in Russia, and admitted that it was easy to win with the best car in the field.
“It’s always easier to win when you’ve got the best car,” said Muller. “And this weekend, the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC was once again the best car out there. I started well in race one and from there I was able to take control.
“I attacked hard over the first two or three laps, then took care not to wear out my tyres. I held Pechito at bay until the finish.
“In race two I got away badly, unlike Seb [Loeb]. Sixth place is probably the best I could have hoped for.
“The way the points have gone has worked out well for me. It’s a long season and I still believe!”
Citroën Team Principal Yves Matton praised the closely-fought action on display in the weekend’s races, which saw Honda take their first victory as a manufacturer in race two, one of only two races so far this season which has not featured a Citroën driver on the podium.
“This weekend in Moscow has been a great sporting spectacle, with performance levels much closer than we have seen previously,” said Matton. “When we get to the next few circuits and the compensation weights are adjusted, we will see whether this was a one-off or a lasting trend.
“Yvan Muller had a terrific weekend, moving up into second spot in the World Championship and closing the gap on Pechito López. It looks like we could have some interesting meetings coming up, especially when you factor in Sébastien Loeb, who will be looking to come back hard, and Ma Qing Hua, who is getting better all the time!”