Yvan Muller was left frustrated by the gap in qualifying to fellow Hyundai outfit BRC Racing Team, but admits starting third for the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) race in Slovakia is ‘not that bad’ given his struggles with the car.
Muller lapped the 3.6 mile Slovakia Ring in 2:10.281s – 0.617 seconds adrift of front-row starter Norbert Michelisz and nearly a second behind pole-sitter Gabriele Tarquini.
The championship leader admitted understeer and balance problems plagued his i30 N TCR throughout the half-hour session, and isn’t sure how the car will fare on new tyres during the race tomorrow.
“It was a good performance but it was too far from Gabriele and Norbi,” said Muller.
“But on the mid-time I was very in trouble with the balance of the car and my understeer was more than big. P3 in those conditions is not that bad.
“Thed [Björk] will take a grid penalty [for an engine change] and that is a shame but it’s life and it’s motor racing and we have to accept.
“For the race tomorrow when I see how I struggle on a new tyre on one lap I am not looking forward to the race right now.”
The opening race of the weekend gets underway at 11:00 BST.