Tom Chilton had no time to react in opening race accident

Tom Chilton was one of four cars involved in the crash that caused the opening race at Macau to be cut short by a red flag. The Brit was at the last of the close pack that followed Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, who crashed at Police and caused a pile-up.

“I got a very good start off the line,” said the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver to TouringCarTimes. “The guys in front were a little slow through Turn 1, whereas Rob (Huff) and I were a little faster. I actually gave Michelisz a little “love tap” before Mandarin. I went up the inside of Guerrieri, but I lost grip and one place.”

Chilton believes that once he and Citroën stable-mate Rob Huff overtook Lada’s Kevin Gleason, Michelisz cracked under the pressure of the duo catching up so quickly.

“Rob did a very good overtaking move on Gleason, I saw the opportunity at Lisboa and took all the inside kerb to pass him as well. We just opened up and caught the group in front very quickly. I think the Hondas were struggling with the tyres due to the extra weight they have, I think they genuinely fell under pressure. Norbi made a mistake.”

Chilton didn’t see much of the incident that caused the red flag, as he was glued to Huff’s rear bumper and didn’t have enough time to avoid the accident.

“I couldn’t see how Michelisz went off, I just saw Rob going into the corner and I was on his bumper. The yellow flags didn’t come out in time, I hit the brakes as soon as I could but I probably locked up for 2 metres and then I crashed, there was no time to do anything, it happened in a blink.”

The Brit hopes all cars involved can be fixed in time for tomorrow’s race.

“It looks like my car is fixable and I finished eighth, which is good points. I’m frustrated because (team-mate) Mehdi (Bennani) can gain more points this weekend now that he has won, but I’m happy for him. I hope they can fix the other cars, because they look quite badly damaged.”

Chilton’s plan for the main race is to attack at the maximum to try and start what he defines as an interesting battle with pole sitter Rob Huff.

“I will go full attack. Now I know how bad the Honda is on the tyres, so I won’t have as much pressure to overtake Norbert on the first lap, I can wait six laps and then do my move. After that I guess it will just be a pure scrap between me and Rob, we’ve got the pace. As long as I can get a good start and pass the Honda quickly it will be a very interesting race.”