Photo: WTCR

Yvan Muller back on top after strong weekend in Portugal

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Yvan Muller has retaken the lead of the World Touring Car Cup drivers’ standings after a great weekend at the Vila Real street circuit, with Muller winning Race 1 and finishing second in Race 2, with team-mate Thed Björk’s dominant win in Race 3 helping the team extend its lead in the teams’ standings.

Muller’s Race 1 start was pivotal to his progress throughout the weekend, as he bogged down from sixth on the grid and lost almost ten places, but that gave him the opportunity to slow down and not run into the carnage ahead when the two SLR Volkswagens of Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani collided ahead.

“I don’t know how it happened exactly at the front because I did my best worst start of my career,” said Muller. “I missed my start and that was lucky for me because I was not in the pack.

I would like to think of Rob [Huff] and Mehdi [Bennani]. They were the fastest on Saturday, and they should probably be on the podium, but unfortunately racing is as it is. It’s a victory, but not a real one.”

On Sunday, without the same blistering pace of his team-mate Björk who romped to pole position, Muller qualified in ninth and secured the front row for the reversed grid second race, going onto finish second behind the nimble Peugeot 308TCR of Mat’o Homola.

In Race 3, Muller missed out on points, losing tenth on the final lap as he took his joker lap to the Audi of Frédéric Vervisch, who benefitted from having taken his before the final safety car.

“It was a superb weekend,” said Muller to TouringCarTimes. “Two victories from three races and the team that scored the most points, of course there was some luck for me in Race 1, but in other ways we weren’t lucky,” he said, referring to Björk’s involvement in the Race 1 crash.

“(Race 3) was a strong race from Thed, a very strong race, fantastic; and I had some good fights with the Peugeot in Race 2. Then in Race 3 I was probably the only one to overtake any cars. I overtook (Jean-Karl) Vernay twice at the first chicane, but twice he cut it so stayed in front.”

Muller now leads the standings by 22 points over the rival Hyundai of Gabriele Tarquini run by BRC Racing Team and the Honda of nephew Yann Ehrlacher.