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Citroën Racing’s Yvan Muller believes that his performance “augurs well for tomorrow” after dragging his C-Elysée to the fasted time in World Touring Car Championship qualifying at the Hungaroring.
Muller claimed pole by 0.053s from Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente, with third-, fourth- and fifth-places for José María López, Sébastien Loeb and Ma Qing Hua respectively completing a fruitful Saturday of running for the manufacturer.
Speaking after qualifying, four-time champion Muller, who trails team-mate López by 36 points in the championship, was pleased to have secured a first pole position of the season, particularly after having strung three strong sectors together.
“I’m happy to have got my first pole position of 2015 under my belt,” he declared. “It’s down to a combination of a good car, effective teamwork and the confidence I felt driving my Citroën C-Elysée WTCC.
“On this circuit, it’s almost impossible to put together three perfect sectors, but my first two were really good and I was pleasantly surprised by my time. It augurs well for tomorrow.”
Team-mate López drew positives from his third place on the grid despite making two errors on his final qualifying lap, paying tribute to Muller for his performance.
“I was quick in the rain this morning, but I knew Yvan would perform really well in qualifying, particularly on a dry track,” said the championship leader. “He did a great job, so well done to him! As for me, I made two mistakes which put me out of contention.
“I’m still starting from [near] the front, though, which is a good result as far as the championship goes. I just hope that I can score enough points over the two races to keep a healthy lead in the overall standings.”
Team Principal Yves Matton praised Muller’s application in the final part of qualifying to secure what he described as a ‘perfect lap’, while also giving his approval to the championship’s regulations, with his team’s rivals considerably closer to the pace this weekend.
“Yvan has shown once again that he is the ‘Hungaroring Master’,” he said. “Despite changing conditions throughout the day, he produced what I think we can call a perfect lap to claim pole position.
“Now that the compensation weights have taken effect, we have seen the gaps in performance narrow. That’s a sign that the regulations are working well!”