Hugo Valente says he is ‘very happy’ after securing his third podium of the season in the opening World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race in Qatar, with the Frenchman finishing the season as the leading Chevrolet driver.
Valente took his third podium, and his second in a race one, in the first Qatar race, having also made it through to Q3 for the fourth time in 2015.
Having had two difficult meetings previously, including three non-scores in a row, Valente was keen to make an impressive in the season finale, following up his podium with a solid sixth in race two.
The Campos Racing driver also drew attention to the fact that, along with Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz, he was the only driver to finish on the race one podium twice this year, excluding the dominant Citroën drivers.
“I’m very happy with the result,” said Valente. “For me, my races were great; difficult races, but with two great results and thanks to RML for developing the car and getting it back on the right pace.
“It was difficult to overtake here and I was scared to start on the bad side of the track but both starts were good and in finishing on the podium in race one we were [one of] the only drivers to have finished two podiums in race one this season except for Citroën and I’m happy about that.”
The 23-year-old also paid tribute to outgoing Citroën racer Sébastien Loeb, who he admits to looking up to when he was younger.
“Congratulations to everyone here, especially to Séb who is going to leave the championship next year,” added Valente. “It was a pleasure racing with him and I remember taking a picture with him when I was 13 years old and now I’m racing against him. It was a good experience and I wish he could have stayed longer.
“Congrats to everyone else; to Citroën and to Norbert [Michelisz] for his title.”