Tom Chilton was left frustrated after the World Touring Car Championship races in Shanghai, having lost out on the WTCC Independents Trophy to Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Mehdi Bennani.
Chilton had headed into the event with an outside shot at the WTCC Trophy, being 20 points behind Bennani.
Things looked promising for Chilton in the Opening Race, where he was running in second for the first half of the race, and set for a class win, whilst Bennani was 13th overall and third in class.
The Brit was, however, collected by the LADA of Gabriele Tarquini on the ninth lap of the race, causing race-ending damage to both drivers and effectively ending Chilton’s chances of closing the points gap to his team-mate.
Despite coming up short, Chilton was quick to congratulate Bennani, who is in his second season of racing the Citroën C-Elysée with the team.
“Congratulations to Mehdi for this crown,” said Chilton. “I’m very happy for him because he played a season-long game. He had the advantage of knowing the car and it took me a little time to develop to his level. However, he is a great competitor and he fully deserves his crown.
“Personally, I’m frustrated to let it escape this way … I held second place quite easily in the first race and, besides the podium, I was capable of securing the independents’ victory.
“Unfortunately, I was hit pretty hard by a LADA at the exit of the hairpin – it was a stupid attack that damaged my right-front end.”
In the Main Race, Chilton failed to make any progress and finished in ninth, consolidating his position of eighth overall in the drivers’ championship standings.
“I must thank the Sébastien Loeb Racing team who did an incredible job in repairing the car [between races], replacing all steering components in five short minutes; it was awesome.
“Thanks to them, I was able to finish second in class, keeping Tom Coronel behind me to finish second in the WTCC Trophy and score some precious points before the finale in Qatar.”