Tom Chilton described his weekend in the World Touring Car Championship at the Nürburgring Nordschleife as ‘slightly difficult’ after he missed out on the podium in both of Saturday’s races.
Having taken a double podium at the circuit in 2016, Chilton headed into this weekend’s races in high spirits as he targeted a repeat of his form from last year.
The Brit qualified in sixth for the Main Race, which became fifth for the reverse-grid Opening Race. From there, Chilton went on to finish in fourth, after being passed by fellow Citroën racer Rob Huff for the final podium spot on the final lap.
Chilton showed he had the pace, posting the fastest lap of the race on lap two, before Huff managed to get a tow on him in the final run out of Döttingher Höhe, after Chilton had earlier lifted off due to yellow flags for Néstor Girolami’s accident.
In race two Chilton finished in fifth, after close battling with Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Mehdi Bennani.
“Living up to its reputation, the Nürburgring has not been easy,” said Chilton. “As far as I’m concerned, I had a slightly difficult weekend.
“For sure, the podium was at close range in the Opening Race. Unfortunately, during a ride off the track, a driver did not respect the yellow flag, and I didn’t manage to narrow the gap to go and get a third place.
“However, the team has worked hard to allow our car to be very powerful, especially in corner speed in a curve where we clearly were the fastest. We’ll have to fight during the next races for the WTCC Trophy title.”
Chilton leaves Germany fourth overall in the drivers’ championship standings on 106 points, 21 adrift of the points lead.