Pepe Oriola was critical of the ‘unfair’ advantage he perceives the Peugeot drivers have in TCR Europe, after he was involved in an incident with Team Clairet Sport’s Teddy Clairet in race one at Monza.
Oriola had got the jump on JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché at the start of the race, but the Spaniard was re-passed for fourth on the exit of the first chicane.
After briefly dropping to sixth, Oriola then circulated in fourth after Mehdi Bennani and Jimmy Clairet ahead clashed.
The Brutal Fish Racing driver almost claimed third from Teddy Clairet at the start of lap three, before losing out on the exit of turn 2 again.
Then the following lap saw Oriola attempt the same move, but contact at the first chicane broke his suspension, resulting in further contact at Curva Grande.
A frustrated Oriola was critical of the driving standards from the Peugeot drivers, whilst also expressing concern about the way their performance is delivered.
“I was doing a good race, I was just waiting for the moment,” said Oriola to TouringCars.Net. “I passed [Teddy Clairet] once in lap three I think, but then with this huge acceleration they have, he could come back to me in Curva Grande, which is fair.
“I did the same move on the lap after, but when I was changing direction from Turn 1 to 2, he came super strong into my rear tyre and broke all my suspension, which is a shame.
“It could have been a 2-3 result for the team, and I had the pace to be on the podium and maybe even challenge Dan a bit.”
Oriola went on to focus on his frustrations at trying to pass the Peugeots, which he believes have too much of an advantage on the fast Monza circuit.
“Even in the start it was crazy, because I overtook Briché but they have this hugely different weight, because of whatever specification they have, and it’s just not fair.
“You will gain a position and they will just out-drag you on the straight, which happened also to Dan who was leading the race; they just wait until the straight and they pass you like nothing.
“I don’t know how experienced these drivers are, but I’ve done a lot of races and if they see that I’m faster, just go behind me.
“These things destroyed the race of Bennani, my race, and other people. We’re here to race. They have damage to the car, I have damage to the car, I lost the points, but for what?
“In the end the most important thing is to finish the race. If you lose a position, you lose a position, but they are driving too aggressive.
“I think the problem is they don’t know how to control the power of this car, because if they would be a normal speed, they would never get to this point; Briché would be behind me after Turn 2 because I passed him at the start.
“But then somehow they come back, and they passed me. They did this to Dan, and he didn’t want to race them because he is fighting for the championship, but they are way too light.
“If they have this advantage because their engine is smaller, OK, but we have to do something.
“It’s not a problem of top speed, because the top speed is the same; it is the acceleration out of the corners where they have this difference of power because of the weight or whatever.
“It’s something they [WSC] have to look at. We have two-litre engines, but the Peugeot is 1.6 and as it is smaller they have less weight, which is fair because we have a championship with another brand, but it damages other people’s championship and at the end these regulations are designed for two-litre [cars].”