Yvan Muller joked that finishing on the podium in the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup race at the Hungaroring was ‘not bad for an old man’, as the Lynk & Co driver picked up his first podium of the season.
Muller converted his front-row grid position into a second-place finish in the first race in Hungary, having initially challenged pole-sitter Néstor Girolami for the lead at the start of the race before falling back from the Argentine.
The Frenchman then spent much of the rest of the race fending off the challenge from Girolami’s Münnich Motorsport team-mate Esteban Guerrieri, succeeding in keeping the Argentine at bay.
The 49-year-old, who had been leading in the previous race in Marrakech before retiring with mechanical troubles, joked that his 13th WTCR podium was ‘not bad’ considering his age.
“After Marrakech, where I was twice P2 in qualifying, I didn’t even make the end of the race,” said Muller.
“At least here I am there on the podium. Not bad for an old man! I was retired two years ago…”
Muller believes that the strong driver line-up within Cyan Racing, where his team-mates are Thed Björk, Andy Priaulx and nephew Yann Ehrlacher, is helping to push the team forward early on in the life of the new Lynk & Co 03 car.
“As you can see, since the beginning of the season the Lynk & Co car is among the top five cars. We fight a lot and we work hard, of course.
“The line-up in the team is good, and the factor of all the drivers pushes all the drivers up. It’s a big help. Then we have all the mechanics and engineers to help us a lot.
“The level of this championship is very high, all professional people and professional drivers, so if you want to fight for the victory you need to be on the top and be focused on what you have to do.”