Photo: WTCC Media

Yvan Muller opens his 2015 pole position count in Hungary

Citroën’s Yvan Muller will start tomorrow’s first race from pole position in the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, preventing team-mate José María López’s five-race run of pole positions from getting past what’s now a joint record, with Muller achieving the same feat with RML in 2013.

Before López, the last driver to score pole position was ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton in October 2014 at Beijing, with Yvan Muller’s last pole position being at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of June 2014.

Muller took pole and won race one here last year, a feat he also achieved in 2013 and 2012. When asked about what his Hungaroring secret was, the Frenchman responded:

“I don’t think it’s a secret. think it’s a combination of many things; a good car, good team, good balance and a little bit of luck as well. Everything went together for me today and I’m pleased to open my score of pole positions for 2015.

“I was also surprised with my lap time in the end. My target was to do a 1:49.0, so I was focussed on that and to not do a mistake (in 3), as it’s quite hard to keep the tyres working for the complete lap and I did even better than my target by a few tenths.”

Muller will start on pole position with the Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 of Hugo Valente alongside, after his five-place grid penalty was rescinded by the stewards. Points leader José María López will start third on the grid, directly behind Muller on the grid for the start of the first race.