José María López says Huff & Muller battle was the key to his race win

Reigning champion José María López took his 24th career victory at the Hungaroring in the main race in his Citroën, but was closely challenged by former world champions Rob Huff and Yvan Muller during the race in difficult conditions, with the Argentinian remarking that the battle between the two former Chevrolet team-mates was pivotal to his race victory.

López has now launched back ahead into the lead of the championship, 12 points clear of Honda’s Tiago Monteiro. Neither driver scored in race one however, with both making the wrong decision, with hindsight, to start on slick tyres. However, López converted his main race pole to victory while Monteiro was able to move one place up from his grid slot of fourth, following a penalty handed to team-mate Rob Huff after contact with Yvan Muller on lap ten.

On the strategy call in the opening race, López remarked:
“It was 50/50 after the out-laps, and sometimes these kinds of decisions are more difficult. What made us go on slicks is we saw Yvan, Tiago and Rob all go on slicks…it’s always easier with Monday’s newspaper to say ‘oh, you should have used rain tyres’, but we were a bit lucky since all the other teams didn’t score as well.”

In race two there were no such issues with the rain falling more heavily ahead of the race, with López starting from pole position ahead of Tom Coronel’s ROAL Chevrolet, who struggled to stay on track through Turn 2, allowing Muller and Huff through.

“After a difficult first race we tried a new thing, but I think the main thing was rain tyres!” joked López.

“It’s been one of the most difficult races in terms of grip…I was never comfortable on a lap, I always had someone attacking. I managed to pull away a little but before the safety car but then Yvan attacked me a lot after the restart. I defended and then Huff attacked him and he lost a little bit of ground and I think that was the key to the race.”

“Then when Huff was very close they told me he had a penalty, and that was a help for me.”

The drivers praised the new surface over the weekend, but the virgin tarmac combined with wet weather proved more tricky than expected on Sunday.

“I think the new tarmac made things more difficult in the wet, so I’m really happy to pull out a victory in these conditions, I’m really happy for the team as well,” added López.