Hugo Valente frustrated with team-mate Gabriele Tarquini after Morocco contact

Hugo Valente and Gabriele Tarquini came together on the fifth lap going out of Turn 1 in the main race in Morocco, with the Italian sliding his Lada Vesta WTCC to the outside and closing the door on the twin car driven by the Frenchman, who vented his frustration with his team-mate’s behaviour post-race.

Hugo Valente explained his view on the incident: “I outbraked myself at Turn 1 and missed the first apex,” admitted the Frenchman to TouringCarTimes. “I knew he was going to be on the inside and so I elected not to take my normal line again, otherwise we would have made contact earlier. At the exit he just closed the line and I was as close as I could be to the wall, but we still touched.”

The Lada driver thinks his team-mate should avoid making contact with team-mates and he is too aggressive: “He is a bit too aggressive, especially with team-mates, because he had gained the position already, he was faster and there were 17 laps left. He could have passed me later. That move was a bit stupid, because I had to brake at the exit of the corner, otherwise I would have sent him into the wall and that would have been race over for both of us. It’s a bit silly, but that’s the way he is and has always been, it’s not just with me but with everyone.”

Although Valente concedes Tarquini’s attitude is good, the Frenchman still believes he should have behaved differently: “It’s the way you need to be, you have to be like a dog on track, I’m not saying it’s the wrong attitude, but he could take it easier with team-mates. I didn’t speak to him because I was sick, but there was not much to talk about. We spoke after Paul Ricard, then Slovakiaring, and nothing changed, so there is no point, it’s always going to be the same.”

Tarquini has an opposing view on the incident to his team-mate, saying Valente should have let him through in the first place: “Hugo went wide at Turn 1, of course I was accelerating from the inside and I squeezed him a little bit to the wall,” said the Lada driver to TouringCarTimes. “The point is that when you see a team-mate is much quicker than you you shouldn’t compete with him, at least that is my philosophy and education. A team-mate is not the first opponent to beat.”

With the Italian seemingly faster, Tarquini wanted to be released so he could chase the cars in front: “The performance difference is clear from inside the car, if I were in his place I would have let him through. I understand he is young, it’s normal he has this kind of reaction, but honestly I don’t think I did anything wrong. Had he not run wide there I would have probably lost a lot of time behind him. I had a chance and I took it, of course he had the wall on the right. Of course I had power understeer, but had I not accelerated that much I would have stayed behind him.”

When told about Valente’s view on the incident, Tarquini said he does not agree with the Frenchman’s allegations of being too aggressive: “I don’t think it was an aggressive move,” he said. “When I made a mistake with him at Le Castellet I apologised to him. I don’t think this or the Slovakiaring clash were anything aggressive.”