Double-podium for Yvan Muller in China gives him upper hand in fight for second

Citroën factory driver Yvan Muller has pulled out a 31-point gap over Honda’s Tiago Monteiro in China, even though the two drivers went in the weekend tied for second in the standings. The Honda driver had a nightmare of a weekend at the Formula 1 grade circuit, while Muller took the second best haul of points from Shanghai.

The Frenchman, who announced his retirement from the WTCC ahead of the race weekend, qualified in third for the main race, and went from eighth to third in a busy opening race while Monteiro picked up a solitary point with tenth.

Muller followed this up with an easy run to second behind team-mate José María López after jumping Nicky Catsburg’s Lada off the line in the main race, while Monteiro finished as the top Honda in eighth as the Civics struggled more than any other manufacturer to deal with the Chinese circuit.

Although 55 points are still available, Muller now is in a strong position to secure second in the drivers’ championship for Citroën in both his and their last season in the WTCC.

“I didn’t win, but two podiums in a single day is pretty good going, particularly at my age,” said Muller. “There were two important things this weekend, first of all, the manufacturers’ title for Citroën, which makes me particularly proud to be part of this team. Secondly, I was able to pull away from Tiago Monteiro in the championship by scoring a lot more points than he did. That is important in the fight for second place, which is the last goal remaining for us. We will be doing our best to wrap it up in Qatar.”