Photo: TCR Media

Hugo Valente surprised with Opel’s pace in Bahrain

Hugo Valente will start on the front row for the first race in Bahrain, as pole sitter Mat’o Homola will have to take a penalty for an engine change. Valente would have liked to be on the clean side of the track, behind the pole position.

“I don’t really know what to think of the penalty for Mat’o (Homola)”, said the Craft-Bamboo driver. “I would have preferred to have been on the cleaner line. The race will be long and the start will be crucial.”

Valente is concerned about the start, as he doesn’t have much experience with the SEAT León TCR: “I don’t have a lot of experience with this car on the start and it’s my first time here compared to my teammates who were here last year but I’m quite happy.”

The Frenchman bounced back from a difficult pair of free practice sessions through some setup changes decided with his engineer: “Yesterday was quite difficult but I’ve been working with my engineer on the set up and today I was able to pull out a few things. I’m surprised at the Opel, congratulations to them.”