Rydell more than disappointed

The Swede Rickard Rydell was in for a shot of the WTCC title this year. Before the Macau-race Rydell was only a few points behind the leaders, and with less penalty weight than his closest rivals things looked good. The weekend started fine with Rydell being in the top of all the practice sessions. But on his first flying lap of the qualifying session his chances were eliminated.

“The word ‘disappointed’ doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. Up until the second free practice on Friday, I was really happy; when everyone went out on new tyres, I was quickest. I was pleased with the car and I felt quite confident about the weekend,” Rydell said.

“Then it all went wrong in qualifying; okay, I made a slight mistake, but I was really unlucky with the red flags and the rain.”

Rydell started from 22:nd position on the grid and knew he faced difficult conditions so far down the order on the very twisty and tight Macau-track.

“In the first race, I was one of the first to get caught up in the queue of cars, and the same kind of thing happened in the second but I was able to avoid the worst of it. I hit the Alfa at Lisboa and damaged the front end, so I had to come in.”

Rydell finished 16:th in the first race and retired from the second. In the championship standings, Rydell dropped from fifth to sixth.