Pepe Oriola delighted with first win, despite a surprise restart

Pepe Oriola took his first career win in the World Touring Car Championship in the second race at Marrakech, starting from the front row and holding off the Chevrolet of Yvan Muller throughout the race to claim his first win and the first for SEAT since Slovakia last season.

With Oriola and Nykjaer both claiming victories, there were two new race winners on one weekend in the Championship. The last time this happened was at Brands Hatch in 2006, and those first time WTCC race winners were Yvan Muller and Alain Menu.

Oriola admitted the strategic approach of the Tuenti Racing Team in qualifying was to qualify at the bottom of the top ten, and so start at the front for race two. The 19-year-old was able to pass his team-mate on the opening lap and lead the race, and successfully hold off the attempts of RML Chevrolet’s Yvan Muller to get past.

“I tried to be at the front for race two and I thought there was the possibility to win this race,” said Oriola. “I overtook my team-mate Fernando Monje, and then when I saw the Chevrolets coming on just the second lap, I thought it would be really be hard because they’re so fast on the second straight.”

A long safety car period held up the race after Gabriele Tarquini’s Honda crashed out at Turn 13, with the race suspended behind the safety car for four laps.

The race was restarted with just one lap to go, which caught the Spaniard out by surprise:
“To be honest, I didn’t know the race was going to be started again, because with one lap to go Tarquini’s car was still on the track. But then on last chicane I saw the safety car’s lights go off, and I thought to myself I had to push as hard as I can.”

Oriola’s win in Morocco lifts the Spanish driver to sixth in the drivers’ standings and places him as the top SEAT driver, just ahead of Münnich Motorsport’s Marc Basseng.