Photo: Citroën Racing

José María López not downbeat about third in qualifying

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Championship leader José María López is not too concerned about qualifying third on the grid for the Belgian round of the WTCC, despite dominating the three practice sessions, and setting the new qualifying lap record during the second part of qualifying.

The 31-year-old Argentinian will start behind his two French Citroën team-mates for the first race, and loses two points from his Championship lead, which is now reduced to 39 points, with 50 points available from the two races tomorrow.

“It’s very easy to say you did a mistake. I think everybody does mistakes on their laps, the thing is to try and get the best lap as you can, especially in Q3,” said López.

“(In practice) I think I found the limit of the car quicker than (Muller and Loeb) because I know this track, so I think from what I saw, they had a little bit (more time) that they could recover.

“I knew I was on the limit at some places, and I lost the car a little bit in Eau Rouge, which was my strongest point, and I lost half a second in the first sector, and then I was purple (fastest) in the next two sectors.

“I think we have done a great job, and tomorrow it’s a long race. I’m really happy with my qualifying, I’m fighting with two great drivers, so I think for me this is more normal than what’s happened up to now. I think there are still some things which I need to learn.”

Now that López’s position has shifted to being the championship leader, on whether he will change his approach to preserve his points lead and reduce risks, the Argentinian believes that there’s no need to make any changes to his approach.

“I will try to do my best, I won’t change my way of racing,” he said. “I think if I’m first in the Championship as a circumstance of a lot of factors. I’ve been very consistent, Yvan and Seb have had some problems in some races, I had a problem in Moscow, so I will try to do the best race I can, and if my best is P5 without mistakes, I’m happy. Obviously I know this track, I know this, Spa, and the next one (Termas de Río Hondo), so I came here thinking I had an advantage, I think I lost it in qualifying, but there’s still a long way to go.”