José María López concedes pole position wasn’t likely in Japan

Citroën Racing’s run of pole positions in the World Touring Car Championship came to an end after 11 months in Motegi, with the Zengő Honda of Norbert Michelisz depriving the French manufacturer of pole position at their home circuit by just eight-hundredths of a second, with the reigning champion declaring that being the best Citroën was more important today.

“I don’t think anything went wrong, just because we didn’t get pole doesn’t mean anything went wrong. We are carrying 60kg, and because of that it’s difficult,” sald López after qualifying.

“We knew it was going to be very difficult, and it’s a little more than we expected as we were afraid after free practice…but when I put the new tyres on in qualifying everything changed. Personally speaking it’s like a pole as I’m in front of my team-mates and that’s important for the championship, and I’m also happy for the team as after Norbi it’s all CItroëns behind him.”

With the championship battle realistically between the Citroën drivers, López has a clear eye on the battle with team-mates Sébastien Loeb (P3) and Yvan Muller (P6) heading into Sunday’s races.

“I know I have a good lead but during the whole year it’s been very tight between us,” said López. “Today Seb was really strong and just missed a little bit in qualifying, but his performance was really strong…I know I have a good difference in the championship and of course I’m always watching what Yvan (Muller) and Seb are doing. It will be a really bad situation to go off or have a silly mistake and lose the difference that I work for all the year in one race. For me the races I had to win I won and when I had to take risks I took them. Now I need to score points and they are under pressure to take risks”