Pepe Oriola treasures points despite success ballast

Pepe Oriola lost the lead of the championship he had claimed at the Red Bull Ring, but with a 30-kilos ballast and a difficult qualifying session, the Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver is still happy with the outcome of the Singapore event.

“It is good to finish the weekend on the podium,” said the Spaniard. “I knew it was going to be a difficult round for me, mainly because of the maximum success ballast I was carrying. Still, the car performed well in free practice, then I had a more disappointing qualifying, but the races were ok, although I had steering problems after touching with Loris Hezemans at the start of the race.”

The SEAT driver’s mind is clearly focused on the championship: “We head now to a very close and exciting final battle for the title. The important thing is to score and there are still 110 points at stake, so I have high hopes.”

Oriola went from leading the championship by two points to an eleven-points gap from title rival Stefano Comini.