Yvan Muller credits Yann Ehrlacher for pole-winning tow

Yvan Muller has credited Cyan Racing team-mate and nephew Yann Ehrlacher for the slipstream that helped him secure pole position for the opening World Touring Car Cup race in Macau.

Muller came out on top in Qualifying 1 thanks to a 2:28.661 lap that marked a new TCR record at the Guia street track, and later thanked Ehrlacher for drafting him along Macau’s extensive straights as the Lynk & Co duo collaborated to Muller’s advantage.

With just 0.068s eventually separating Muller from second-placed Norbert Michelisz, Ehrlacher’s draft proved crucial in the battle for pole.

”Yann was in front of me to give me the tow,” Muller said. ”I followed him quite closely to have the best tow because I knew even in the uphill at the back of the circuit he would be fast because he showed his speed there all week.

“And finally I could manage to do the pole, because I knew it was very tight because I knew the time of Norbi (Michelisz). I saw my predicted time and I saw it would be in the tenths and finally we did it.”

Elaborating further on Ehrlacher, who lost time in the pits while Cyan Racing rectified a wheel nut issue but still recovered to qualify fifth, Muller continued:

”I don’t know exactly what happened [to Ehrlacher], but apparently he had a suspension failure or something like that. When I went out on the second run behind him [the team] told me not to follow him because it’s too risky, and that’s why he lost two runs. To manage to do P5 without a tow with two less runs than us is pretty impressive.”

With fellow touring car world champions Andy Priaulx taking third and Thed Björk sixth, opening qualifying was a big success for Cyan Racing.

“I’m really happy and well done to Yvan and Norbi,” said Priaulx. “I did the lap on my own, so I had more potential. I had to abort a lap that was maybe quicker before that final run. Performance has been great. I’m really getting more and more comfortable with the front-wheel drive, it’s getting better and better in each race and hopefully that will continue and I keep working with the engineers and the team to find more performance.”

Björk tagged the wall on his fastest lap, altering the toe setting at the right front of his car and leaving him unable to improve in the closing stages.