Yvan Muller went arriving in China equal on points with Tiago Monteiro in the chase for the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s unofficial silver medal to heading home 31 points ahead of his rival.
A podium brace for Citroën’s Muller and a frustrating weekend for Honda driver Monteiro means it’s advantage France over Portugal heading to the final rounds of the season.
“For me it was not a bad day, two podium in a row,” said Muller, 47. “Of course it’s not a victory but I guess for my age to be twice on the podium is not bad and the good thing is I take some points advantage from Tiago in second place in the championship and that is another important target for Citroën so it looks good in the next round but let’s see what happens.”
Monteiro said: “We’ve struggled with straightline speed and with 60kg of compensation weight. On that basis, to score two top-10 finishes isn’t bad, but in reality our performance just wasn’t there.”