Chevrolet strengthened their position in both the drivers' and manufacturers' standings at the penultimate World Touring Car Championship round of 2010 in Okayama, Japan. Rob Huff mastered the treacherous conditions to win race one, while Yvan Muller extended his points lead by finishing third in both races.
The RML-run team suffered in qualifying on Saturday on a dry circuit, but excelled in the wet conditions in the races. Muller extended his lead in the drivers' standings from 25 points to 37, while in the manufacturers' standings the team are only six points away from taking the title.
Huff, who finished fourth in the second race after his first race triumph, was pleased with the team's results. “We are absolutely delighted with the results today,” he said. “The boys in blue did an extraordinary work. We wanted the rain, because we knew it was going to level all cars.
“It was not easy to guess the right set-up, as the rain only appeared today, but we started from last years' data and that was the right move to do. In Race 1, after the start behind the safety-car, I was able to pass the BMWs and build a sufficient gap. In Race 2, we focused on protecting Yvan's back.”
Muller echoed his teammate's feelings. “One thing is sure: the weekend ended much better than it started!” he said. “Today, we put together a very strong team effort and collected the fruits of the good work done.”
Despite the strong weekend, Muller is aware that the title is not won yet. “Starting from fourth row and ending the day with two podiums and more points than my direct rivals in the championship is very positive. But the job is not finished and we will have to be very cautious in Macau, which as everybody knows, is always a lottery”.
Menu, who finished ninth and fifth in the two races, added: “Conditions today were really very difficult, there was a lot of water everywhere and visibility was almost zero, but luckily everything went well for us and we are now in a good position to achieve our objectives”.
