WTCC: Muller surprised by diesel victory

[Plex]

Yvan Muller has admitted that he was surprised to take the first WTCC victory for a diesel-powered car in his second race weekend with the SEAT Leon TDI.

The Frenchman took his first victory of the season in the opening race on Sunday at Oschersleben, and he believes that the results have already justified SEAT's decision to introduce the engine mid-season.

"We did not expect to win here today," said Muller, "but I am very pleased to give the diesel its first world championship win.

"We took a big risk introducing it in the middle of the season, but after a lot of hard work to make this new technical innovation work, it has paid us back."

Muller had qualified on the front row alongside his teammate Gabriele Tarquini, who took pole position in the petrol-powered Leon.

Following the speed of the petrol-powered cars last weekend, SEAT Sport director Jaime Puig said that the Spanish manufacturer would continue to develop its petrol engine as well.

"It was a difficult decision to introduce the diesel engine mid-season, but we saw the potential and made the brave move to go with it," he said.

"I would like to thank the people at SEAT who put faith in us to do this project and the team who have worked very hard in such a short space of time to make the TDI competitive.

"We will also continue to develop the petrol-powered Leon, because this is also very important to us, and it is very competitive."

Autosport