Yvan Muller - Plato just forgot to brake! - 18/06/04

Yvan Muller took a win in round thirteen of the championship at Mondello Park in Ireland, despite carrying the full 42kg of success ballast after winning the previous race at Oulton Park. Even more astounding is that Muller also qualified on pole with this extra weight on board his Vauxhall Astra Coupé.

However it was far from plain sailing at Mondello for Muller, with the third race of the day being full of contact and controversy.

“I can’t remember all the action”, commented Muller after the race. “There was some action I couldn’t see because my mirror was off. Sometimes I could hear a car but I couldn’t see it. It was crazy, really crazy. It’s a shame that I lost time behind Jimmy at the beginning of the race. Then Turkington used the opportunity to overtake me and then he passed Jimmy.”

Mondello also saw the first real flare-up of the real for the dormant Muller/Plato rivalry, last seen on the track back in 2001 when Plato pipped his then team-mate to the drivers title. There is clearly no love lost between the pair, and Plato in particular has had no quibbles saying exactly what he thinks of Muller so far this year.

Yvan continued: “Plato made a mistake on the braking at the end of the straight. He went wide. Turkington passed him and I used the opportunity to catch him. Then Plato came and at the next corner he just forgot to brake. He just hit me. That’s it.”

"You cannot expect anything better from this guy"

“Now Reid is more or less correct, Plato starts. You cannot expect anything better from this guy. The only opportunity he has to win a race is to finish 10th in the first race and start on pole for the second one. Otherwise he would never f***ing win a race.”

Following his fourth win of the season at Mondello Park, Muller now has a four-point lead in the championship over VX Racing team-mate James Thompson. However, with half the season still to come, things could not be tighter at the top!

Photos: Peter Still (www.stillphotography.co.uk)