Muller has tough hill to climb heading into Marrakech

Already struggling in the championship after a collision and running off the track, while his teammates Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Loeb enjoyed the spoils of victory, Yvan Muller (Citroen) spoke with Motorsport.com ahead of the second meeting of the championship, this weekend in Marrakech.

The four-time world champion will carry a five-place grid penalty as he was deemed responsible for his collision with Citroen privateer Mehdi Bennani in South America.

While his season started with a podium result, thanks to placing second in the first race, Muller's Race 2 did not go as planned, colliding with Mehdi Bennani's Citroen when attempting to overtake him. He subsequently ran off the track and had to pit so his mechanics to remove the grass from the C-Elysee's radiator – Muller slipped down to 11th because of the incident.

My Marrakech race is already compromised, even before it has started, with this five-place grid penalty

Yvan Muller

Muller's teammates at Citroen Racing, Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Loeb, both winners in Argentina, pulled away in the championship, while Muller trails Honda driver Tiago Monteiro. To make matters worse, deemed responsible for the collision with Bennani's Citroen, he will carry a five-place grid penalty for the next round, as stated before.

A familiar position

This situation is reminiscent of his own after the first two rounds of the 2014 season, held in Marrakech, where Muller had to retire after a crash at the start of the second race. He spent the whole year trying to catch back up.

"The situation is even trickier than last year, Muller told Motorsport.com. After my issues in Marrakech, I had won the next race [at Paul Ricard] and closed some of the gap. Now, not only have I lost valuable points in Argentina, but my Marrakech race is already compromised, even before it has started, with this five-place grid penalty".

"In my situation, there will be no point aiming at pole position in qualifying on a strategic point of view", he added. "I will rather aim at P7 or P8 so that I am in a good position for race 2 with the reversed grid. Then, I will have to avoid any mistake as this circuit always is very hazardous".

Since the first WTCC race in Marrakech in 2009, Yvan Muller has won only once - Race 2 back in 2012.