World Touring: Valente regains front-row place

Chevrolet privateer Hugo Valente will start from second on the grid for tomorrow's first WTCC race at the Hungaroring after his team successfully appealed against an earlier penalty.

Valente was the only non-Citroen driver to progress to Q3 in Hungary and posted the second fastest time, beating championship frontrunner Jose Maria Lopez, but faced a five-place grid drop for failing to observe yellow flags during the first free practice session.

Campos Racing had initially waived right of appeal, but later asked the stewards to review their decision "in light of new evidence."

Several drivers, including Honda's Tiago Monteiro, were called to race control after qualifying to discuss the FP1 yellow-flag scenario.

The stewards then issued a bulletin saying: "The information was a truly new element not available to the competitor at the time of the first hearing... Therefore the stewards reconsidered the decision in light of the new information regarding the laps concerning car 7 [Valente].

"The stewards therefore decided to overturn their decision and take no further action."

Valente's teammate John Filippi has also had his yellow-flag penalty overturned and will start 13th.

Originally on Autosport.com