Hugo Valente: Difference between revisions

After taking a sabbatical in 2011, Valente returned to racing for 2012 in the [[SEAT León Supercopa#France|French SEAT León Supercopa]]. He led the championship going into the final round at the [[Circuit Paul Ricard]] but ultimately lost out to Jimmy Antunes in the final race.<ref>{{cite news|language=French|title=Finale au Castellet: Jimmy Antunes Champion 2012 pour une seconde!|trans_title=Finale at Le Castellet: Jimmy Antunes 2012 Champion by a second!|url=http://www.oreca-seatsupercopa.com/2012/10/28/finale-au-castellet-jimmy-antunes-champion-2012-pour-une-seconde|work=[[SEAT León Supercopa#France|SEAT León Supercopa]]|publisher=[[Oreca]]|date=28 October 2012|accessdate=3 November 2012|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031163143/http://www.oreca-seatsupercopa.com/2012/10/28/finale-au-castellet-jimmy-antunes-champion-2012-pour-une-seconde/|archivedate=31 October 2012|df=}}</ref>

Valente made his debut in the WTCC at the [[2012 FIA WTCC Race of China]], driving the [[SEAT León#Second generation (Typ 1P; 2005–2012)|SUNRED SR León 1.6T]] previously driven in the [[2012 World Touring Car Championship season|2012 season]] by [[Tiago Monteiro]] and [[Hiroki Yoshimoto]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Hudson|first=Neil|title=Hugo Valente to race for SUNRED in Shanghai|url=http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=8338|work=TouringCarTimes|publisher=Mediaempire Stockholm AB|date=25 October 2012|accessdate=3 November 2012|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027031033/http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=8338|archivedate=27 October 2012|df=}}</ref> He qualified 23rd for the race with the only SR León on the grid. His car was found to be over-boosting later on in Q1 but his best time was set prior to the change being made so his grid slot was unaffected.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hudson |first=Neil |title=Alex Liu granted permission to start from outside 107% |url=http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=8369 |archive-url=https://archive.is/20130204135323/http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=8369 |dead-url=yes |archive-date=4 February 2013 |work=TouringCarTimes |publisher=Mediaempire Stockholm AB |date=3 November 2012 |accessdate=4 November 2012 }}</ref> His best result of the weekend was fifteenth in race one, but he was later dropped to sixteenth in the classification when he was one of five drivers issued with a 30-second penalty for cutting a chicane to avoid a separate incident.<ref>{{cite news|last=Auger|first=Matt|title=Shanghai WTCC: Penalty Summary|url=http://www.touring-cars.net/2012/11/shanghai-wtcc-penalty-summary|work=Touring-Cars.net|publisher=Andrew Abbott|date=4 November 2012|accessdate=4 November 2012}}</ref>

Valente would stay the WTCC full-time in [[2013 World Touring Car Championship season|2013 season]], joining [[Campos Racing]] alongside [[Fernando Monje]] in a [[SEAT León#Second generation (Typ 1P; 2005–2012)|SEAT León WTCC]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/03/13/campos-racing-confirm-monje-and-valente-for-2013/|title=Campos Racing confirm Monje and Valente for 2013|date=13 March 2013|work=TouringCarTimes|publisher=Mediaempire Stockholm AB|accessdate=13 March 2013}}</ref> The start of his season was delayed until the [[2013 FIA WTCC Race of Hungary|Race of Hungary]] when Campos introduced their second car.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tremayne|first=Sam|title=Hugo Valente to return to WTCC with Campos SEAT in Hungary|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107013|work=[[Autosport]]|publisher=[[Haymarket Media Group|Haymarket Publications]]|accessdate=14 June 2013|date=23 April 2013}}</ref> He skipped the Russian and Portuguese rounds of the championship and his car was taken over by [[European Touring Car Cup]] driver [[Nikolay Karamyshev]].<ref>{{cite news|title=KARAMYSHEV FACES WTCC DEBUT|url=http://www.fiawtcc.com/news/detail/id/1022/t/KARAMYSHEV-FACES-WTCC-DEBUT|work=[[World Touring Car Championship]]|publisher=Kigema Sport Organisation|accessdate=14 June 2013|date=24 May 2013|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029210823/http://www.fiawtcc.com/news/detail/id/1022/t/KARAMYSHEV-FACES-WTCC-DEBUT|archivedate=29 October 2013|df=}}</ref>