Present:
Yvan Muller, Citroën Total WTCC, first position
Nicky Catsburg, LADA Sport Rosneft, second position
José María López, Citroën Total WTCC, third position
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, fastest WTCC Trophy driver

Q:
It’s the DHL Pole Position here at Slovakia Ring for you Yvan after a sensational performance. Talk us through that lap, how did you achieve that time?

YM:
Actually that was a great lap. If my engineer told me I should be half a tenth faster, I’d kill him, because that lap was the best I could do with my car. I’m even surprised at that time. But I felt from inside it was a great lap. Every point where I had some gain to do during the qualifying, I gained it for the Q3. It was not the perfect lap because the perfect lap doesn’t exist but it was not far off.

Q:
Pole number 29 in the WTCC, does that mean anything to you? Your record keeps increasing…

YM:
Twenty-nine? That means the next one is 30. No, it doesn’t mean anything. Honestly, I didn’t know I had 29 pole positions. It’s good but who will remember?

Q:
You were worried about performance before getting here with the 80 kilograms of success ballast you’re carrying. You’ve gone quickest so what does that say about the Citroën C-Elysée?

YM:
You know, when we arrived here, all the engineers said ‘we did the simulation and we think we can get pole position only by a maximum of one tenth but it will be tough’. To be honest with José after the Free Practice we were not very agreeing with that because we thought that it would be tough, and finally we did it, and finally the engineer was right again. But they push us, at least they push me a lot during the qualifying to do that lap time. Without them I would not do it because they work hard during the whole weekend and even more during the qualifying to see where I could win any hundredths and all the hundredths together did the pole position.

Q:
Nicky, splitting the Citroëns is one thing but front row of the grid, you must be very pleased with that performance?

NC:
Yeah, I’m very pleased. I mean, when I heard Yvan’s lap time and he did 3.9 I was like ‘that’s impossible’. So then I tried an all-or-nothing lap and I got really close in the end, so really, really happy with that performance. I think it shows that we made a good step with the LADA, so very happy to be here.

Q:
Can you pinpoint any particular improvement you’ve made to get that front row of the grid?

NC:
Well yeah, since Gabriele joined us, we made some good steps forward, thanks to him and also obviously everyone in the team. I think we improved massively the traction, which was our main issue last year, so we got a lot stronger there.

Q:
It’s been another good result for LADA with Hugo Valente P1 in the Opening Race tomorrow. How good is that for the team?

NC:
Yeah, that’s really good. I mean I think that’s his second pole now for this year so that’s awesome for the team. I would have loved to be on pole for this race, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I don’t know what would have happened if Pechito was not there, but I don’t know, let’s see.

Q:
Not pole position today José, can you point to any particular reason why not, because we know your level and we always see you right at the top, so what happened today?

JML:
Always I’ve said it’s very hard with Yvan. He’s a fantastic driver and it’s always difficult. Sometimes Q3 is about confidence and I think he had a little bit more confidence. But anyway, no hard feelings, it’s a good qualifying for me. I congratulate Yvan. I did it before, I’ll do it again. I congratulate Nicky. Mehdi did a fantastic job in MAC3. And the complete team again. As Yvan said, when we went into qualifying we were a bit worried about the pace and it was a bit tough. But again I think the job they have done through the free practice and the way they worked, which I think is not only the performance of the car but also the work that the engineers do, was fantastic. I had a good qualifying, I just had a mistake in Turn 8 and I went wide and lost four tenths in the sector. When you are on the limit and when your team-mate pushes you and the competition pushes you, this can happen, and in the end with these top-level drivers, it’s who is making the best lap. Especially in Q3. I have a good position for the start tomorrow, in both races I would say. Seb won here last year starting from P3 so why not? I know it’s different, the competition has worked and they are very strong so it can be very difficult. So the objective is to score points with the team, leave this track if we can in the top of the championship of constructors, me try to keep my P1 in the championship and then I think from Hungary it will be history because you can’t forget we are carrying 80 kilos and it’s a big thing for us.

Q:
Your Q1 looked a bit wild when you went off the track. What happened there?

JML:
I just was trying to look for the limits. Sometimes the engineers see the data and they say ‘no, you just have to push more on the entry, you’re losing on the entry’. Well I just went for it and I couldn’t turn, I don’t do it and I lost the car. Fortunately I didn’t break anything and it was not a key moment let’s say, because I knew I had another run. If I would have done that in Q2 then it’s over because we only had one lap today.

Q:
Turning to Mehdi Bennani, WTCC Trophy pole position again, leading the championship and increasing your lead by a point with pole. Pleased with class pole or not satisfied not to be in Q3?

MB:
Yes, for sure, it’s satisfaction for all the team. We have worked lots, because if you see our practice 1 and practice 2 we are really struggling a lot. Nobody was optimised to be in the top 10 from Sébastien Loeb Racing. So now when you see in Q1 I was P4, so I was even fighting to be on P3, but after we know that we only had one new set of new tyres because of the red flag in Q1. Any case it’s good also to start tomorrow from the first row in race one. So I think we are a little bit better than this morning in practice 1 and practice 2.

Q:
How can you explain the transformation from this morning where it wasn’t looking so good to your pace this afternoon in qualifying? What did you do to recover?

MB:
I think the team worked more, more, more. We tried to look in the data, we had the computers, so at least I think we have worked all together with the engineers, drivers all the team focussed only to improve, and it’s working, it’s working good. And also we have all the feedback from the factory drivers from Citroën, so it helps. And that’s what give us this first row for tomorrow’s race one.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q:
Aleksandar Babic (Serbiaring.com): A question for José María. You have a record at the Slovakia Ring that doesn’t match your record at other tracks. You’ve never won here. Is that something you want to set straight this weekend?

JML:
I know it’s a particular track, I haven’t won here. In the end of the day what counts is the championship and to be champion. If at the end of the year I manage to win the championship even if I don’t win here, it won’t make a difference. It’s always hard. When I won at Paul Ricard it was really tight in qualifying and the races, and it’s been the same here. I always arrive at any weekend knowing I can maybe not win. It’s possible, it’s normal. And as I said before, especially the team-mates that I have, the competition I have, you know we are in a world championship and the level is really high. Obviously it is not over yet. We’ll see tomorrow. I did a good start in MAC3 so maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that will put pressure on Yvan, I hope he feels the pressure, I hope.

Q:
Aleksandar Babic (Serbiaring.com): For Yvan, there’s been talk of the turnaround in form of Mehdi Bennani and his Citroën but there is a turnaround in form of your car this weekend considering the practice sessions and what you pulled out in qualifying. What was the secret?

YM:
There is no secret. If motor racing was only a question of secrets, it would be too easy. It’s a combination of many things. We worked hard during the whole of practice. We were not looking at the laptimes, OK, FP0 we were looking after the qualy, FP1 we were looking after the race because we are quite worried for the race because with the 80 kilo ballast it will be tough. In FP2 we went back on the qualifying setup but the problem is in FP2 when you do a simulation of qualifying with used tyres it is not the same, so you have to do everything in qualifying but it is the same for everyone.

Q:
Aleksandar Babic (Serbiaring.com): Do you think Citroën will manage to preserve the tyres for the six-kilometre track?

YM:
The race distance is always the same. It will be just less laps. But this track is maybe more stressful for the tyres than Paul Ricard. We’ll see. Anyway, we’ll do our best and we will see. We will fight as much as we can.

Q:
Aleksandar Babic (Serbiaring.com): For Nicky, I’m not sure if you know what happened to you at the MAC3 start and then what happened to the car at the end?

NC:
At the start, they showed us the 15-second board, so my engineer gave me a countdown, and after five seconds basically the lights went on and they left so I wasn’t ready with the procedure, I wasn’t ready at all. I would say a little bit of panic, I stalled the car. And then in the second lap I had a puncture, I went off. It didn’t make a big difference but it was very messy I would say, and I don’t know why they speed up the process but I wasn’t ready.

Q:
Pietro Casillo (TouringCarTimes.com): A question for Yvan. You’ve made a stunning qualifying lap. There aren’t a lot of people who’ve won multiple championships like you. What happens in the mind of a driver when he has to give it everything and how do you find it, can you explain?

YM:
It’s hard work to be honest. There is one set for Q1 and you look how is the car and then you do some small changes for Q2. In Q2 you have only one chance because the session was not long enough to do a second run. Then for the third one you have your engineer tell you ‘oh, you have to go faster here, there, etc.’ and at some point you say ‘just shut up because you’re giving me too much information’ and I have to focus on what I have to do. It’s very exciting but it’s very complicated. We give everything in one moment, because even in Q1… OK, in Q1 if you miss your lap you have a second chance. In Q2 even if you miss your lap you can stop, change the tyres and restart. Here in Q3 you have no chance at all, you have to do everything in that lap and that lap is to be the best of the weekend. And this is very exciting but very tough. Sometimes we do it like I did today, sometimes we don’t do it like I did at Paul Ricard. And that’s racing.

Q:
Pietro Casillo (TouringCarTimes.com): It is instinct, right?

YM:
Yeah, it’s partly instinct but also it’s partly all the information of my engineers, where I have to modify the way I drive, to improve the sector where I should be faster.