Present:
José María López, Citroën Total WTCC, first race one, fourth race two
Tiago Monteiro, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, seventh race one, first race two
Sébastien Loeb, Citroën Total WTCC, second race one and race two
Ma Qing Hua, Citroën Total WTCC, third race one and race two
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy winner race one
Tom Chilton, ROAL Motorsport, Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy winner race two
Tin Sritrai, Campos Racing, leading Thailand driver

Q:
Let’s ignore race two because race one was the big one with your ninth victory of the season making you the provisional FIA World Touring Car champion for a second time. How good does that feel?

JML:
I am so happy. I want to congratulate everybody and thank all the people who have been around me in my career for 23 years, starting with my family, my father especially, my brothers who gave up a lot of things to help me race in Europe, my girlfriend Victoire who has stopped me from being very alone in Europe, everybody in Argentina and the team. I wouldn’t be here without them. They gave me the opportunity to race and compete with my team-mates at the same level, my mechanics, my engineer and my team-mates as well for always pushing me. We have had some very nice battles inside the team and we improved the car to a very good level. But this is just a dream, two world championships. It’s something I never expected but somehow life gave this to me so I really thank everything and I look forward to celebrating with my friends. When I say my friends I mean everybody in the WTCC because everybody has been so kind to me. With Tiago we had a little moment but we are friends. It’s a nice championship with a nice atmosphere and I really enjoy it. It’s been an amazing year for me but really hard. The competition has been harder, my team-mates have worked harder and never gave up. To win the championship three races before the end is a massive result looking at the competition and the level. We were really equal in some races and I am looking forward to it continuing like this.

Q:
We’ll come back to you later José. Now turning to Tiago, a third victory of 2015 for you and your Honda team after a dramatic race…

TM:
First of all I would like to congratulate Pechito because being two times world champion is amazing. He’s deserved it and was very strong. Regarding the race I didn’t do the best start and I was behind Norbi. I started to push very hard because if I was faster somewhere and could find his weak points I could see that I could have a chance. I tried my move on the second lap at Turn 3 and it worked. After that I was trying to get away to gain as much room as possible because I knew the Citroëns were going to come at some point. I opened up a thee-second margin but I knew it wouldn’t be enough so I kept pushing on like qualifying laps. The car was nice to drive all weekend even though there were some small mistakes. Seb was catching up and was three tenths of a lap quicker, sometimes more, sometimes less but he was there and I knew the last lap would be very hot. It was getting darker and I was pushing hard and getting ready for the last fight, trying to save the tyres for the last two laps because I knew I would need them. In the end I was saved by the bell as we say. We never know what could happen but it happened like that of course. It’s my third win of the season, 25 points so we’ll take it. We’re quite optimistic with our pace, which has improved. It’s not enough so we need to keep working and that’s what we will do until the end.

Q:
Second in qualifying, second in both races and now just two points behind your team-mate Yvan Muller in the battle for second place in the championship. Please describe your feelings after two very exciting races?

SL:
First of all I want to congratulate José. It’s a pleasure to work with him and the atmosphere in the team was great since two years. We started at the same time and all the time he was very difficult to beat. For my race, what can I say? At the moment I’m frustrated because I know would have had a great fight at the end of the second race. I was trying to push like qually to close the gap and when I was finally able to close it that was the end. But, okay, it’s like this. I am two points behind Yvan in the championship and for the moment everything is possible except the first place. But I had a good weekend, a good result in qually and in both races so I can so I am satisfied. I am frustrated with myself but satisfied and the team did a good job.

Q:
More podiums for you during what has been a good second half of the season for you. How pleased are you with your performance here in Thailand?

MQH:
I want to say congratulations to my team-mate José María López for being champion of 2015 in the WTCC. I am really happy for him and he deserved the trophy twice, especially in these two seasons he has been very strong and I really learned a lot from him, also my other two team-mates. This weekend was very tough from Free Practice to qually because it’s really tight with all the drivers. In qually we were fighting a lot, trying to protect my position. I didn’t do a perfect lap in qually because I was struggling a bit with the set-up side because from FP2 to qually this morning the conditions of the track changed a lot and we were working to make changes. In the race we had a good pace to protect my position. It was not a bad weekend.

Q:
Turning to Mehdi, two races one went very well with a Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy victory, one got off to a frustrating start when you had some contact with Yvan Muller. Can you summarise your day?

MB:
It was a good weekend fighting for the Yokohama Trophy. I pushed to my maximum for the victory and this is what happened. In race two I was a bit struggling at the first corner and it was a shame because I was fighting with the two Hondas. We had a very clean racing starting from the back, overtaking a lot of drivers, which was nice. The team did very good work with the set-up and tried to give me all the information to improve race-by-race so in the end I think it’s a good weekend.

Q:
Tuning to Tom, you won the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy in race two after what looked being a very eventful race. What happened?

TC:
Firstly congratulations to López, he’s done a fantastic job and I’m very happy he’s two-times champion. It shows the competition in the championship that we have to beat. He’s always the fastest every time he goes out and it’s always good to race with him. I’ve had lots of ups and downs today. In race one I was best of the non-Citroëns until I had a puncture through accident damage through no fault of my own. Then in race two I got for Chevrolet a very good start and that set me up for a really good race. I held P3 for quite a long time and had a lot of overtakes, a lot of switchbacks and a lot of very classy overtaking manoeuvres. There was nothing that was ‘schoolboy’, which happened to me in the first race. It was actually all very professional drivers around me and we were having a lot of fun. With Ma there was one point when I was on full opposite lock in fourth gear flat on the throttle and he was driving around the outside of me, which will look good on TV. López did a fantastic overtaking move around the outside, which I didn’t think was possible at Turn 8 so well done to him. And then Loeb did a fantastic switchback on me at the hairpin so everyone had great overtaking manoeuvres and it’s just a sign of the level of this championship. We’re not in club racing, we’re in the FIA World Touring Car Championship and that’s why I race here because everyone is so professional and the racing is always excellent.

Q:
Turning to Tin, our local Thai driver who before today had never actually competed in the WTCC but came away with points finishes in both races. Can you describe how pleased you are with your achievements?

TS:
I improved a lot from the first day because I have only driven the car for the two days. I am very happy to get the points after two difficult races. I learned a lot and got a lot of experience of the WTCC.

Q:
Turning back to our provisional world champion for a second time, José María López. It’s nine wins now for this season, one short of your record of 10. Is that the target for you in the final round in Qatar?

JML:
If you would have said to me nine races I would have signed the contract. We will see, it’s different. Sometimes you have to be patient, sometimes you need to put more pressure on yourself to get a bit more but now I am a little more relaxed and we will do our best. But we will see. I don’t race for the records, I race to enjoy in a fantastic team with fantastic team-mates. It’s a new race for us in the WTCC and it will be very interesting. I have seen the track from the MotoGP races and it looks very nice. Hopefully we’ll have a great weekend again and we hope to have a fantastic fight once again.

Q:
Two titles now but what about title number three in 2016. What’s the situation for next season?

JML:
You’re going too fast – let me enjoy this moment! We will see. We have to talk with the team. Of course the intention is to be together next year but still there are some things to go through and we will see if we can arrive at an agreement because it’s really nice to be in this team. I always said last year it would be my dream to win the world title and now I have done it again so I just want to take some time to celebrate and enjoy. It’s been hard work, really tough races this year and now it’s time to relax a bit and then look forward.

Q:
You’re been a true ambassador for the WTCC for the last two years so we’d love to see you back but what would a José María López celebration involve tonight?

JML:
I will be with the people I love, I will have a few drinks, maybe the chicken dance will come out! I will have fun and it will be very nice to celebrate with the guys and relax a bit after a lot of pressure.

*All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation