Present:
Rob Huff, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, first overall
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, second overall, WTCC Trophy winner
Norbert Michelisz, Honda Racing Team JAS, third overall

Q:
Rob, we start with you. Career victory number 28, after quite a wait I guess you could say, it’s been a while since we’ve seen you on the top step of the podium. Congratulations for that. How good do you feel right now?

RH:
Thank you very much. Fantastic, what can I say? We’re back! A huge thanks to Castrol Honda Racing for giving me the opportunity to stand on the top step of the podium. I’m not going to lie, we struggled yesterday. Just a couple of very small niggly problems which ultimately when you’re looking for three tenths of a second in qualifying, the difference between being third and 10th, that’s how competitive this championship is. But the boys worked tirelessly overnight to rectify the problems and I think we proved in race one that they fixed the car fantastically and it was brilliant. The car was faultless all the way through. I could see Mehdi in the mirror and could just sort of peg where he was each lap and then I could sort of control the pace quite nicely and really just reeled the laps off. I managed to get a fantastic start, jumped Hugo, and I think really from Turn 1 I made a gap and after two or three laps just managed to hold the gap to Mehdi. I could see a couple of laps in the middle when I just relaxing a little bit he came a bit closer, so I just put a couple of faster ones in in the middle and yeah, the car was absolutely fantastic so a huge thanks to Castrol Honda and the team.

Q:
Yesterday your start in MAC3 wasn’t quite as rapid as today, so did you find a…?

RH:
Ultimately the MAC3’s a totally new thing, I think it’s a fantastic concept. I put my hands up, I made a mistake yesterday and I think more importantly I made it right today. I’d rather have done it that way around rather than the opposite way around for sure. Twenty-five points in the bag and I think as a team being one, three and four we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect first race so let’s see if we can do it again in the Main Race this afternoon.

Q:
Turning to Mehdi, second place, a fantastic start to your season, obviously winning the WTCC Trophy as well. You obviously had a famous person here watching you today but before the race what did you say to Sébastien and what did he say to you?

MB:
For sure Sébastien Loeb is a model for all drivers. For sure he came and he gave me some advice, it’s a little help but it’s working, to be more relaxed. We know that all the drivers, we are very stressed before a start. And also for us it’s the first race of the World Championship 2016. But in the end it was working, I had a good start, not like last year. But it’s working well and after I have only to try to have a good gap with Rob Huff.  I knew that I was P1 in Trophy, I don’t want to fight, to have something with the car or to crash somewhere, so that’s it, I have to keep the good level and it’s very good for me to finish with the second place.

Q:
Was there a point in the race though – obviously you started to close on Rob – when perhaps you felt there was a chance?

MB:
For sure, I’m not here to give him a relax, I’m here to fight. When I was close I think that I have to manage with my engineer to know how we are. But it’s also a big risk because at the end we are not here to fight and to give a big opportunity to third to take our place. So for sure I closed a little bit the gap and after he pushed a little bit, and the last three laps I had big understeer so I needed also to manage. We have 80 kilo more than the other cars so we destroy more the front tyres. But I’m really happy.

Q:
Norbert, first time as a factory driver in the World Touring Car Championship and you pretty much did a very very good result, third place, a podium finish. Pretty happy with that from fifth place on the grid?

NM:
I think it’s a dream result. The most important thing was Rob winning the race, I cheered for him very much and I was smiling when I saw him being the first after first corner. Unfortunately I did a bad start so it was a bit of a struggle for the first two or three corners, I had a big hit from behind braking for Turn 3, I was quite lucky to escape that. Then I knew that we had the pace throughout the race to overtake the people in the front, so I tried to be clever, I tried to save the tyres, and I just tried to wait for the opportunity, which came. I think it was the first couple of laps with Fredrik, and then towards the end of the race with Hugo. The car was just brilliant. Like Mehdi, I have to say I also struggled a bit with understeer, so I think we will try something with the car for the second race. But overall the important thing is a one-three-four. We couldn’t have asked for more. I’m unbelievably happy and I would also like to thank everyone within the Honda family for giving me the opportunity and this unbelievable support.

Q:
Finishing third required you to overtake Hugo Valente, what happened there, was it just a clean move, anything special there?

NM:
It was OK. It was braking for the first corner, I was for two or three laps behind him. I tried to look where he has his weak points, and I just realised that braking for the first corner, even with me being behind him, I have a good opportunity because our straight-line braking is one of the strongest if I compare our cars. So yes it was a clean move, it was braking later than him and he fortunately had the inside open so I could make the move.

Q:
Turning back to Rob. A victory in the Opening Race but the Main Race is still to come, one extra lap, slightly lower down the grid for you, what’s the hope for that race for you?

RH:
The hope is to repeat what we did in race one. If we can do it with all three cars again in the top four that would be fantastic. I think we need to sit down now with the engineers and the other drivers and have a chat, because obviously I had completely clean air in front of me and we’ve got to change the setup a little bit, tweak it for race two to account for that. Ultimately I think the three of us were in three different positions and we can learn a lot from that race and take it forward into the Main Race and hopefully capitalise on that.

Questions from the floor

Q:
From Morad Moutaouakkil (TV 2M): Mehdi, what does it mean for you, this first race and this first result?

MB:
I will be very happy if this happened in Marrakech, but it’s like my second home country France. I did all my studies here, and we have a lot of Moroccans here, so I’m happy to have a lot of fans here following, and I hope to see everybody in Marrakech soon.

Q:
From David Durán (Revista Scratch): This is a question for both Rob and Norbert. What do you feel has been the biggest step in the development of the Honda during the winter?

RH:
I think you should probably answer that because you know the car from last year!

NM:
We did a testing programme, we tried to improve a lot of areas with the car. I think we did a big step with the engine and I think because of this I was able to attack people in front. You saw many times last year that we struggled with the straight-line speed. We did one step for this season and I think because of this improvement, I was able to let’s say overtake Hugo. But we also have to say that we need a step more because we want to be there regularly, fight with not only LADA but Citroën as well, with the equal amount of weight. As well as the engine we have different suspension and some tweaks on the chassis. We still need to fine-tune some small things, but just like you saw today we have very good race pace and like you saw yesterday for one lap, I think Tiago showed that the potential of the car is there as well.

Q:
From Szilvia Nagyar (Motorzaj.hu): Norbi, could you explain the different colours on the cars?

NM:
It’s a team decision. We have three cars, we had two cars last year. It’s a decision Honda made. We have a sponsorship deal in the background and of course it’s a decision you have to make if you have these kind of negotiations. I’m totally happy with my colours, I have to say, although green, white and red is a bit like the Hungarian flag so I miss a bit of green I have to say but with the grey, I think it looks proper aggressive so I’m happy.

RH:
The grey goes very well with his blue eyes.

NM:
With my grey hair, no?