Present: 

Tom Coronel, ROAL Motorsport, first position, Opening Race and WTCC Trophy Winner
Tom Chilton, Sébastien Loeb Racing, second position, Opening Race
Nicky Catsburg, LADA Sport Rosneft, third position, Opening Race
Tiago Monteiro, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, first position, Main Race
Yvan Muller, Citroën Total WTCC, second position, Main Race
Norbert Michelisz, Honda Racing Team JAS, third position, Main Race
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, Main Race WTCC Trophy winner

Q:
Tiago, the reaction from the crowd at the podium, the reaction from the crowd on the track, watching you in the car celebrating that victory looked incredible. Tiago, does it get any better than this?

TM:
I don't think so really. To be honest this is a moment that I will remember forever, I will keep in my head, in my heart, it was obviously a very emotional and very important moment. I cannot thank everybody enough and there are so many people I need to thank. For this to happen today of course you need a great team behind you, great people, hard work and today the opportunity came to me. And today, this weekend it was such an important moment of course. A lot of people from Honda Japan, very high level people here to see this great event. Of course the support that I’ve been getting for the last few months building up to this event has been crazy, and I can feel it today. Of course I won but I think even if I hadn’t won the support would have been very similar, because people are just so passionate about it, they’re so happy to have this race here and they’re ready to make any efforts to have it here again. So of course you do a pole position to win in your home race it’s just unbelievable, people who have done it know what it means and I could hear people in the car, I mean we have engines, we have earplugs and I could hear people shouting in the last few laps so that’s the only time that I lose a bit of focus is because I could hear them really shouting but it was okay. Of course Yvan was very close the whole race, never let the pressure down, kept me on my toes, I had to push really hard. Of course the start was good, that was the most important moment, 90 per cent of the race is there, and yes we did it, and I cannot thank everybody enough, thank you so much for your support, thank you so much for all this, I’m going to enjoy this moment for a long time.   

Q:
We will turn next to Tom Coronel because here in Vila Real there were two winners today, and Tom Coronel for the second time this season you’re winning a race as a privateer so congratulations for that achievement. Just like Tiago you had to keep drivers right behind, there was a lot of pressure on you, what was it like? 

TCo:
Well, first of all I think it's the most difficult track of our calendar so always good and challenging for a driver if you go to a circuit where you know it’s more risky and there are a few corners where they really, really, really challenging you and your car, and this is always good. I knew I had good chance here, so I always said Morocco, Vila Real and Japan should be good to me, and until now everything came out so I’m really happy. It’s good to see all these fans, I know already the Portuguese fans always go crazy about motor racing, now even with him (points to Monteiro) winning here it’s even better I mean nobody could bet on this one. I know for him it’s important but I think also for us I mean my race was a little bit under pressure from Chilton, I was a little bit faster in the high speed stuff and finally I could take the points where he could out-brake me with a little distance. So to be honest it was for me a reasonably easy drive.

Q:
Turning to Yvan Muller, Yvan throughout that Main Race you were putting a lot of pressure on Tiago. Was there any opportunity to take that lead from him?

YM:
No, no, no the race was over after the start, after the first corner even if I push hard all the way through because I wanted to push, I’m here to do that but to overtake another car on this track which has the same speed or more or less the same speed of you is impossible so I just push, did my job and I bring the car back to second and score some points.

Q:
And after what happened between you two with that very dramatic accident at the Nürburgring just a few weeks ago, what do you think of Tiago’s performance today and how pleased are you for him for his home victory?

YM:
Yes of course, I’m pleased for him, he deserved to win. It’s always a great pleasure to win a race especially in front of your country so I’m pleased. Congrats to him, it’s nice and he deserved it.

Q:
Turning to Norbert Michelisz, completing a very successful Main Race for Honda with third place. Obviously you had a lot of pressure from your team-mate Rob Huff right behind you so what was your race like?

NM:
First of all I try to do a better start than Yvan. My first start in the first race, in the Opening Race was quite good. I almost managed to pass Rob but I was on the outside for turn three. I knew that starting from third if I get a better momentum than Yvan maybe I can get alongside him and I can attack him but he did a really good start, he did a really good race, he never did any big mistake for me to be able to look for a gap, so at the end I think third was the maximum for me today. As Yvan said with the cars being very similar in pace it’s just impossible to overtake on this circuit. But much more important than my third position is that I think the victory, I would like to congratulate Tiago and also to all the Honda team because we knew that with this amount of ballast it’s not going to be easy but we also knew that on a street circuit and on a track like Vila Real, many things can happen and I think we show again that we did huge progress from the last season. I have to say I’m really proud of everyone involved because I think for the rest of the season we can aim for much more pole positions and Main Race victories.

Q:
Turning to Nicky Catsberg, third position in the Opening Race. Obviously the start as everyone is saying is very important and your start I guess wasn't quite what you wanted today?

NC:
No, the start wasn't bad for me and Tom Coronel, we had basically similar starts but then Tom Chilton had a bit better start and by the time I realised he had a better start I was too late at closing the gap so I didn't want to take risk with him in the first corner and let him go down the inside and after that it was a pretty straightforward race. I mean I couldn’t make a move on the two Toms in front of me, so at one point I decided to leave a little gap and cool everything down because everything was getting very hot, and yes I just did my laps and finished on the podium. So not bad.

Q:
And turning to Tom Chilton, second position, WTCC Trophy victory in the Opening Race today, how satisfying was that?

TCh:
Do you know what this whole weekend has been absolutely amazing and yes thank you so much everyone for having us, the crowd and the fans have been absolutely amazing. I’m also very happy for Tiago, the local boy winning, so well done Tiago. Yes, I got a fantastic start and got a nice run on Nicky as he said into turn one and made it stick and it's so important as it’s very hard to overtake. I think I felt I was quite a lot faster than Coronel but there is just no room for overtaking and after half the race you’ve used your tyres up and you’ve got no downforce so this circuit is very hard to overtake on which is the only downside I can see to it. The rest of it, it’s full of action, it’s exciting to watch, lots of smoke coming off the tyres, braking on the hill, drifting in fifth gear on the limiter, it's just an awesome circuit and it’s fantastic for Sébastien Loeb Racing. Sorry I’m a bit late for the press conference, me and Mehdi had to do a photograph with all of our race team because we just won the WTCC Teams’ Trophy, which is absolutely amazing.

Q:
Well done on that achievement, and Mehdi you were obviously a very important part of that success for Sébastien Loeb Racing who have obviously won the WTCC Trophy Teams’ title today. Mehdi your race, particularly your Main Race was the best one for you with the victory in the Trophy?

MB:
Yes for sure it was not an easy race today because we have to drive on the limit, it's a street circuit and you never know what’s happening. You can crash, you can destroy finally your weekend and also maybe the Argentina weekend because the car will go via freight directly to the Argentina race so we need to be safe but very quick and I think on this mix I have been not so bad because I score points today with my P4 and P8 overall in both races and my victory to try to stabilise my gap in the WTCC Trophy because we are fighting very close with the top three on the WTCC Trophy, so my aim is for sure to win this championship, I hope so. Lst year I was very close with Michelisz, I hope this year I can win it.  

Q: 
And just a quick word on the achievement of Sébastian Loeb Racing, obviously you’ve been with the team for two years, what was the atmosphere like when they clinched the title here today?

MB: 
For sure we deserve it a lot because it's a very professional team I think it’s even close to a factory team how they work. Me and Tom Chilton are every time enjoying our weekend because it’s going only on one way, it's the professional way so for sure as a driver we improve a lot, we try to work on it and we try to be close to factory drivers and sometimes it works, because sometimes we are here to fight with the factory drivers. But for sure it’s our biggest success to be there and to fight with the factory drivers and it’s happened and I think at the end it’s a lot of things and this as a team it's Sébastien Loeb Racing.

Q:
Just turning back to our two winners, if we could start quickly with Tom Coronel, obviously victory in the Opening Race but the Main Race wasn’t quite the same. What actually happened to you?

TCo:
The Main Race I was a little optimistic at the start, the lights were still not off and I already went for the first corner, so it was just too early, I let clutch go and nearly stalled the car and that was it. Then during the race, you know it’s just nothing is going to happen, I drove slow and a part came off the car it was between my feet and I went into the pit, I gave it back to the team and I went back on the track just to score some points. Very boring, very boring.

Q:
Tiago, you said on Thursday that you would never give up in terms of winning the championship and you’re back up to second place in that championship, a few points behind José María López of course but what do you think now going into Argentina and the second half of the season?

TM:
Well we are going to be on his home ground so he is going to be very motivated. He has a big advantage but I said I would not give up and we won’t give up. As you can see mathematically it’s still possible, of course we need a bit of luck yes, but with pressure he made a mistake in qualifying and everybody can make mistakes. This is a very high level competition and under pressure people can break so we will try to put this pressure on until the end of the season. It’s not dreaming we can fight still and we need to score some points until the end, we have still a lot of races, still a lot of points, and we won’t give up no.

Questions from the floor:

Q: 
Alexandra Beny (Record, Portugal) to Tiago Monteiro: At one point of the race we heard you on the radio saying engine cut, engine cut. Did you feel any pressure?

TM:
Yes, there were some engine cuts, we will investigate of course it was nothing too bad but it was significant enough to slow down a bit to feel it very badly so of course it creates a little bit of stress at the time so there is nothing that you can do really. I mean when I’m in the car I’m in the car just to inform this was happening inside. You kind of need to expel it, you need to break it out but it doesn’t change anything. We need to investigate why was that but thank god nothing too bad.  

Q:
Nuno Costa (Journal, Portugal) to Tiago Monteiro: Were there any scares for you in the race?

TM:
Yes, every lap is scary here. I mean it’s not scary, just challenging you know it's a huge adrenaline rush when you drive on this track as you can see all the drivers like it because it is challenging, it is one of most demanding tracks we have. It’s just a shame we can’t overtake, yes we should try and find solutions for this if it’s possible but nevertheless it is a challenging track so I can say that it is tough out there when you have of course a four-time world champion behind you, your two team-mates very strong also behind you, you cannot afford any mistake but still you have to push very hard so it was tough race, definitely a very difficult race but I enjoy it.

Q:
Paolo Costa (AutoSport, Portugal) to Tiago Monteiro: Tiago, you already won in Estoril earlier on but this time you won from pole position so was this win more special than the previous one in the Portuguese tracks?

TM:
I think in Portimão I won from pole position as well I thin. But yes, nevertheless this one was definitely more pleasant because it is more challenging, it is the biggest any home race can be. I think at Estoril I was also on the podium and he [Muller] threw me in the pool to refresh, but here the river was too far away. But any home race is a huge pleasure and better than any other race win. To win from pole here because you cannot overtake is a huge advantage, I mean it has to be said that the start as I said is 90 per cent of the race and we did well so yes, big pleasure especially because of the support as you can see, there was support in the other races but nothing compared to this, this is really crazy.