Present:
Yves Matton, Citroën, first position
Viktor Shapovalov, LADA, second position
Alessandro Mariani, Honda, third position

Q:
Another WTCC MAC3 victory and another 10 points for the Manufacturers’ championship. How much does that help to make up for the disappointment of qualifying?

YM:
For sure better than expected. We had a technical issue with the car of Pechito [López] and we had to change our strategy. At the end it went better and it stayed like it was. I have to say we were a bit lucky with the problem of Honda but at the end we have the 10 points and that’s the most important thing

Q:
More points for LADA today. Can you explain the strategy of the team?

VS:
To be honest we scored some points but it wasn’t dependent on the strategy. We saw the confirmation that on a track like this the results are always unpredictable and to beat Citroën and Honda today was impossible but we got a bit lucky with MAC3.

Q:
It was going very well for the team and then suddenly it went a bit wrong at the end. What actually happened to Norbi?

AM:
From my understanding he had a problem with the set-up and in a corner where generally we didn’t have any problem but he had a problem and he touched a little bit the wall and that changed the final result. But it was very good to finish the lap. We took the minimum points but they are still important points for the championship.

Q:
While WTCC MAC3 was a disappointment, qualifying went very well with a 1-2-3 for the team. How pleased were you with that performance?

AM:
I am very pleased because we are working from a long time ago to recover as much as possible our gap to Citroën. Today I have to congratulate [José María] López because his pace was really unbelievable compared to the other drivers. With a track that’s so tricky, Q3 is very difficult and probably López had a small problem. But in the end we had a good result and to have three cars in the top five was the first time in our WTCC campaign and in any case a great success and I am really happy, not only for the 1-2-3 but for the three cars in the top five.

Q:
Turning back to Yves, we’ve seen another very exciting WTCC MAC3 here. How impressed are you with the format and how it’s working in terms of delivering interest in the championship?

YM:
For sure we know it better and better how it's working and I think each team is working on the strategy. But at the end since the beginning of the season something different has happened in MAC3 and that’s creating the interest in MAC3.

Questions from the floor:

Q:
Pietro Casillo (TouringCarTimes, Sweden) to Yves Matton: We have seen that Pechito was flashing Mehdi [Bennani] on lap two. Can you explain why, did he have more pace?

YM:
No I don’t think so. We were surprised also but I don’t think it was his idea to overtake Mehdi, it was not the strategy.

Q:
Markus Lüttgens (Motorsport-Total.com, Germany) to all: Next we are heading to the Nürburgring Nordschleife a very unique track and only one lap for MAC3. How will this change the strategy – we've heard the Honda cars might push each other along the long straight?

AM:
Fantastic! I didn’t know it! Of course the length of the final straight at the is really particularly so we can study a lot of strategies maybe working with the simulator to understand what is the best. I think MAC3 will be really exciting because of that and of course I won’t tell what we will do!

YM:
I think I will leave Honda to test this at the Nürburgring and I’ll be quite interested to see this on the television. But for the moment it will be quite different and the gap between the cars could be much higher since the beginning of the season. But we still have some time to finalise what will be our strategy for this event.

VS:
To be honest we keep our strategy like it is. Germany is a very long track and it’s difficult to plan something. You always plan but it never happens how you want so we’ll see.