Present:
José María López, Citroën Total WTCC, first position
Sébastien Loeb, Citroën Total WTCC, second position
Hugo Valente, Campos Racing, third position
Tiago Monteiro, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, sixth position
Ma Qing Hua, Citroën Total WTCC, on provisional pole position for race two

Q:
Congratulations José for pole number four of 2015 and your 11th career pole in the WTCC making you the joint fourth most successful driver in terms of pole positions won. That lap was incredible, please can you explain how you achieved that pole position?

JML:
As always I want to start to congratulate my team-mates, Hugo, Ma and Tiago and all the Citroën Racing team because they did a fantastic job. It’s not only my lap but my engineer’s lap and my mechanics’ lap because they worked hard for this. I think it was a combination of things. I was lucky in Q2 because I managed to finish the lap before the red flag. That gave me confidence for the second pushing lap. But especially the fact Yvan was not in Q3 for me was a good opportunity for me try to pull away a bit of points. That gave me from one side the confidence to say okay, I have to try to do a good lap, a clean lap without mistakes, don’t hit the wall, especially… It was a mix of the confidence and I was a bit more relaxed because of that as well. In Q2 I did a few mistakes because maybe I was trying too much and that’s it. It was a very clean lap, a very nice one. I was surprised honestly when I saw the time as well. It was a good feeling to come back to the pole position especially in this part of the season. The championship is going longer and four races to go after this it’s important to keep the pace, still be there and be consistent and profit if the other ones make a mistake or something.

Q:
You mentioned your team-mate Yvan Muller and also the championship. With him not progressing in the way you have today I guess this is very good for you championship wise with five points already over him this weekend…

JML:
With the fight we’re having, especially with Yvan and Seb every point is important because we are so tight. In fact the last races they managed to be in front of me and they were really quick in races. It’s actually been a very tough championship, much more than last year. They are working hard, progressing every race and I’m trying to keep up. It was important. Of course it’s a shame for Yvan but these things happen, it’s racing and the important thing as I said before is to try to be always there. This year even when I was in difficulties in some races I still was in Q3 and scoring points so I’m very happy. It’s very special always to do a pole position on a street circuit with these characteristics.

Q:
It was almost there for you that pole and then suddenly your team-mate came along and pipped you right at the end. You sounded a little bit disappointed when you were interviewed on Eurosport, talking about a few mistakes. Can you explain what those were?

SL:
Maybe it was the same as Pechito in Q2, maybe trying a bit too hard. I lost the car a few times and when you are fighting on the tenths of seconds each time you lose the car you lose some time. I didn’t have a perfect lap, I tried to push but, okay, a few mistakes and second place is not too bad.

Q:
Second place is excellent and it’s the front row of the grid for the first race tomorrow. What about that first race and the first corner particularly. What can you achieve do you think?

SL:
Take a good start and we will see. The start will be tricky tomorrow. We are starting on a position we don’t pass through during the race so it will be dirty and slippery and anything can happen. We have to judge right the grip and try to take a good start. It will maybe be complicated tomorrow.

Q:
And the momentum continues because after that difficult run in Russia and Slovakia and following your fantastic performance in France this is another strong performance from you…

SL:
I’m happy for the rhythm I found again since Slovakia. In Russia and Hungary I was closing a little bit but since that I am confident with the car. The car is working very well and everything is going perfectly. We will see tomorrow in the race trying to find a good set-up. It’s a circuit that is completely different than the other. It will be hot in the town. Anything can happen.

Q:
Turning to Hugo I guess it’s a case of what’s better – being here in the top three or being the fastest Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender – you must be really pleased with that performance?

HV:
I’m very happy. Firstly congratulations to all the Citroën team, Tiago and Campos as well because we’ve come along way. It’s been a really difficult day. We were P12 in Q1 and P3 in Q3 so it’s just unbelievable and I’m very surprised to be here to be honest. It’s great after the performance in Budapest and the Nordschleife to be able to be in Q3 again and be P3 is a great achievement for all the team. We’ve been working really hard on the car and myself as well I’ve been trying to build up confidence on this track, which wasn’t easy. The car was moving a lot this morning but I am building confidence lap-by-lap and I was very happy I could make a good lap in Q2 and Q3 so very happy to be here and to be the first Chevrolet as well because the second one is P14 and first of the independents. I know Norbi will be starting alongside me tomorrow and, as Seb said, it’s going to be a tricky start. It’s going to be very dirty with a lot of wheelspin and we know the Hondas start very well so we will see tomorrow after the first corner. But the job has been done today and I will try to do the job tomorrow as well.

Q:
What happened to you at the end of your flying lap?

HV:
I broke a little bit too hard. I don’t think I broke too late because we discussed this at the drivers’ briefing. To be honest I broke on the line like I always do, maybe a bit too hard, I locked up and went a bit straight. But if you want to see my data there will be no surprises.

Q:
After Friday and following this morning it didn’t really look like you’d be on this level of pace. What did you change in the car to get here?

HV:
To be honest we’ve been working on the set-up a lot and myself as well. It’s so easy to make a mistake in this track. I made a mistake last year in Macau, in the practice and had a lack of laps on the track. So for me, here, the objective was not to crash the car to be honest and get confidence. Then I knew in qualifying I knew how to do the job and switch off your brain for one lap and go for it. We’ve been working on the car, there was oversteer this year depending on the set-up we’re working on but me as well. As I said trying to build up confidence and we did everything in the right away for Q2 and Q3 as well.

Q:
Normally P10 in qualifying isn’t all that much but in the WTCC it means a lot, particularly for race number two when you will start in pole position. Can you talk us through your Qualifying?

MQH:
Through the Free Practice session we are doing quite good and we saw the gap and the time this weekend. It was a little bit more relaxed compared to previous race weekends. Me and my engineer and the team decide to try to get the P10 for the reverse grid for the race two and we did an excellent job to achieve the target. But it’s not easy in Qualifying. My pace was okay in the practice but everything is going in our plan and it’s quite good for the race tomorrow.

Q:
There were a couple of incidents in Qualifying that resulted in one or two drivers not being very happy with you. Can you talk us through the Tom Coronel situation – we heard Tom talking on Eurosport but we’ve not heard your side?

MQH:
I didn’t really hear what he thought and said but we are not doing anything on purpose against him. I was in my slower lap and on the back straight I was trying to see the mirror every second to make sure there is no car. It’s a street race and normally this kind of situation can happen and I had some traffic in Q1 as well. I know it could happen, especially in a street race, a narrow circuit with no place for you to let the car pass. But we are all professional drivers and we all do our best to avoid the problem. The exit of the slow chicane after the back straight I tried to let him go as fast as I can and that’s it. I don’t know why he’s so upset. I guess the weather here is a bit over heat and he heats a bit but I hope when the night is coming and everyone is cooling down I really don’t want to see this happen because we are all friends. In the normal life we are always very friendly and I hope he will think okay and be back to normal.

Q:
It’s fair to say that was a Qualifying of frustration and sixth place wasn’t what you were looking for, right?

TM:
No it wasn’t. Obviously I was quite happy with the balance of the car through the practice sessions. Every time we built up and I was getting more and more confident with the track like everybody else because it’s new for everybody. Especially balance wise, getting more and more fine-tuned and having this nice feeling to be able to push so I did. In Qualifying Q1 and Q2 always I had a good rhythm and a good level and I was quite confident to be easily in Q3. Okay, the first row would have been a bit too far away but the second row was really achievable to be honest but you never know what can happen. There was a lot of discussion going on what to do because obviously with two cars down in Q2 if you do a slower lap you’re P10 and to win a race at home would have been amazing as well. There was a lot of hesitation and unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. We will discuss of course internally what happened and why it happened. The performance was there, for sure not for pole position but between P3 and P5 there was the possibility. At the same time I wouldn’t have minded a P10 or a P9. Lots of things were going on during the Qualifying.

Q:
Does it make it harder for you that your team-mate and another Honda driver finished up in the top five places – does that make it worse for you?

TM:
Which level? Worse for overtaking do you mean?

Q:
More of a tough thing to take?

TM:
No, no because I didn’t push as I should and not at the right time for many different reasons. The performance was there so no. It would have been perfect for Honda to have two cars in Q3 and one starting in P9 or P10. You cover both basis like Citroën did. You have to take the strategy the best way possible but it doesn’t always work and today didn’t work the way we wanted.

Q:
What can you do in the races tomorrow?

TM:
We made our life more difficult for sure. Overtaking is going to be a big challenge. It’s true that originally start quite okay but here’s very narrow, very slippery and very short in terms of the first corner. There’s not a big opportunity to overtake some cars but for sure we will try. We have nothing to lose, I want to be on the podium and the start will be very important for sure. Like everybody else I’m ready to take some risks and I am looking for the podium.

Q:
Finally and on a more positive note there are going to be thousands and thousands of fans here tomorrow. How good will it be?

TM:
It’s going to be amazing. The support has been really, really a surprise, pleasantly surprised by the support. Having a Portuguese driver is important but I think everybody can say the people have been great. People are just so happy to have WTCC here and to have races in general it will be a big party anyway but even bigger now. To have WTCC at Vila Real has been a great event and for myself it has been just overwhelming and really nice to feel the support. Tomorrow as usual we are going to give a good show with some fights and overtaking. That’s what WTCC is all about, very exciting, very aggressive, that’s why people love it and I’m sure we’re going to give people a good show in Vila Real tomorrow.