Yvan Muller, Citroën Total WTCC, first position
José María López, Citroën Total WTCC, second position
Gabriele Tarquini, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, third position
Rob Huff, LADA Sport ROSNEFT, fourth position
Tom Chilton, ROAL Motorsport, fifth position and fastest Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy competitor

Q:
Congratulations Yvan, the second time this season you’ve been on pole so the second time this season you’ve beaten the reigning world champion. What was the special ingredient behind your performance?

YM:
To be on pole position is always important – now I need to do a good start in the race tomorrow. Of course I’m pleased. My lap was good, there was no real mistake, probably a thousandth of a second there or there but generally over the whole I was generally quite pleased. I was first in Q1 but then I was slower [in Q2] because I was trying things that didn’t work. But I came back to what I had for Q1 and it worked.

Q:
When you see the times are so close how excited does that make you feel as a driver?

YM:
It shows the level of championship when the lap time is so tight. It means to be on the top you need to make no mistakes. The difference [in time] is nothing but fortunately it was enough for me to be on pole.

Q:
Your lap time was well inside the qualifying lap record from last season. What does that say about the improvement to the cars – and from you – compared to last year?

YM:
Last year in Russia was the first for TC1 and the track conditions were not as good as today. Last year we start in the rain in Q1 and then step-by-step it dried up. For sure the cars improve with the engines, the aero set-up so it’s normal we are quicker than last year.

Q:
Congratulations on second place José. Are you happy with second or sad not to be on pole?

JML:
I’m happy. You can’t be every time on pole and honestly I think Yvan deserved it. He was quicker and better on this track. I couldn’t catch up. The thing that gives me a good feeling is I did my best lap in Q3. I’m happy and it’s important for the championship to perform at every track and to be in Q3 every time. Tomorrow is another day. It’s two starts and two races and it’s going to be very difficult. I’m happy for Citroën at a race we knew would be difficult. Four cars in the top four is unusual but it proves the competition works and I would like to congratulate everyone, especially Rob for a fantastic lap. Gabriele has been very strong all the weekend and Tom also. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. To answer your question again I am very pleased with my lap. Of course it was very close and it’s easy to lose the time but I will try to be better tomorrow.

Q:
Given how close it’s been in qualifying between you and Yvan, how good will tomorrow’s first race be?

JML:
Anything can happen. You can plan a race 100 times before but everything gets thrown around. I will try to do a better start than him and I have been quite confident with my starts this season. It won’t be easy to pass but I will try. There are two long races in front but the main objective is to increase my gap in the championship or keep it the same because if I can do that in every race then at the end of the year it’s good for my chances.

Q:
It’s great to see you in Q3, finally, so congratulations to you and Honda. But I heard some suggestions you were too old – drivers who are too old don’t produce these kinds of performances do they? Can you tell us about your lap and performance so far this weekend?

GT:
It’s my first normal qualifying [of the season]. In the previous rounds I always had some troubles in qualifying. Sometimes it was my fault, sometimes not. This weekend I focused on qualifying because I knew at this track it’s very important the start and from last year’s experience overtaking is always difficult, especially in our car because we are normally not faster than the others on the straight. I’m happy because since the first lap in Free Practice 0 the car was good and I focused on this to improve a little bit. In the end I made a good lap but it was not enough to beat the Citroën.

Q:
Can you explain why the performance of the Honda has been so strong at this track? We’ve seen improvements since Hungary but has something magic happened here?

GT:
No particular magic things. The characteristics of this track make better the characteristics of our car. The top speed is always important but at this track it’s not very important. And also our car is very good on these types of corners. I tried to follow the Citroën in qualifying and also in free practice and it was quite competitive on the slow part of the track and it changed direction and traction very good. We most focus on this and I’m pleased with the car. We must improve because the Citroën pace is far away because the weight difference is important – it’s 40 kilos. Even with this difference in weight we are behind so we must improve. We improve from last year. Last year was much more happy to score on the first row but I think it’s because a Citroën driver made a mistake in Q3. My car is more competitive this year than last year overall speaking. We are focused on the race. I had a very good pace in Free Practice 2 when I did some longer runs. But we know that after the first lap the race is quite over. But you never know. There are two guys fighting for the championship and I have nothing to lose. I can risk much more than the guys in front of me because I don’t play for the title. If there is a chance I will be there.

Q:
With your team-mate Tiago Monteiro starting on pole for race two Honda has got both ends of the grid covered almost. What does that say about its prospects in the races tomorrow?

GT:
I think the overall prospect for Tiago is better than me because he is in pole position for race two. Normally our standing start is not bad and I think he can stay in first position until the chequered flag – I am optimistic. Especially because the fastest car will start at the back and will take time to recover the position. I think he will have much more chance to win the race than me.

Q:
The Chevrolet is heavier this weekend so we weren’t necessarily expecting to see you in Q3. So what happened – where did that time come from?

TC:
It was a good lap and I’m very happy to be here. Two of the three manufacturers ahead of less weight than me and the last three years the World Touring Cars have been here I’ve always been in the last qualifying session. I like this track as a driver. We’ve had to do an awful lot of set-up changes on the car this weekend. At the beginning of the year we went down a path in winter testing, which led us astray because it was three degrees centigrade so I’m slowly bringing it back to where it should be. The car has been very, very good. The team has been doing a great job and it’s great to be up here on the top table again.

Q:
You mentioned after Nürburgring about the set-up and how you’ve gone back to last year’s set-up. Could you explain briefly what exactly you’ve done to the car to make it better?

TC:
When you go winter testing in Spain it starts off very cold in the morning and gets warmer in the middle of the day but not as hot compared to the weather this weekend. If you actually put the correct set-up you’ll be slower than with the wrong set-up. We put the wrong set-up on to be faster in winter testing and thought ‘wow, we’ve gained 1.9 seconds, thinking this is amazing’. We’ve been changing everything back and now we’re going up the grid again. The first time we reverted closer towards last year’s set-up was in warm-up at the Nürburgring where I was P1 by two and a half seconds. That’s when we realised what we had to do.

Q:
And for the race tomorrow – is the focus on Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy points or getting a podium?

TC:
It’s really tough because I’ve got 40 kilos of ballast and we’re not quite as well developed as these manufacturers. In the race it’s going to be extremely tough and it’s where you need to be clever because Gabriele’s team-mate and Rob’s team-mate [Nicky Catsburg] are both at the right end of the grid to get a one-two finish in the second race. I will try my absolute best as always. I’m gutted a little bit I’m here because fifth and sixth position are probably the worst places to be but either way I’m happy to be here.

Q:
From one British driver to another, Rob Huff, LADA’s top representative here in what is a very important weekend for you given you are driving for a Russian team with a Russian title sponsor and the fact you’re in Q3, which is fantasic. It has looked very impressive for you out there so far?

RH:
We managed to achieve a good lap and that’s why we are sat here. For the first time the car has been where it should be. The pace of the car has been really good all weekend, the balance of the car has been really good, we’ve made some updates to the car before we came here. We’ve stiffened the car up so we’re going in the right direction and ultimately we’ve put in a much better performance in qualifying. It’s the first time in LADA history we’ve been on the top four on the grid in the main qualifying and it’s nice to be sitting here amongst such wonderful company.

Q:
You spoke earlier about an alternator problem in Free Practice 1. Was that a big concern or was it easy to fix?

RH:
It’s an easy fix but it’s always a concern if things are breaking or going wrong with the car. That is what has ultimately held us back this year because the pace of the car has been pretty good as we showed in Argentina in Qualifying 1 with P1. It’s a step-by-step process. At the end of the day these cars don’t just magically become quick. You have to work and develop and for that you need testing mileage, which is something we have been very short of. Effectively every race weekend is where we are doing our testing and developing. It’s just fantastic to be here this weekend in Moscow with the all Rosneft and LADA support and we’ve got our best qualifying position we’ve ever had. Hopefully we can make something good of it tomorrow.

Q:
What’s your message to the fans out there that haven’t bought a ticket for tomorrow?

RH:
They should be here supporting their local brand. As we’ve seen in the past there’s no doubt that Moscow Raceway provides some fantastic racing. Two years ago Yvan and I, Gabriele, Coronel and Thompson were five abreast on the start/finish straight, which is something we’ve never seen before and only a track like this can provide that with a long back straight and a tight corner up to the finish line. It’s an exciting and fast experience and that’s what the World Touring Car Championship is all about.