Present:
José María López, Citroën Total WTCC, first position
Yvan Muller, Citroën Total WTCC, second position
Tom Coronel, ROAL Motorsport, third position, top WTCC Trophy driver
Sabine Schmitz, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, leading German driver

Q:
It’s a familiar look, you being on pole here at the Nürburgring Nordschleife but even quick than last year. How did you manage to go so much faster?

JML:
As always I want to start by congratulating the team and everybody who was involved with the set-up of the car. As always they did a fantastic job, a team job. We put it altogether when we needed it in the last lap of qualifying. The be hear doing a qualifying lap on the limit in this car is amazing, it’s the best feeling we have of the year. When I left last year I was waiting to come back and finally we did it. I enjoyed every leap and with a professional team… it’s amazing to beat the lap of last year, especially with 80 kilos more so it was a really nice lap.

Q:
You looked very spectacular out there. Were there many moments?

JML:
It’s all about the confidence you have in the car. The fact I put together a good lap in round two gave me the confidence to try to go quicker. I tried, I’m not familiar with the name of the corner, but there was a corner where I thought it was possible to go faster but the car gave up a bit. It was on the limit but sometimes you have to do it. Sometimes you do a mistake, sometimes you manage to save it. There was a big brake after that although actually it was a bit better because I kept a good speed on the corner. When I saw the lap time at the end I was surprised but really pleased.

Q:
Starting next to your team-mate Yvan Muller on the grid for the Main Race, have there been any discussions about tactics or will it be an open fight between you?

JML:
No, the team let us fight always. But of course we are clever guys and good team-mates. We won’t do what we have seen in another series, I hope so! This is the spirit of the team. We drive for a brand and we defend the colours of Citroën. We want both cars to finish. I have a good position in the championship compared to Yvan. I am not in a position to risk but we will see. I have the best position for the start and the best line. We will see tomorrow when we wake up in the morning how is the weather because that can always be a problem. Let’s hope we have a good weekend and bring some good points back for the championship.

Q:
Second placed in qualifying Yvan, pleased with that performance or slightly disappointed to have been beaten by your team-mate?

YM:
It’s not disappointed because José is so fast on this track. I am quite pleased with my lap even if I lost more time than I gained. But I don’t think I was capable of being on pole position today.

Q:
You said before it’s an impossible track to learn, have you got a better understanding following today’s running?

YM:
It’s not impossible to learn but it takes long to learn and yeah. Every lap you do on this track you know a bit more. Sabine will tell you but you probably need 80 or 100 laps to be at the maximum.

Q:
And how enjoyable was it out there pushing on the limit on this track?

YM:
I really enjoy when you pass the line because the lap is finished and you start to breathe. You know eight minutes without breathing is a long time! It’s an amazing track, very challenging and very demanding. That’s why when you are on the last corner there is one more braking and you can start to breathe!

Q: 
After winning in Morocco, you’re on pole in the WTCC Trophy but qualifying third overall probably beats that I guess?

TC:
I had to be a little bit surprising but I had two really good slipstreams one time behind Tiago and the other time behind Michelisz so you know it went really well. I was wrestling with the car but I felt very confident at one stage and then I said ‘okay, if I pass the finish line to start my lap I have to be four seconds behind so then if I catch at least I have a slipstream’ and that worked out very well and to be P3 behind the factory Citroëns it’s an amazing thing. Roberto Ravaglia, my team boss, called me twice. He said is it really true because he didn’t believe it. On a track like this I think it’s quite unique but I also do here a lot of VLN races and the 24 hours with the Zakspeed NISMO, the GTR, so I think I’m quite strong on this track, it’s like a street circuit.

Q:
You’ve got two races now, what can you achieve in terms of the set-up of the car and the result?

TC: 
The car felt good, of the course the car was jumping here and there but I had the confidence and this I think is the most important thing on a track like this because there are critical points where you (breathes in a sigh) that one but at this stage, yeah, okay, here we go, we release the brake let it go slow into the corner and that felt strong so as long as you have this I think I should be okay for the race. I don’t think I can catch these boys, that’s an impossible task but let’s try to keep the others behind and bring a trophy home. You know how it is with my kids, they always say if I bring a trophy home it’s good and if I don’t bring a trophy home they asked me if I crashed so I have two options: crash or bring home a trophy.

Q:
Turning to Sabine, you’ve just finished qualifying in P14 but what about Free Practice 2? We saw your car hitting the barrier. What actually happened?

SS:
It was quite slippery and the ABS didn’t work!

Q:
Was there much damage?

SS:
No, no. I just hit the barrier a little bit but enough that the steering wheel wasn’t straight any more so I just go back to the pits and the boys fix it but they are used to it I guess. When I watch the races all the time they have many, many spare parts at the track I’m sure!

Q:
It’s been a very busy week for you, you’ve been filming for Top Gear and then flying straight to here, how tired are you or do you still have plenty of energy left?

SS:
Yeah I’m very tired. For Top Gear we didn’t film but we had a very big event at Dunsfold Park where we have the track. There were lots of press people so it was very exhausting answering questions all day long. But it’s relaxing to be in the car on your own and just go for it.

Q:
Was it easier to adapt to driving the Chevrolet this time round compared to last year when you were driving it for the first time?

SS:
The Münnich Motorsport team have done a very good job, the car is totally different, much easier to handle now. I think they changed all the rear axle so the car is much more stable and I love it, I really love it.

Q:
What about a prediction for the weather tomorrow because there’s talk of rain and you like the rain don’t you?

SS:
I’m not so happy with rain anymore after this morning! No I don’t care that was for everybody the same but rain would be nice I guess but in the dry I made a big step as well so I’m only 10 seconds behind and I’m sure I can qualify with the guys flying through the corners just in front of me on most of my qualifying laps. Maybe I can do an improvement five seconds and then I’ll be nearly there.

Questions from the floor:

Q: 
Neil Hudson (TouringCarTimes, Sweden) to José María López: Following the announcement about Honda and the fact that it has been excluded from the last two races subject to appeal, how does that change your mindset and your approach to the championship.

JML:
It doesn’t change anything for me because they have appealed and we will see what happens. We will continue working as always and try to do our best. For the moment nothing has changed and we will see after the appeal.