Present:
José María López, Citroën Total WTCC, first overall
Tiago Monteiro, Honda Racing Team JAS, second overall
Norbert Michelisz, Honda Racing Team JAS, third overall
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, WTCC Trophy winner

Q:
José, it’s career victory number 22, and it’s also the lead of the championship, so congratulations for your achievement today. Tell us about that Main Race for you.

JML:
First I want to start by congratulating Norbi, Tiago did a fantastic weekend, Mehdi, again, had a fantastic weekend, all the Citroën team and all the people involved in the working of the car and everything. Where to start? I think we start from the start. I didn’t know exactly the potential of Tiago with the start, I saw him very quick on the jump of the first race so I had to do a good start, I took a little bit of risk on the jump but I saw in the mirror maybe he didn’t get the right start. But it was important to arrive first at the first corner. Then I managed to pull away, Yvan was struggling a little bit with the pace. Definitely the heavier car makes it more difficult in the race, the drop-off of the tyres is bigger. I wasn’t suffering too much with that so I could pull away a bit, but when Tiago passed Yvan he just came like a train. I was pushing to the limit, he was pushing to the limit, but for me it was not enough. He was just half a second quicker and I think the most important thing is the gap I managed to make in the beginning, otherwise it was going to be very difficult. Also I think Turn 5 was one of my in favour corners because I didn’t need the potential of the tyres there, I did it more with the aero, so I was pulling away from him a little bit in sector two and that was keeping me alive. But he came really strong in the end and it was very difficult. Seven laps to go, I couldn’t keep the pace and it was just about two or three tenths a lap dropping, the tyres were gone. But we knew that, so hats off to Citroën, they worked hard and we knew that was going to be very close. Congratulations to them as well, they did a fantastic weekend. So yeah, we keep fighting, it’s going to be tough but we need to resist at least one more race and then see what happens with the penalty weight. I’m very happy to win here, the Main Race, and be first in the championship. There is a long way to go, anything can happen, especially this year, I think everything is much more difficult. But it’s always good to start on the right foot, it gives you confidence so well done Citroën, well done all the people, and we will keep fighting in Slovakia.

Q:
Turning to Tiago, second place here for you today. Tiago, so close in the end to winning, what was it like in the car? Were you thinking maybe you could do it, maybe one more lap it would have been possible? What’s your thoughts?

TM:
I thought I could do it, yeah. I knew with 80 kilos the Citroëns would struggle towards the end of the race. But let’s go back a little bit. Obviously I knew I had to get a good start, which was not a bad start but it was just not enough. Especially Yvan did an amazing start and he passed me right away, so that was going to change a little bit the game. I knew I had to pass Yvan as soon as possible, not to let Pechito go, and to be as close as possible towards the end of the race. It took a bit longer than expected. Yvan obviously is not an easy one to overtake ever and there was a bit of contact there, but I think that was pretty much good racing throughout. In the end Pechito had a big gap, I thought it was going to be very difficult to catch up, but we were fast. We were fast all weekend, I had a great car and I felt very confident all weekend, and I could really push until the end. But Pechito is not two-times world champion by mistake, by coincidence, and he did a brilliant job. He just didn’t make any mistakes. I could see he was struggling and I was pushing like hell, he was pushing as well, so I think it was a good race but it was just not enough. He did a good job. So congratulations of course to him and to Citroën to keep that competitiveness but I must say that our efforts over the winter were very good and I’m very confident that this is a good start, the best we could have had for the whole team. So let’s keep up the work and try to get our revenge at the next one.

Q:
Turning to Norbert Michelisz, another third place for you on your first weekend as a factory driver in the World Touring Car Championship. Norbert, what was the race from your perspective like?

NM:
The start was quite difficult. The initial momentum was OK but then I saw Tom Coronel stalling and I had to lift and it took a lot of time. Fortunately it was enough to overtake Nicky. Then I was in fourth position. I knew that the guys in front were a bit faster but I just tried to save the tyres and wait for my chances, which came at the end because as Yvan and Tiago had a sight contact I was able to pass Yvan as well. The next couple of laps I realised our pace is slightly better than his so it was all about not making any mistakes. I tried to be close to Tiago but I have to say he did an amazing drive. Absolutely fantastic. I was on the limit but still he gained three or four tenths every lap. He showed this weekend that we have the potential not only on the race but also in qualifying and of course congratulations to Rob as well for winning the race. I mean, a dream start for us for the season, and just like Tiago said let’s keep up the good work.

Q:
You obviously had a very good view of the bit of contact between Tiago and Yvan Muller. What were your thoughts there? Obviously you took advantage of that situation as well.

NM:
For me it’s the best place, the best opportunity to pass someone. Tiago was up on the inside, he was almost alongside Yvan. Of course Yvan tried to defend and there was some contact but from my point of view these kind of things are just quite common for touring car racing.

Q:
And Tiago just on that situation from your point of view. Obviously a good move, you got the position, just talk us through what you did there.

TM:
I was preparing that one. Obviously there’s not a lot of places where you can overtake and he was definitely braking very early there. So I tried, I was almost alongside him as Norbi said, and he saw me and he closed the door. It was going to be contact. I did this overtaking move three times in race one and there was no contact because we leave room for each other. I tried to avoid contact obviously and brake a bit more, I locked, but he closed a bit earlier. So it was one of those things. He probably has his own opinion about it I’m sure, and I have mine. It didn’t feel too bad at least from my point of view of course, on TV maybe it was worse. But I’m confident that I didn’t do anything on purpose or anything intentional to put him out.

Q:
Turning to Mehdi Bennani, not quite the overall podium you scored in the Opening Race today but still victory in the WTCC Trophy so congratulations. Explain how that went for you please.

MB:
To start the championship with one podium overall and two victories in WTCC Trophy, it’s very nice to start like this. I hope that I can stay like this all year. In the second race I was struggling a little bit with Tom Coronel I think like Michelisz also said, because he stayed on the grid and I had to really struggle, and when I realise I have directly on both sides a Volvo and the LADA of Valente, and after I want to fight for the WTCC Trophy. When you are leading you don’t want to crash and that’s why with Hugo I was trying but I saw that we maybe need to crash to overtake and maybe we’re going to stay out of the result, so I stayed a little bit gentle in this race. At the end the result is good.

Questions from the floor

Q:
From Markus Lüttgens (Motorsport-Total): A question for Tiago and Norbi. Given that you’re able to repeat this kind of performance at the Slovakiaring, you will presumably get some compensation weight for the round in Hungary. With 30 or 40 kilograms in your car do you think you will still be able to fight with the Citroëns?

NM:
Hopefully we will get more, because that would mean we are quite competitive in the Slovakiaring as well. Of course for me having ballast weight for the first race in front of my home crowd is not the best thing to do. But we will do our best because it’s a really nice feeling to start the season like this. We have to show that we made progress during the winter and my target is, and I think we can agree on that, to have at least one race victory in Slovakia as well.

TM:
Yeah, the more we have in the Hungary means the more performance we had in Slovakia so we will do our best in Slovakia to get more weight, don’t worry, and we’ll see. The championship is like this, it’s part of the game. We want to take advantage of this at the beginning of the season, score as many points as possible now that we are lighter because of course weight will come and it will be tougher and tougher. But we are more competitive, no doubt.

Q:
From Neil Hudson (TouringCarTimes): To José María, if you look at this weekend it looks like Honda now are right with Citroën, at least in terms of pace. How does it feel to be having a fight from outside the team?

JML:
It feels nice. We as a team, of course we want to win, but it’s nice to win with tough competition and it’s good for us, it’s good for them, it’s good for the championship. Of course our car has been really competitive and it’s just because of the people in the team work really hard, and the sport is like this. It was really tough. We knew, the calculations and everything showed they were going to be really strong because they pushed hard, we knew that. For us it’s very difficult to improve our car which has been dominating for two years. And they were coming, we saw, we tested with them in Jerez, we tested with them in Vallelunga, they changed the line-up of the team, they are really strong. Between them there is competition so I think that’s helped the team. Last year here they were about six or eight tenths off the pace, and the kilos difference was I think 20 or 40 kilos maximum. This year it was 80, so we knew they were going to be very close, we knew the competition is strong, but we also pushed hard, we are not sleeping on our laurels. We keep up and we pushed, with Yvan we did a bit effort in winter testing and we’re still competitive. It was a bit of a surprise in qualifying but with new tyres you can hold a little bit more the car, the extra grip is there so you can manage it, and then in the race when the grip is going away it’s a bit more difficult. Slovakia’s going to be really interesting, they have been competitive there last year already, so it’s going to be really tough and hopefully in Hungary the other cars will get weight and it will be better for us.

Q:
From David Durán (Revista Scratch): This is really for Pechito but anyone can really answer it. This season we have both Citroën and Honda raised to another level in competitiveness and also watching Norbert’s performance in race two, can we assume that tyre management is now a key factor more than ever this season?

JML:
In a front-wheel traction car it’s always very important. In my case today it was important. I don’t think Paul Ricard is hard on the tyres as it is in maybe Slovakia or Hungary so we will see. The first thing we found in the car when we put the 80 kilos in was the tyre degradation. I blew up two tyres in the testing on the simulation in the race so you see it there. Yeah, you need to manage it. We are all experienced, we know how to manage it, but sometimes when you have a guy that is coming, you need to push as well. So it’s a compromise, it’s nice. That’s what it’s nice the competitiveness of Honda, of Tiago, of Norbi, of Rob, to keep fighting, and don’t forget Yvan, he did a fantastic job today also. So it’s going to be very interesting.