In attendance:
Thed Björk, Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, first position
Yvan Muller, Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, second position
Mikel Azcona, PWR Racing, third position
Nicky Catsburg, BRC Hyundai N Lukoil Racing Team, leading Dutch driver

Q:
Thed, your second victory of the season, but a very tough race. How pleased are you?

TB:
It’s always tough starting from pole because everybody wants to beat you, but it’s a nice position as well, and with my team-mate Yvan next to me it always feels good. But it’s also a lot of pressure because if he does a good start I cannot attack back so much. It’s good to have Yvan there because of the respect and mostly I’m so happy to be here and taking points, for the team championship and for us.

Q:
Talk us through the start, because that was key to your victory?

TB:
Yes, we go there, you are standing there, but it takes some time to get all the cars on the grid – and when we go, we just go. My start, I don’t know if it was good or whether it was not bad. I think we were pretty similar. I just went to the first corner and it worked out well.

Q:
And a family celebration on the podium!

TB:
Yes, that was really nice. Three years ago I had to leave Budapest because my son [Thor] was born and I was on the aeroplane, so it feels very special to have him here to celebrate a victory together. And the family don’t have to worry if they come to the races – I’m still fast if they are here!

Q:
Two more races to come at Zandvoort, Thed. What are the prospects of more success for you and the team?

TB:
We’re working hard. After a hard weekend in Slovakia we’ve bounced back. Everyone was digging in thinking about what we did wrong, what went wrong there and now we are in a better position. Obviously the track suits us better, but it’s a big difference from Slovakia and it’s good to be here.

Q:
Yvan, did you face a lot of pressure from Mikel Azcona during that race?

YM:
Yeah because for the first two laps he was slightly quicker than me and then mid-race I could manage my pace and look after my tyres. Thed could also pull away a little bit and that gave me some pressure. It was a tough race, a good race. For sure, in the last two corners we were very fast to give us a bit of air in the straight so we could manage the result for the podium.

Q:
So far this hasn’t been a perfect season for you, has it?

YM:
No, but the season is very long and anything can happen. In Marrakech I should have won but at the end we had a DNF. In Slovakia we didn’t score many points, so we are quite far away in the championship, more than we expected. So it’s important to take some points. That’s why it was agreed between us – Ok, we do the first corner, then we stay like this. We work as a team.

Q:
Mikel, your second podium in WTCR and a track on which you have had some success in TCR Europe, so is this a venue you like?

MA:
Yes, thank you very much. It’s a big step from last year when I was in the TCR Europe championship. I am super-happy to take my second podium of this year. My pace is very good, better than I expected since the beginning of the championship. And now I am very happy, the car works really great this weekend and now we have to keep this feeling with the car tomorrow. We will see tomorrow. For sure, I have to learn this year because it is my first year in WTCR. We will see, but I am super-happy.

Q:
Can you believe you are sat here with two world champions?

MA:
It’s strange because five years ago when I was go-karting I was looking on TV at WTCC races and in those moments I wanted to be there. Now I am here driving with these good drivers that when I was young I was watching on TV. It’s a strange feeling, but now I am very comfortable to be here and to learn a lot because they have a lot of experience and hopefully in the future I can be a world champion.

Q:
Nicky, you were looking for more than P10, but there are two races left. How was Race 1 for you?

NC:
Race 1 was interesting. The car was quite good. It’s pretty difficult to overtake, so I had one fight with Jean-Karl which was quite a nice one. I gained one position, but lost two. In the end I finished in P10, so quite happy with the way the car performed and hopefully tomorrow I can be in the top 10 and maybe with the reverse grid in Race 2 I can score a podium. But it will not be easy this weekend.

Q:
Do you have much to do the car to increase the pace for tomorrow?

NC:
No, I think we have the car under control pretty well. We expected from Slovakia with an increase of 30 kilos it was not going to be easier and the other cars went a lot quicker. I don’t think there is much we can do at the moment. Of course there are little things to try and improve the set-up. I have to work hard to try and get into Q2 tomorrow. That’s what I can do.

Q Erik Bielderman, L’Equipe (France):
Next year Formula One will be racing here. Looking at your races it looks very difficult to overtake. What do you think it will be like for F1?

TB:
The first thing I would say is that it looks fantastic to have F1 here with all the people and all the fans who come here. So the atmosphere will be great. That’s one of the races maybe I can go and watch. But F1 is different from touring cars and they have the DRS as well, and it’s hard braking into Turn 1, so I would say it will be possible to overtake. That’s my guess and I think it would be a good race.

NC:
I agree. Like you say, this track will have more passing opportunities than Monaco… But with DRS for sure into Turn 1 it should be great and honestly I am massively looking forward to F1 being here. A big congrats to the guys at the circuit for making it happen.

YM:
First, I don’t know if the track will be exactly the same. I believe it will be a bit smoother and wider so that will help a little bit. Even with DRS, it will be similar to Monaco and Budapest. I don’t see any reason not to have a nice grand prix. The place is fantastic for the public. It will be super-fantastic.

Q Andrew Abbott, TouringCars.net (United Kingdom):
Before the race there was an unprecedented change to the BoP. How do you feel about this and how did it affect your preparation for the race?

TB:
What can I say? We can only work with what we have, so that is what we are doing. We went into the race with the same performance as before and all the mechanics did good work to just fix everything and to be where we are. Nothing other than that.

YM:
Many things happened this morning, I don’t know if you were there. We hear many things, but what happened there is bad enough so there is no point talking more about it.