Tom Coronel, Gilles Magnus and Esteban Guerrieri attended the Race 2 virtual press conference at WTCR Race of Slovakia. A transcript follows.

WTCR Race of Slovakia, Slovakia Ring, October 9-11
WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup, rounds 5, 6 and 7 of 16

Circuit Lounge, Slovakia Ring, October 11, 2020

In attendance:
Tom Coronel, Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport, first position
Gilles Magnus, Comtoyou Racing, second position
Esteban Guerrieri, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, third position

Q:
Turning first to Tom Coronel, your first FIA World Touring Car win since 2016, congratulations, how does that feel?

TC:
Mama Mia! Now I remember how it feels because it was a long time ago. It was good, we knew we would be strong here and there was a possibility, but I didn’t expect it would be like this. The move was in the beginning. I had a good start but then before T2 I was in the grass because I was only looking at Girolami. Then I saw Guerrieri had a lot of difficulties with the tyres and I thought I would dive in and it worked out. It’s all about managing your tyres, that was my strategy and it worked. P1, that’s high!

Q:
Just talk us through your pass on Guerrieri for the lead?

TC:
I knew I had a chance, we have always been fast here. I saw the gap and boom! It is what we are always fighting for. I had a mega start, then I was on the grass

Q:
What do you put this result down to?

TC:
Hard work. You work hard and finally we had the full outfit, the team, the testing, the preparation was all done well and the results are there. I start P6, I didn’t expect it. Then the move in the first corner when they were fighting was my luck.

Q:
Turning to Gilles Magnus, things didn’t quite go your way at Zolder but here you are on the podium in the WTCR. How good does that feel?

GM:
We deserved it already in Zolder, it didn’t happen after we had some bad luck but today’s our day and here we are. Our first podium in the WTCR, the third round, I’m 21 years old and I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better.

Q:
How does this result compare with some of your previous achievements?

GM:
This is an FIA world championship and there is no higher level in this type of car. A lot of these guys have more experience than me and you can feel that on the track. They know what to do and this gives you some extra pressure. But until now we have been managing it quite well.

Q:
The Audi has been strong there this weekend, how much difference did the car make?

GM:
In some ways we expected this because we have been testing here and I think it’s not only the Audi is strong, but there is also the work we did in improving the car. That has paid off and we knew the pace from the testing was good so we were looking forward a strong weekend.

Q:
Turning finally to Esteban Guerrieri, before we start with Race 2, what happened between you and your team-mate Néstor Girolami in Race 1?

EG:
We spoke about this and we move on. It was a misunderstanding among us.

Q:
Your start was fantastic, but you couldn’t hold off the Audis presumably because of tyre management.

EG:
Yes, I made a good start, more or less normal compared to the rest in front of me. But they all bunched up on the inside and I went to the outside to take the wide line and all of a sudden they outbraked themselves which was quite good because I was already P1. Then the safety car was out, I tried to keep the gap to the Audis on the straights. They were catching a lot but still I didn’t have a good car in the corners, I didn’t have a good feeling, we went a bit too aggressive on set-up and the rear tyres weren’t working very well. When Tom saw me run wide he made a very nice move and it was too late for me to close the door. But it was a good result for me in P3, scoring good points so far for the championship.