In attendance:
Rob Huff (Zengő Motorsport), pole position
Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance Lynk & Co), second position
Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse), third

Q:
What a lap that was and what a place to do it, Rob, that was brilliant.

RH:
Thank you very much, yeah, fantastic. First of all, it’s a pleasure to be here, I’ve not seen this environment before, so thanks for having me! Congratulations to everyone, but the main congratulations has to go to the Zengő Motorsport team. Those guys, they don’t give up, they keep fighting and fighting. You know we’ve had a horrific start to the season. Mikel [Azcona] did a fantastic job in Aragón to get a P2, but the pace just hasn’t been there until this weekend. That comes through hard work, determination and never giving up. So huge congratulations to them. What a time, what a place to do it. It couldn’t have been any better.

Q:
Brilliant qualifying pace obviously, so how do you feel it will translate to race pace?

RH:
I don’t want to say it was a shock, the lap time we did in Q2, but it genuinely was a shock. We’ve been hovering around the low 1m52s mark and I was the last car to go. I got pulled into the weigh bridge and they had a problem with the weigh bridge so we lost some time. So we had to push really quite hard on that out lap of that second run in Q2 and I was trying everything I could not to hurt the tyres, but get to the line before the chequered flag. My engineer was counting me down. We’ve got a timer in the car telling us the split time, whether we are up or down, and I was saying to these guys it was just going a tenth faster, a tenth faster. I’m pretty sure that’s not in my driving, just the ramping of the track just going faster and faster. We just hit the sweet spot with that and the set up and that brings us to where we are.

Q:
What was behind the decision to go second in the shootout order?

RH:
It’s just so I could have a drink really!

Q:
So it’s not a mind games thing…

RH:
No, not at all. We don’t know what the others are going to pick, we just know we get first pick. There’s no point just to sit in the car forever. The track was at its best so we wanted to get out as quickly as possible, but I wanted to give the team a bit of time to keep calm and keep everything perfect, get everything spot on, get out there and do the lap. It was the same in Macau a few years ago, I went first in Q3. I just like to get the job done, get it out the way and let the others set a benchmark. We knew the car was good, I really thought we could do a 1m51s again and I didn’t think we could probably do a 1m51.5s, but I was hoping a 51 something would give us a great chance for pole, and it worked out, so happy days.

Q:
Santiago, I don’t think Lynk & Co expected to be quite as competitive as you seem to be. What are your thoughts on that?

SU:
I expected to be competitive. I made a mistake in Aragón in quali that put me out of Q2. I worked hard in the summer break, working with the team, doing a few things. We finally came here, a track that I like. I did my first podium back in 2012, so it’s a track that I really like and it paid off. The work I did in the summer break and all the work Cyan has done I think is good. Obviously all four cars were strong, because all four cars are in the top 10 so we are really happy. Personally probably more happy than anyone else inside the team because I recovered very quick from the mistake in Aragon. It was good, it was a good lap, I enjoyed it. So I’m happy to be in second position.

Q:
What are your thoughts to be side by side with these gents?

SU:
First, congratulations to Rob, happy to see him at the top. And Norbi as well, put in P3 in a home race is really good. I wish one day we could race in Uruguay to see which crowd is better, here or Uruguay! But it’s amazing and good to see all the fans back here. It’s not always easy to race against world champions, they have a lot of experience and everything. The game is open, racing is racing. Tomorrow I hope to get a good start and then move on and I hope all three of us can do a good clean race and bring some points home.

Q:
Before we go to Norbi, Rob, we have a question for you from Máté Jámbor from Racingline.hu here in Hungary. You scored a surprise win here three years ago with the Volkswagen. How different would it be to do it with a Hungarian team?

RH:
This place is special. I had the joy of being Norbi’s team-mate in 2016 with Honda and the crowd here… Santi’s crowd have got a big job to top if ever we go there because the crowd here are just crazy. Every time you walk up the pits it’s just madness. To be able to do what we’ve done today for the team is amazing and obviously the number one goal is to capitalise on that tomorrow. We knew we’ve got a very fast car, a light car and we need to take advantage of that. The dream is half complete, we need to finish it tomorrow. And to stand on the top step here would just be phenomenal.

Q:
Norbi, you did not expect to be vying for the top spot. You said yesterday to get a P10 was something you’d be pleased with.

NM:
Yeah, to be honest, like Santi, you are always confident, especially if it’s your home event because I know this circuit, I know the tricks. I was quite sure I could deliver a good job. But in the end we realised in free practice one it is going to be a bit more difficult than we expected. And then we made a big jump with the car between FP1 and FP2, and then everything started to come together. We did another good step in terms of set-up for qualifying. It was just one of those days where the car and also the circuit gave me confidence, and on top of this having supporters here made it a very nice day for me. As you said, sometimes you don’t expect things that come but still I think the most important part will be tomorrow because my aim will be on the podium, for sure, but also to score a lot of points because this year somehow things didn’t turn out very good for me. And I just need to capitalise on my starting position. My target is to do two good aggressive but also clean races because in the end the championship is always in the back of your head.

Q:
I can’t believe the grandstands are about a quarter full and they are as loud as they are. Do you think it will be full tomorrow?

NM:
Yeah, I think so. It’s tricky because of the bank holiday. Usually the last two weeks of the summer everyone is on holiday, so it’s difficult to get a good audience this time of the year. Still, when I saw people coming this morning, on a Saturday, it’s a good sign for tomorrow. I expect a lot of people to come tomorrow as well.

Q:
Also a question for you from Máté Jámbor from Racingline.hu: if Huff was to win tomorrow for your old team and you were to finish second would you be satisfied with that on home soil?

NM:
We will swap on the podium… No, honestly, I’m very happy for Rob and congrats to him. OK, I understand he has a light car, but to do this lap time, it’s not only about the car. I know his capabilities, more or less what he can deliver, so I’m sure a big part was thanks to him that carried the team and also himself to P1. So in the end, if I can get on the podium tomorrow for sure I would be happy, no matter what the other positions will be. But to be honest, nothing against you Santi, but I really hope that Rob can… I mean, have a clean race!

SU:
Now worries! As long as we don’t drive into each other and we finish on the podium then everyone can be happy!

NM:
We are good friends! I’m happy for him.

Q:
You can make a deal, right? Make a gentleman’s agreement to be 1-2-3…

SU:
We can make a deal if you want! I’m happy with P2!

NM:
If I can swap with Santi…

SU:
How much?!