Yvan Muller: “This is a track where we all know it’s difficult to overtake, so having a good start was key to the outcome of the race. In the beginning I pushed hard to create a gap over José María (López), so from the moment I had roughly 1.8 seconds in hand I slowed down a bit and controlled my lead. I was very pleased with car in the first race, as it was important for me to score as many points as possible here and at the previous round in France to compensate for the zero-score in the second race in Marrakech.”

José María López: “I’m still a bit surprised to still be leading the championship standings after six races. The reason I didn’t win in the first race is because Yvan made the difference in qualifying. He’s probably the most complete driver in the WTCC and he doesn’t make any errors, so second in Race 1 was good enough for me.”

Tiago Monteiro: “I’m very happy and proud of the team for the work they’ve done this weekend. We’ve been playing catch-up so far this season, but today’s result shows that every little thing we can find helps make the Civic go faster.”