WTCC - Monteiro "a wonderful day definitely, very very good performance for us today"
Present:
Yves Matton, Citroën, first position, WTCC MAC3
Alesandro Mariani, Honda, second position, WTCC MAC3
Victor Shapovalov, LADA, third position, WTCC MAC3
Q:
A great result after quite a dramatic qualifying. Did your strategy work as you’d planned?
YM:
For sure after qualifying it was not sure that we would be able to fight for the victory because we were concerned with some problems on José’s car. But it seems with some new wheels everything was working properly and we are very happy.
Q:
Talk us through that qualifying then particularly in terms of what went wrong for José and Yvan?
YM:
I would not say it was dramatic for Yvan when you are second by one tenth but, okay, José hit, I would say several times, [the barriers]. He was quite lucky I would say to be in Q3 because he achieved it on the very last lap possible. Something happened, I don’t know yet for the moment what happened, on his lap but for sure he was not able to go to the end and achieve his Q3 lap.
Q:
What it does mean is a very exciting prospect for the Main Race tomorrow with one Citroën and one Honda on the front row?
YM:
Yes, what we see is a really close battle. Tomorrow will be a really tight fight and in this type of circuit in these types of conditions it will be two great races tomorrow.
Q:
Turning to Alessandro, another exciting WTCC MAC3 with just under three-tenths separating your team from victory. How would you assess the performance?
AM:
I hope to win MAC3 but Citroën is very strong and we also have a similar problem like López because two of our drivers made mistakes in Q3. Michelisz touched the wheel so we had a concern but when everything was okay at that point I was confident to get the win in MAC3. Again today was quite exciting.
Q:
Qualifying was obviously sensational for Tiago Monteiro, on pole for his home race. That was the big success story for you today, right?
AM:
We are happy because we showed again after Russia where we had a very good pace in the dry conditions. Today we ran with 20 kilos less than the Citroën and we were able to fight with them. This track is very difficult and challenging for the drivers and one mistake can be very bad for the race weekend. We tried to optimise everything and put three cars in the top five. As we saw three top drivers made small mistakes so it showed how strong the competition is, which is great for fans of motorsport.
Q:
Turning to Victor Shapovalov, two weeks ago in Russia we saw LADA dominating but it was a different story today with only one car making it to Q3. What went wrong?
VS:
It was not a surprise for us, we expected it to be difficult. We were carrying a lot of weight and we are not able to fight yet with this weight against the other teams. But we are in a strong position on the grid for the Opening Race so it’s okay.
Q:
And in WTCC MAC3 it wasn’t the best team performance either…
VS:
It was exactly the same, this weekend we are just slow but we are planning a lot of testing during the break between this event and Argentina. We took a lot of luck in Moscow and now we should relax a little bit.
Questions from the floor:
Q:
Neil Hudson (Motorsport.com/
AM:
When you make a strategy on a street circuit it’s not easy for the strategy to work properly. Of course the most important part of the race is the start because as you can see even in Morocco you can gain two or three positions with a good start. I don’t expect big drama in the Opening Race because the target is to save the cars for the Main Race. It will be very tough. This is the plan in the garage but when the race starts in can be different so we have to see.
YM:
The situation is quite different between Yvan and Pechito tomorrow. The start could be a real lottery like we saw last year. Pechito’s position in the championship means he doesn’t have to take all the risks tomorrow in the Opening Race but Yvan is fighting for the second place in the championship and the strategy will be different so we will discuss this tonight.
Present:
Tiago Monteiro, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, first position
Yvan Muller, Citroën Total WTCC, second position
Norbert Michelisz, Honda Racing Team JAS, third position
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, WTCC Trophy fastest driver
Q:
Tiago Monteiro, your home track, your home country and here you are winning the DHL pole position for what is the first time in your career and first time since 2010 so fantastic achievement.
TM:
Yes, a wonderful day definitely, very very good performance for us today. I knew it was a good lap, it was a very good first sector and a decent last sector, but I made a mistake in the top chicane and I really lost quite a lot of time so I was not confident to be honest when I came back to the pits, I knew ok it’s my fastest lap of the weekend I did the best I could I pushed like crazy, that’s it so then I was just a waiting game to see who could, or not, pass in front. As you saw there was lots of mistakes, I guess you need to do as little mistakes as possible because it is a very challenging track, that's why we like it so much, it reminds us of Macau, you push very hard and it’s very easy tor make mistakes, so we all did, we all pushed hard and in the end it worked out well for me so I’m obviously very excited for team, very happy for the team, Honda deserved it and we were a little bit more concerned with the weight compared to the Citroens but we knew it was going to be a close fight so you have to take those opportunities and we did best job we could have done today so very happy and Norbert was very close as well of course, he was very fast all weekend to be honest I think he was the fasted of the three of us during the whole practices and Citroen are not far so that's what we want, close fight and we need to enjoy a little bit of that. It was definitely a great day in front of my home crowd, they have been so supportive, so amazing all these weeks to prepare and build up this race. I hope they are happy with that because I am and thank you to everybody.
Q:
Yvan that was a very close finish on lap, for while it looked like you were going to get that pole position but the final sector didn’t quite go to plan I guess. Is that fair to say?
YM:
You’re absolutely right, during all my session my last sector wasn’t the best sector overall but unfortunately at one chicane I hit a bit too hard the front wheel and the wheel bent when it touched the white and that made me a vibration. When you have to drive 240kph between the barriers you don’t want this kind of vibration so I was a bit under for the last sector and unfortunately that’s cost me the pole position, but at the same time I’m pleased, these kind of tracks are very challenging and demanding, you have to put your brain out and when you’re my age it starts to be hard to do that you have to be young to put the brain out, mine is fixed.
Q:
Turning to Norbert, third place, another good performance for you in qualifying, your lap as Tiago was saying there was a few mistakes from a few people but I guess from your side the same for you?
NM:
Unfortunately, I was one of them but just like Tiago and Yvan said it's a circuit where it’s easy to do mistakes. I knew after Q2 I had two clean laps but I have to push to go for pole. At the end starting Q3 knowing that you’re not the fastest on the circuit you just have to push and I took risk. Unfortunately into turn 16 I hit the barrier and I destroyed the front left rim so my target was after this contact was just to set a lap time, I was expecting myself to be fifth but as everyone could see Rob unfortunately did a mistake as well and so in the end it’s always nice to attend a press conference no matter if it’s after qualifying and races and I think for tomorrow we have very good chances, and I would just like to say congrats to Tiago because he did a perfect job, I mean he did not do mistake at the most important time, he did a super lap and he deserves to be on pole position.
Q:
And turning to Mehdi Bennani, now Mehdi obviously WTCC Trophy pole is one achievement but was there a possibility of Q3, is there anything that went wrong that prevented you from getting there do you think?
MB:
Yes, for sure we have been struggling a lot in Q2 because on my fast lap I do a couple of mistakes, and at the end in Q2 I was thinking we might have been able to be on fourth or fifth position but in the last sector I did one mistake and cost me two three tenths and now P7 but not so far because again my goal was to do the best lap time that we can do and it was working. Congrats to all drivers who have been able to go Q3.
Q:
We saw on WTCC Premium TV you talking to John Filippi after your session, what was the conversation like, what actually went wrong with you two?
MB:
Yes because the last lap in Q1 I was taking outside trajectory of the drivers who were coming, Honda, LADA and the other drivers and I stayed to the opposite side of the trajectory but at the end I think three cars was able to go but John was very limited to me to touch and at the end was ok because I was in my slow lap with alarm on my dashboard with alarm for my battery so I need to go to the pit and at the end you know we are gentleman, between us we are like family at WTCC so for sure if something happened I go to John and say I hope that I didn’t do lot of troubles for your lap and I see you can directly very close to the barrier, so I can not go even harder because if I. I had two choice to go full throttle but he was very quick coming or to touch the barrier so.
Q:
Back to Tiago, obviously pole position is one thing but the main race tmorrow in what could be very hot temperatures on a very demanding track with a heavier car. What about the prospects of a race victory, a home win for Portugal tomorrow?
TM:
It is obviously not the ideal conditions but they are the same for everybody, it will be very hot, it should be hotter than today perhap apparently, everybody will suffer, the drivers, the cars, the tyres, the engine. It will be tough for everybody but also for the fans out there with the sun shining so strong but obviosuly starting in the middle of the pack in race one is actually at the moment my main concern. I want to score points obviously and try to recover some but the first few corners are always very tricky and I hope I ‘m not getting into trouble hopefully but I don't want to be too cautious either so we’ll see how it goes after the start. Second race obviously pole position gives you a small advantage of being a little bit in front but Citroën is also taking a very good start. The focus on start will be key to potential victory. Nothing is done, I mean this is one step obviously, it’s very important and I’m glad I’m on pole position but nothing is done, it’s going to be two long races in very tricky conditions so hopefully a good nights sleep and focus on all the important details and we’ll take it from there.
Q:
Yvan you mentioned on Thursday about how you’re waiting still for your first victory of the season, you’re front row of the grid for the main race, what can you do, what's the strategy going to be, how do you think you can beat Tiago?
YM:
My plan is to do a better start than Tiago then I will be on the front and because he can’t overtake on this track I will win the race.
TM:
Easy!
Q:
That sounds very straight forward.
YM:
Unfortunately, racing is not that easy, a lot will be at the start because afterwards there is no opportunity to overtake, if the guy in front of you doesn’t make a mistake you cannot pass even if you do mistake probably you hit him so I hope he will not do a mistake, we had one already, we’ll see, I will do everything in my start.
Questions from the floor:
Q:
Szilvia Magyar (Motorzaj.hu) to Tiago Monteiro: The pressure of the home track, how much do you feel it?
TM:
The pressure is there for sure but I try to take this race as a normal race, every race weekend we try to put in a position where you’re playing your best game possible. It’s not like it’s going to be my last race but I always put lot of pressure on myself and that’s normal whether it’s in Moscow two weeks ago or here in Portugal. Obviously the main difference here is the amount of attention that you have around you, the amount of demand from the fans, from the press, from everybody, from your family, friends, everybody is here so obviously a lot more possibility to lose a little bit your focus, but having said that I’m not an inexperienced driver anymore and I have a few years of that and I think I can hopefully manage that the best ways possible. So far I feel the pressure yes but it’s a positive pressure and it’s affecting on the good side.
Q:
Neil Hudson, (Motorsport.com/
TM:
You know Yvan, he is definitely scarier than everybody else around here, no, you know Yvan, I have huge respect for him and I know what he is capable of, very experienced, very fast, so it wont be easy, it won’t be a walk in the park that’s for sure, even if I start at the front he is going to put a lot of pressure on me because he knows I need to make a mistake otherwise he won’t overtake and I’ll do the same if he gets a better start so it’s not going to be an easy one for any of us but as I said keep your head cool, head down and go for it.
Q:
Alexandra Beny (Record) to Tiago Monteiro and Yvan Muller: Last year was a little bit of a bad one for you because you have had an accident at the start so are you thinking about that or going for it, risking it all like last year or do you think it will be a little safer? And also a question for you and Yvan do you think your relationship got stronger after what happened in Nürburgring?
TM:
Answering the first part, I mean what happened last year I don't think about it, I mean I had many races in the meantime, I just did like I did in many other races which is taking your race at the start because your know that when there is a gap you have to go for it. If I had to do it again tomorrow I would have done the same, because I don’t think it was a mistake it was too much, there was a gap and sometimes you touch and it goes, sometimes you touch and something break, that’s what happened so I will take some risks tomorrow afternoon in the first race but we are in a very different position because I know I’m on pole position for the second race so I will definitely be aggressive but keeping in mind I will still have a second race. Having said that as I said before I want to score points so I’m not going to be just there to make up the numbers and opening doors to everybody that’s clear just you don’t take maybe that little extra risk that you would usually. Regarding the second one, we have a strong relationship for many years, we’ve been teammates for many years, I’ve learnt a lot from Yvan during Seat times, he was always very strong, we have our moments of course like everybody, but we have a very strong strong relationship outside of track so he was there for me of course at the crash and I thank him for that, we know each other a lot, we spend a lot of time together we fight hard on the track but there is immense respect and a good relationship, so did it make any stronger? Yes he started to undress me so that was special (laughs).
YM:
No to be honest I have a regret because when we were all behind the barrier there was a big hole and I should push him down, I would be on pole today (laughs).
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