Present:
1st - Kris Meeke, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
1st - Paul Nagle, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
2nd - Sébastien Ogier, M-Sport World Rally Team
2nd - Julien Ingrassia, M-Sport World Rally Team
3rd - Ott Tänak, M-Sport World Rally Team
3rd - Martin Järveoja, M-Sport World Rally Team
Yves Matton, Team Principal, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

Q:
Congratulations Kris, how do you rate this win?
KM: 
It’s nice, especially after this moment. It’s been a difficult period for the team and for myself. There has been some criticism for me and directed to the team, but we have continued to work. We had been quite confident, we know how well the car worked in Corsica. The key day here was Friday and we were able to stay in the lead group and manage things. In hindsight, we could probably have done something different with the tyres, and then we had the spin in the first stage of the loop. But, this C3 on Tarmac really is something special to drive. It was nice to do good times.

Q:
Do you feel you are fully back?
KM:
There’s a lot needs to be in place to get confidence at the right level. You need a car around you and you need to be able to imagine what you want from the car and then have the car following. When the car tells you what it wants to do, it’s not so easy to get the confidence. But here we know the car works and it works very, very well. When you have confidence and you get into a rhythm it’s so nice to drive and that just breeds more confidence.

Q:
Are things coming together now?
KM:
What can I say? Things haven’t changed so much; we have a new technical director Christophe Besse and he’s a good guy. I remember him vaguely from the past [when he was at Citroën], and like I said, he’s a good guy, but he’s not long in the job and he’s not really had time to change things. This result doesn’t change anything overnight: this rally suited us. On day one on the gravel, the roads were a similar profile to Mexico and we know the car works there. To be honest, the media’s created this buzz about things, but there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the car. We have a few mechanical issues and I have made more mistakes than I should have, but every driver [who has driven the C3 WRC] on gravel has said the same thing about the car. We can’t take our eye off the ball. We have to work to make sure we have a car that works over the course of the championship season.

Q:
Looking forward to Wales now?
KM:
It’s nice to go home on the back of a win. It’s nice for the confidence. I made a stupid mistake in Germany and to head home with a win is good. Unfortunately we don’t test in Wales, so we’ll see what the feeling’s like. But this is a good morale boost for the whole team.

Q:
How do you feel Paul?
PN:
It’s a lot of weight off my shoulders. It’s been a challenging four or five months for me, Kris and the whole team. Everybody has been working hard behind the scenes to get back our confidence. We dominated Finland last year and then we were nowhere this time, and then in Germany we made a big slip as well. I said to Yves [Matton, team principal] after shakedown that the car felt good and I could judge from the man in front of me [Meeke], there was a tell-tale sign yesterday. This is a massive morale boost. There’s been a lot of criticism in the media and on social media – and some of it has been right, but a lot of it's not correct. It’s good for us to get this result.

Q:
Was Germany the low point?
PN:
No. Ouninpohja was the low point, we were way off the pace. Then we made the mistake in Germany, but it’s turned around and we got back to here.

Q:
Sébastien, is that title safe now?
SO:
I can’t say it’s safe, this much is clear. But this second place is like a victory. When you have one who jumps in the air for second place… second is the first loser, but this is good points and a good step. I am happy, this (the championship) was the main target. I’m also happy that the team more or less has the manufacturers’ championship. This is amazing for M-Sport. If you tell me to imagine that when I join the team at the start of the year… 

Q:
There was a lot of talk about next year when you got here. Was it distracting?
SO:
I don’t think so. I was focused on the target; I wanted to do a good rally. We arrived here with three rallies to go and this one was important – I do not want to go to Australia with a small gap and then have to open the road while fighting for the championship. I wanted to score well here and make the final step in GB, this was always the plan in my head. We have done a great job on Friday when we lost only one second to the leader. Kris and Paul and the [Citroën] car were in a different league this weekend. Well done.

Q:
Have you learned anything on this event that makes your decision about 2018 easier?
SO:
I was thinking today, maybe I can make a mixed contract; I can take the Tarmac [events] in the Citroën, that sounds not so bad… but it might be difficult to get this deal! Let’s see. I know I say this since some weeks, but there are still some processes to follow. But, in the following days, I will have some talks again.

Q:
Julien, how was this rally for you?
JI:
I am happy. There were some big points scored. We have done half of the job, we need to make a good rally in Wales and maybe the championship can be coming. We need to remain focused, but here we had a great first day then maybe we were not so happy on Tarmac. We didn’t do any mistakes, except for Wednesday when I made a mistake before the recce of the Salou stage – I forgot my pen!

Q:
It is said that co-drivers have the brains in the car; do you have any advice for Seb for next year?
JI:
The proof we are the brains [in the car] comes because he tried to kill my brain in Finland! I heard Kris and Paul were coming with the Ford, but I don’t know…

Q:
Ott, well done. Have you been happy with your pace?
OT:
Generally it’s been a nice weekend, especially Friday when I did not expect to be so close, but it worked out nicely. After this it was all about Tarmac and the Citroën was in another league. For the rest of us it was quite tight, the roads are really nice and the flow on these stages is very enjoyable.

Q:
How hard were you pushing on the final day?
OT:
For sure I was doing my best. I couldn’t make any mistakes because of the points – I was close to the limit. In the morning, we never had the gap more than one second [between Ogier and Tanak], it was close. After the break I had a phone call from Malcolm [Wilson, team principal]. He was laughing for about 10 seconds, but then he said: “That’s enough now.” Then we have really good points. I knew Seb is kind of controlling this thing and I didn’t have any tools to beat him today. This is how it had to end.

Q:
Looking forward to GB?
OT:
It’s more interesting now we managed to improve our start position if it is raining. It will be a good place to start and let’s see what happens there. If I can’t fight for the first place then we can fight with Thierry [Neuville]. The championship [fight] is a new situation for me, I’ve never really been here before. It’s a good motivation.

Q:
Martin, how do you feel?
MJ:
Good. Personally I did hope we could decrease the gap to Seb, but, OK, now we are ahead of Thierry, but Seb is maybe too far away – but it’s good we made good manufacturer points. And I am sure Malcolm is happy. He promised in January when we had dinner at his house, we can taste all the wine he has there – and you know we have some French guys… his wine will be disappearing!

Q:
Yves do you feel the team has moved forward with this win?
YM:
I will say we will continue our plan. All the team are working all the summer to bring the car to the right pace. We see the car is at the pace in Tarmac. When we have the result and the victory, for the motivation it brings everybody forward and it shows what the team is capable of. We still have work and we know what we have to do. For Kris and Paul this is a great weekend and the approach on gravel was important for the result. To be at the right pace on the Tarmac, we knew we had some chance and he did a proper job and was able to manage all weekend.

Q:
Will this result have any influence on driver negotiations?
YM:
I don’t think it will have a major influence. We took some time to reorganise the team and we can make a good decision in time. We have good people inside the team and I don’t think people are thinking any differently about Citroën.

Q:
When will you finalise your line-up?
YM:
It needs to be finalised before the entry for Monte Carlo…

FIA WRC 2 CHAMPIONSHIP 

Present:
1st - Teemu Suninen, M-Sport World Rally Team
1st - Mikko Markkula, M-Sport World Rally Team

Q:
Congratulations Teemu, how special is this win?
TS:
It’s a pretty amazing feeling for me. On the car it’s one big step and for me as well.

Q:
How was the gravel on the first day?
TS:
We wanted to be pretty fast on the gravel and the aim was to build a big lead, which we managed. But then in the last stage we had one small problem with the car and we lost the power steering. This cost half a minute, but still it was OK and I could manage the gap for the last two days.

Q:
There were some other drivers, not in WRC 2, but in R5 cars; were you watching them?
TS:
Yes, I was looking to some of my team-mates and some of the other times from the other drivers and they were fast on tarmac. But we were more driving for the rally and we were able to manage the gap we had over second place.

Q:
How pleased were you with the pace on Tarmac?
TS:
I was a little bit surprised, but still I think I can improve a little bit, but we improved a bit from the past.

Q:
Now we’re off to the wet and muddy Wales Rally GB. Looking forward to that?
TS:
This [these conditions] makes me laugh. I like driving in the difficult conditions and especially on gravel and in the mud, hopefully we have some good competition and we can make a good fight.

Q:
What do you know about next year?
TS:
That is the big question mark. For sure we want to drive [in the WRC] next year and we hope to get some WRC agreement. We did a good job here and this was important for me and for the team to see about next year. Now we just need to do some good work on [Rally] GB.

Q:
You are talking to Malcolm Wilson about next year?
TS:
Yeah, of course Timo [Jouhki, manager] is talking. I drive the car, that’s all I can do.

Q:
Is it more teams or just M-Sport?
TS:
Let’s see.

Q:
It’s been a good year, Mikko…
MM:
Yeah, a good year. We never really planned to win WRC 2, we focused to WRC [outings in the Ford Fiesta WRC in Poland and Finland], but we wanted to perform and get experience and show some pace. 

Q:
How has this event been for you as a co-driver?
MM:
It was good. I like these events on different surfaces, it’s not standard, it’s different. I like the challenge, it makes me concentrate more. 

Q:
You’ve worked with a few drivers now. How do you rate Teemu?
MM:
Well it’s quite obvious he is fast. And he is the quickest learner I have met.

Q:
What can you tell us about next year?
MM:
Our manager talks to every team and we see the options. What is possible and what’s not I don’t know. We do our work and make his job easier.

Q:
Is Teemu ready for a full season?
MM:
In Poland and Finland he showed he is and to finish the rallies like this… he has been at the pace and doing good results. There’s still few areas we need get to grips with, but it’s coming now.

FIA JUNIOR WRC / WRC 3 CHAMPIONSHIP 

Present:
1st - Nil Solans
1st - Miguel Ibañez 

Q:
Nil, you the FIA Junior WRC Champion*. That must feel good?
NS:
Yeah, it’s good to be here with our people. I think it’s been the dream for the whole season that we could finish here. We are very happy with the work we are doing this season. The result is here.

Q:
You needed three stage wins for the title; did you think you would get them on Friday?
NS:
We tried, but we had some problems and a puncture and we could only do two scratches (fastest times) not three. We knew we had to push on Saturday and we did close to best time on the first stage and we knew it was enough to win the championship. Then we focus on scratches – it was good to end the championship at that stage. It’s easier when you don’t have to focus on the championship, it means you can go flat out.

Q:
Were there any other dramas or moments?
NS:
We made a mistake on Saturday in the place close to Dani Sordo, where he broke his suspension. We tried to make one corner flat and it wasn’t, we made one spin – it’s like this. We were lucky.

Q:
Now you can look forward to your prize drives?
NS:
It’s good because it was not like you win the championship and then you have the whole [WRC 2] season next season. We had to fight all year. We win Corsica and Sardinia, it was good and then we win in Poland. But then in Finland has come problems, but then we win here. We had a good point to fight at home and we achieved this one, so we are very happy and now we think about next year and start working.

Q:
How did it feel to win in front of family and friends?
NS:
Good. I think this year, it was the year when I had more people looking for us – supporting us – on the stages, and we were happy. We put a lot of speed to show these guys and this was very nice for us. We know we have to continue to push in front of these guys.

Q:
Miguel how do you feel after such a successful season?
MI:
It’s a good feeling. This year, the participation in Catalunya… the feeling is very, very nice.

Q:
It’s special winning in front of your supporters?
MI:
Yeah. Normally in front of family and friends and people in Catalunya, in Spain it’s amazing and incredible.

Q:
Once you had won the championship, you could relax a little bit?
MI:
It’s not easy. It’s a difficult day on the gravel; the stages are difficult, it was very dry and not easy with the stones. I said it’s good for us and Saturday it’s good for us in the morning with the result for the championship.

* Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA