ETCC - Race of Hungaroring post-race press conference

14.05.17

Present:
Christjohannes Schreiber, Rikli Motorsport, winner Race 1 and Race 2
Zsolt Dávid Szabó, Zengő Motorsport, second place Race 1
Alexandr Artemyev, Baporo Motorsport, second place Race 2
Norbert Nagy, Zengő Motorsport, third place Race 1 and Race 2

Q:
Two wins this weekend, in the first race you had to defend and in the second race you were on the attack. How were Race 1 and Race 2 from your point of view, you had very good starts in both of them?

CS:
I had a very good start. Honestly, Race 1 was one of the hardest of my career. I saw the green car getting bigger and bigger in my mirror towards the end of the race and I tried not to overrun the car, to stay focused and at the end I had to defend a little bit. But I'm just so happy that it was enough to beat him, he's one hell of a fast driver, I can tell you.

Q:
And Race 2, tell us, how difficult was it to follow your team-mate?

CS:
Honestly, I don't know what happened to Peter, it looked like a mechanical failure. I just tried to manage my tyres and my brakes as well as possible and of course I wanted to attack him towards the end of the race like I did in Monza. Today it was not necessary. Of course, I was struggling at the limit but as I said – I tried to manage my material, because I was struggling a little bit with overheating brakes and overheated tyres. Today it was very important to have a driving style that is not really hard on the car, tyres and brakes.

Q: 
You have extended your lead in the championship standings from Petr Fulín. Does it give you more confidence for the championship or you take it step by step? How is that for the Nürburgring?

CS:
I'll try to go to Nordschleife like it's the first race of the season, [as if] it starts from zero. At the moment when you start to think about the championship, about driving defensively, you're not giving it your best. I just try to focus session-by-session and we will see.

Q: 
Let's turn to Race 1 and the driver finishing in second position, Zsolt. You were involved in a lot of action this weekend. You must be very happy and very disappointed at the same time. Let's start with Race 1 when you were drifting your car a little bit towards the end of the race…

ZDS:
I tried to overtake and I don't know what happened, maybe my brakes were overheating and that's why I couldn't brake as much as I wanted and that's why my car started sliding and I thought I was going into a spin but I managed to stop it and go. After that I told myself it was enough, second place is good and I'm really happy because this is my first podium.

Q: 
Then of course Race 2 was also very exciting until the moment you hit the tyre barrier. Tell us your view on the incident.

ZDS:
It was at Turn 3, if I remember correctly. I was outside and Petr pushed me out of the track and I tried to come back. I didn't see he was at the end of my car and that's why he pushed me and then I just couldn't do anything. I just braked and hit the wall.

Q: 
Are you okay physically?

ZDS:
Yes, but I'm a little bit disappointed because I was really fast in the second race and I could have achieved podium also.

Q: 
But from your point of view was this accident avoidable or it was just a racing incident?

ZDS:
It was a racing accident. I tried to win in front of my home fans, to be on the podium but I could have avoided it if I lifted the throttle into Turn 3. But I tried to overtake and that [accident] happened.

Q:
Third place in Race 1 and Race 2, another local hero Norbert. Talk us through your both races.

NN:
In my first race my start was very good and after it I caught Rikli, so I was very happy with that. But after some laps I felt the setup was not so good in my car and my front tyres were overheated. I let Zsolty overtake me to try and catch Schreiber. In the second race I don't know what happened with electronics, but after some metres after the start my limiter program turned on and I couldn't turn it off. So after it I just managed my race to do good laps and to overtake everybody. It's a tough race for me because I got from last position to third. It's a shame Zsolty crashed the car but in Germany we will come back.

Q: 
Last but not least Alexandr second in Race 2. You had quite an unfortunate day yesterday. Despite being fastest in qualifying session you had to start from the back row following exclusion. But tell us about the two races from your side?

AA:
When I got the penalty yesterday I was disappointed and decided to focus mostly on Race 2. Otherwise it would be hard to fight with all the fast cars for the podium. We took our sixth position and I decided to keep this position to have a clean race and after we finished P6 it would be good enough for the second race. Then I found out I would get again a penalty and would move to P10. I was very disappointed and I didn't know what to do. I said ok, I will try and drive as fast as possible and don't do any crashes and I've had enough penalties already. I decided to be fast but not around limits. Still, it was good enough. Of course I'm really happy for second, it was a good fight in our last lap for first position.

Q: 
Will we see you at the next round?

AA:
It's a good question. Of course I want to drive, I want to race and I like racing for sure, but it depends on the budget. But I will do my best to be in this championship, there are very fast drivers here, everything is good, I hope we'll be here.