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WEC - What the drivers said after the 6 Hours of Mexico

04.09.17

WEC - 2017 6 Hours of Mexico - Post-Race Quotes

WEC, 6 Hours of Mexico, Motorsport

Brendon Hartley – 1st LMP1

No2 Porsche LMP Team - Porsche 919 Hybrid

“It was an awesome race by the Porsche team and I said it after qualifying that the first time we turned a wheel the car felt incredible and we just did small tweaks. Porsche really made our life as drivers easy and it was a pretty smooth race.                         

“It is great for the championship and Timo (Bernhard) and Earl (Bamber) and the rest of the team have been great all weekend, so we are very happy to be extending the lead (in the title standings).”

 

Earl Bamber – 1st LMP1

No2 Porsche LMP Team - Porsche 919 Hybrid

“As soon as the car rolled of the plane this week it has been great. The guys in the team did a lot of hard work especially with the high altitude. It is a true credit to the Porsche team and Brendon did a fantastic stint to hand the car over to me. It was a shame the No.1 car got a drive through penalty. We had to change a fuel-flow meter and we lost about 10 or 12 seconds with that. But apart from this it was all pretty smooth sailing.”

 

Timo Bernhard – 1st LMP1

No2 Porsche LMP Team - Porsche 919 Hybrid

“First of all it was a fantastic day for Porsche. Brendon did a perfect opening stint and Earl took over and did a great job too.

“We have four races left which is 100 points plus the four points for pole so the championship is far from over and we know that Toyota can come back strong. So for sure we will keep on concentrating but tonight we will enjoy this fabulous weekend.”

 

Nick Tandy – 2nd LMP1

No1 Porsche LMP Team - Porsche 919 Hybrid

“For us it was a great start to the race with the first couple of hours and build a nice comfortable lead as a team as planned. But unfortunately we got penalised for speeding in the pit lane and I had to press the pit speed limit button three times on the pit lane entry. We will have to look in to that but in the end it wouldn’t have changed the result.”

 

Anthony Davidson – 3rd LMP1

No8 Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota TS050 HYBRID

“We were actually strong in sector one all weekend and as you have heard Porsche hit the ground running from the start and we were the complete opposite. We were struggling for grip in the corners. We clearly didn’t have the same grip levels as Porsche, especially in sector two.

“I struggled and wasn’t happy at all and so we decided to hand back over to Seb (Buemi) who out of the three of us found it more to his liking and he did a really good job today. We did what we could do but really it was damage limitation.”

 

Marco Sørensen – 1st LMGTE Pro

No95 Aston Martin Racing  - Aston Martin Vantage

“For sure it was a good, close race.  The Ferrari has a little bit of an advantage early in the stints over us, but we were able to come back in the end. I did a decent start; I would’ve liked to have got past him (Sam Bird) at that point, but that was not possible.  Then he pulled away before they started to struggle on their tyres and I was able to pass him with three laps to go of my stint.  Unfortunately we lost a bit in the pitstop but there whole time it was backwards and forwards all the time.  There was not one lap where we couldn’t see the no71 Ferrari in front of us or behind us.  It’s a long time since I have been hammering a car that hard, I almost felt sorry for it.”

 

Nicki Thiim – 1st LMGTE Pro

No95 Aston Martin Racing  - Aston Martin Vantage

“Of course knowing that the Ferrari was going to get a penalty altered the way I approached the final few minutes.  It was a little bit of a shame we couldn’t battle it out on the track, but that’s how it is.  I have to say thank you to Aston Martin and Ferrari, it is such a long time since I have had such a fun race.  We have two weeks to prepare for the next race and thanks to all the supporters for coming out here in Mexico.”

 

Bruno Senna – 1st LMP2

No.31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca-Gibson

“First of all I want to say congratulations to the team and thanks to them because the car was mega today and we had the fastest car out there for sure. In the first stint I knew we might have rain at the end so I was going for a single stint and I was doing qualifying laps as much as I could and I managed to open up a gap much bigger than I expected.

“Nico (Prost) and Julian (Canal) did a fantastic job and had great pace and in the end it got a bit too close with Ben Hanley and I don’t know what kind of gamble he took but when I came out of the pit lane he dive-bombed me in to turn one and I preferred to let him go. I felt confident I could take him but I couldn’t so I stayed behind him which was quite frustrating. Then I made a mistake after the full course yellow but luckily I didn’t lose so much time. So now in Mexico I have 100% wins and 100% spins too but I am super happy and everyone in the team has to be congratulated.”

 

Christian Ried – 1st LMGTE Am

No77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR

“We are more than happy, it was a great race. It really wasn’t that easy but the car was perfect, the team worked well and Matteo and Marvin did a great job. It’s the reason why we are here.”

 

Marvin Dienst – 1st LMGTE Am

No77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR

“It was definitely not an easy race as it may have looked to some people.  From the beginning I was pushing quite a lot.  Christian started and he held Pedro Lamy up quite a lot and that helped us in the end for sure.  From that moment on we were fighting for the whole race.  In the end it was really exciting when the rain started to come but luckily it didn’t arrive.  With two wins in a row we can be quite happy with that.”

 

Matteo Cairoli – 1st LMGTE Am

No77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR

“The car was a pleasure to drive in every session. We struggled a little bit in FP3, but in qualifying we did the pole.  We managed the race pretty well, the guys were working really hard and that is why we are here.  We are now leading the championship and we need to continue like this for the rest of the season.”