Present:

1st - Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Motorsport
1st - Julien Ingrassia, Volkswagen Motorsport
2nd - Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Motorsport
2nd - Miikka Anttila, Volkswagen Motorsport
3rd - Kris Meeke, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
3rd - Paul Nagle, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport

Q:
Seb this was always going to be a huge weekend, but you have won the World Championship* – how do you feel?
SO:
Of course, I feel great. I think before this event, everybody was thinking it would not be possible to win from first on the road after we have seen the roads on the recce. It was looking pretty impossible, but I always keep trying and this time I try even harder to compensate. Definitely it was hard for the first two days, but I produce one of the best performances on this event ever. I am very proud of this one and very proud of the whole team. It looks like an easy sentence to say this, but they deserve huge thanks. All together we make this incredible performance.

Q:
Does the third title feel any different?
SO:
Yeah, the number is different! For sure, I guess at least for me the first one is always the strongest; you fight many years to get it – that one really, you feel a big relief. But the second was confirmation and it’s always nice to say: “I didn't get one by chance.” And the third one is a nice continuation. But also, for me, we are just getting stronger and stronger. I don't know if we’re on the top, but probably we are close to it. After 10 rounds this has been the perfect season so far: no major mistakes with Julien [Ingrassia] and only a single, small technical problem in the car – this is nothing in motorsport.

Q:
I think your rivals are worried at the possibility of you getting even better!
SO:
I would not say I can, I don’t want to be arrogant in this moment. I keep thinking what I can make better and what can I improve? I still have doubts, but this is only human – it’s important to have that doubt, it helps to make yourself better. This season… it’s difficult to make a better one than this season and the target is to keep it at this level.

Q:
You had to take risks this weekend?
SO:
For sure, I risk. I like to say it’s not crazy. I always had the feeling I was in control, but I’m human so I cannot say nothing can happen. First on the road, the grip is very low, you are on the line and the balance feels very unstable. Yeah, it’s hard but I start to be used with it. I am in this position since many rallies and I start to have big experience of being first on the road. But I fight more and more against myself with the frustration I feel when I make almost the perfect stage and we lose more and more time. I have to keep trying and wait for the Sunday. Today it was nice to win all the stages and finish the rally like that.

Q:
What’s the objective for the last three rallies?
SO:
I haven’t thought yet. It’s time to celebrate this one. I guess we have a nice celebration in Frankfurt motor show tomorrow. We cannot celebrate with the team for this one, but there will be something special on the plane with, Julien, Jost [Capito], Andre [Dietzel] and my wife. For sure, the end of the season will be relaxed. I am happy to be back in Corsica, it will be a new experience for everybody. Not everybody is happy to go there, but for the drivers it’s a nice challenge. For now, we can only think about making the statistics better and keeping this level until the end of the season. My target is to finish the season with no mistakes. I don’t think this has ever been done, three races to go…

Q:
Julien, congratulations – how do you feel?
JI:
I would just say that life is really unfair. It is eight o’clock in the morning in Europe and because of me, all my friends are drunk already! I have got a drug control for me, which means I drink only water until the press conference. Life is unfair!

Q:
Things just keep getting better and better though, don’t they?
JI:
There is a lot of things taken in account: we always try to improve what we are doing. It’s small steps, but they count. I always said, we are not alone: we are not two in the car, we are 200 – that’s Volkswagen Motorsport. This is something I remember when we started together 10 years ago, who could dream to be world champion one, two, three times? I cannot believe this myself yet.

Q:
You will celebrate with friends and family when you get home?
JI:
Yeah, I didn't plan yet, but for sure I will stay with those following me for 20 years or more now. We don’t forget, we have two families in our life now; the one we are with Volkswagen is something special. We started from 2012 and it’s something special now.

Q:
Jari-Matti you tried your best to catch Seb today, are you frustrated?
J-ML:
I will speak shortly, so the guys can catch the plane! No spark enough on Saturday morning and the medium-fast corners, I need to improve.

Q:
Talk to me about the spark – what was missing? Jet lag?
J-ML:
I haven’t found the answer yet, I will tell you more on the next one.

Q:
Will we see you back on form and ready to fight for the title next year?
J-ML:
Yes, I will be there.

Q:
What do you do to improve?
J-ML:
A little bit difference on total map.

Q:
Miikka how do you feel?
MA:
I can make it even more shorter… for Seb and Julien: hats off!

Q:
You have been part of this great effort to win the manufacturers’ title – that must be special?
MA:
For sure, for the whole team, it is such an honour to win the manufacturers’ for the third time in a row. We all work so hard to achieve these results, to deliver them we must be very proud.

Q:
Kris, you split the Volkswagens again and you’re back on the podium. How do you feel?
KM:
I’m quite happy now after a few troubled events, there were some little mistakes with a big penalty. We’ve had a consistent weekend. I had half an idea something special could happen with the good road position we had, but finally they were too strong. I’ve had close to the perfect weekend and it’s frustrating not to capitalise when we have had the good road position. But this morning the true pace was in evidence. It’s frustrating for him [Ogier] when he sweeps the gravel – welcome to our world. It’s not possible for us at the moment. We had a few mistakes, but it’s important at this time of the season to be here next year to enable us to fight.

Q:
Yves talked about gauging progress after these three rallies. Do you think you’ve done enough?
KM:
I have no idea, I haven’t spoken to him. There have been no discussions on the contract and maybe it’s not just Yves; I have to talk to everybody, I just need to make sure I’m in the WRC next year.

Q:
Would you have had more of a chance if you’d taken the hard tyre on Saturday morning?
KM:
It’s hard to know for sure. It was an optimistic choice, it was not a disaster. Looking at Hayden Paddon’s time, we’d matched or even been in front on Friday, even though he was [running] tenth on the road. We should have been able to match his time or even better. He took 15 seconds on the loop and if we’d had those 15 in our pocket, you never know, but it wasn’t to be. I’m happy with the points and the podium. And I should have mentioned at the start, congratulations to Seb, Julien and Volkswagen on an incredible job. They have set the target high above and we all have to try and reach it.

Q:
Are you looking forward to Corsica?
KM:
From a driver’s point of view, this is a classic. I did it a few times in the JWRC and it is one of the most enjoyable rallies in the world. We have some new stages this time, but I really look forward to it. I know the DS 3 is quite good on tarmac, so I’m looking forward to getting to Corsica.

Q:
Paul, you must be glad to get back on the podium?
PN:
It’s been a fantastic weekend, near faultless. We were up front for some of Friday and most of Saturday, we’ve been racing all weekend. It’s great to be back on the podium and in the press conference – it’s given us a bit of fresh air and taken some of the weight off the shoulders to be back here.

Q:
Was there a fire in your belly after what happened last night?
PN:
What happened last night, there’s enough been spoken about it – Seb spoke on behalf of all of us. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did. We drove at our own pace today and we came out third. This was a result we needed and Citroën needed, it’s good for the manufacturers’.

Q:
Was there more pressure on you, with Mads [Ostberg] missing the rally?
PN:
No, there’s usually pressure on us. If we make a mistake, the world’s on our back. That’s part and parcel of what we do and we deal with it as normal. We’ve done our job the way we should.

Q:
Jost, congratulations – how does the the team feel about this result?
JC:
The team is fantastic. Everybody can be very proud of what we did. We win all the titles in the first season, then defend them and now we take them for the third time in the row. We love the sport, everybody in the team loves the sport and we are proud to do this for Volkswagen and for the sport.

Q:
What else can we see from you?
JC:
We know where we can improve and we always can improve. We see after each rally where we did mistakes, and we see where we are not so good and we work and push hard to improve on every rally – this is the motivation. The team is as hungry as it was at the start. We work flat out, very hard for 2016 and 17: we want to stay where we are.

Q:
What do you want from the rest of the season?
JC:
To continue to see what we have seen: fantastic fights. And those fights are not just from our three crews, Kris [Meeke] is challenging us and is fast – he can go the speed of us and some other young guys coming up. We want to see fantastic rallies and fighting and to see the first victory of Andreas [Mikkelsen] this year.

2015 FIA WRC 2 CHAMPIONSHIP

Present:
1st - Nasser Al-Attiyah
1st - Matthieu Baumel

Q:
Congratulations Nasser, you took big points here…
NA-A:
Thank you. I am really so happy to win this race. This was very important for the championship. We enjoy this race and we had a good feeling after we won here last year. We did a good job on this race and even though we are coming late from the other race [Lebanon], we tried to push ourselves to have 25 points here – it was very important for the championship.

Q:
You had some car problems yesterday, were you worried?
NA-A:
Yes absolutely. When we start the long stage we had a problem with the gearbox, but we didn’t show our competitors and we tried to push, but it was not easy with only rear-wheel drive. After we lost some of the lead, but today we tried to manage and have the same speed as Yurii [Protasov] – this was a great win here in Australia.

Q:
Yurii did get quite close – were you worried?
NA-A:
No. He goes very fast and improves a lot, but we don’t take any risks – we just tried to have good speed without any mistakes. After, we find we lose two seconds or three seconds every stage, it’s not a big deal – I think he have a lot of pressure and make a mistake with the jump start. After that, we are really quiet and we manage the last two stages without any big risk.

Q:
Are you confident for the championship?
NA-A:
Yes absolutely. There is one competitor who is really fast: Lappi, he does Corsica and we see after Corsica where we are. I think there will be a big race in Spain.

Q:
Matthieu, this has been a busy time but a good event?
MB:
We were a little bit scared coming so late to this event about being tired and we did feel some difference between the first two days. But the speed is good enough to have the battle with Yurii. It was good to have these 14 seconds at the end and 25 points in the championship.

Q:
Did you enjoy the stages?
MB:
Yeah, the rally is fantastic. This was the first time here for me. I discover everything really pleasantly when I give the notes to Nasser. For the spectators outside, it must be wonderful.

Q:
Do you even know what time zone you're in?
MB:
No. But now, it’s holiday! We’re back for one week after five weeks racing together, we have a week at home for the kids and family, then it’s five more weeks in the row.

NA-A:
The good thing is that we lead three championships and this is why we keep going, to see if we can win the three championships.

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