Present:
Tom Chilton, Sébastien Loeb Racing, Opening Race winner
Thed Björk, Polestar Cyan Racing, Main Race winner
Rob Huff, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, Opening Race runner-up, Main Race third
Tiago Monteiro, Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team, Opening Race third, Main Race runner-up

Q:
Turning first to Tom Chilton and your first win of the season after what was a fantastic battle with your countryman Rob Huff. Just talk us through that?

TC:
It was a fantastic race. I’m so happy for the team, Sébastien Loeb Racing. They’ve worked so hard towards this and it couldn’t have happened at a better time as it’s nice to get a win early on in the season. Rob Huff next to me, he’s British and knows how to fight hard on a race track. He’s a world champion and he’s never easy to keep behind. But he’s also smart and knew if we started tangling too much we’d have the whole train right up our chuff and that makes it a whole lot harder around this circuit in particular because of all the slipstreaming. We both pulled away and raced very well in the Opening Race and I’m absolutely over the moon.

Q:
How hard was it to keep Rob behind you during those closing laps because it was getting really close?

TC:
I was strong where I needed to be strong, which was exiting the Parabolica because one of the best overtaking places is Turn 1, which was actually my slowest corner. But it doesn’t if you’re slow right on the apex because there’s nowhere to go, you can do an old Anthony Reid special and put your foot on the break and they hit you up the back because there’s nowhere to go, which we did once, actually. And that was it. Everywhere else I was fairly strong. But I’m just sitting here a bit frustrated because I didn’t finish the Main Race because of a mechanical but that’s motorsport.

Q:
So what actually happened in the Main Race?

TC:
Well I haven’t lifted the bonnet up yet but it feels like it’s either a driveshaft or gearbox, which has let go, sadly, because that’s really hurt me in the WTCC Trophy points as well so I’m now one point in P2 and not first any more so that’s frustrating. But that’s motorsport and sometimes these things happen.

Q:
Turning next to the other race winner today, Thed Björk. Now you’ve won an Opening Race before but this was the big one, your first Main Race victory, which means we’ve now had four winners from the first four races. That race looked like something else so what was it like from your perspective?

TB:
For me it probably was one of my best races ever actually. I felt completely relaxed and just had to perform and use what I had in the car and from the team and it felt really good. I just have to practice the starts a bit but after that I was chasing Tiago. I knew I had to be on his tail to see if something happens but I got the pass already, on lap two or three I don’t know but it was early on. It felt really good and I had the speed. It was an amazing race to drive here at Monza and I was just enjoying it, really, really well, actually. I’m really happy and the team is super-happy. This is what the team said we had to do but it’s not so easy although it felt really good.

Q:
There looked like being two moments of big pressure for you in the race when you dropped out of the lead at the start and when the safety car was deployed. Were there any moments when you thought this isn’t going to be your day?

TB:
No. No way. When I took the lead and could make a gap, the safety car came out I just decided I was never going to let him pass. I felt really good and just continued what I did before and that felt really nice.

Q:
When you got out of the car after the race you were embracing a number of team people including Yvan Muller. What did he say to you and what difference has he made to you?

TB:
You know I really enjoy working with Yvan and the experience he brings to the team. It’s actually a great honour for us to have his experience. I am really lucky for this and the team and we’re very happy. He’s really nice to work with. I didn’t expect that when I cam to the championship because I did not know Yvan but he’s been growing as a person all the time and I’m really lucky to be able to get the experience that he has, it’s just pieces and bits of it. He’s made a big improvement for us.

Q:
Turning next to Tiago Monteiro. While you didn’t win a race this weekend, your championship lead is still intact and it’s 13 points advantage over Thed. But before the start you were talking down your prospects but your performances in the races suggested otherwise. What was the difference?

TM:
I was actually quite confident before the start because the race pace was good in race one and that gave me quite a lot of confidence. After a good start I thought maybe we can do something this weekend. Obviously Thed was very fast and we could see that right away, especially in sector two as he was in qualifying. I tried to pull away nevertheless and I pushed really hard, which forced me to make a small mistake exiting Ascari. He took advantage of it but for the whole race I don’t think I could have held him so congratulations to him and the whole team, they were really strong this weekend. From our side we did talk down about this weekend before coming here but coming out of Monza with two podiums is much better than we expected. I’m so happy about the engine evolution, how everything came together. We can really fight at the front at such a high-speed race track, which was never our strong point. It’s motivating for the rest of the season for sure. We have to keep our head down because we have strong competitors here and it’s never going to be easy. But I take two podiums, no problem.

Q:
And there’s a really good championship battle in prospect with four winners from four races. What do you think of the wide-open nature of the championship right now?

TM:
It’s exactly like we said at the beginning of the season, it looked like it was going to be very wide open and as you can see by the number of changes on the podium there are a lot of possibilities for the championship. It’s great I am leading and taking a little bit more points this weekend. But there’s still a long way to go and a lot of strong people capable of being strong consistently and that means nothing is done so we have to take every single point for sure.

Q:
Turning to Rob Huff and in that Opening Race you were putting a lot of pressure on Tom Chilton. He’s given us his version of the race but what was it like from your perspective, was there a point when you thought you could get him for the lead?

RH:
It was a great race and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I got past Esteban [Guerrieri] I got my head down and it helped, obviously, with Norbi [Michelisz] and [Mehdi] Bennani having a bit of a moment together. I think I managed to get up to Tom in about a lap and a half so we knew we were strong. But as Tom said he was strong enough in the places he needed to be. The middle sector we’ve been strong all weekend and we proved that again in race two. We could really close the gap to Tiago and to Tom in race one. But unfortunately when you’ve got the same material as somebody else you’re fighting with and, as Tom said, he was strong exiting the last corner, you just can’t get close enough to be able to mount a move. But it was a strong fight and a fair fight. I was just worried about scoring points. I started P8 so to find myself in P2 I was very happy. And then obviously the second race again was strong for us. The Hondas have definitely got stronger in a straight line because they were pulling away from me on the straight. But, again, it was a fair fight although I never really got a chance to get alongside him. Again sector two I could close right up but out of Ascari he would just pull away down to Parabolica again. But I’m happy. For my championship starts here this weekend after the disaster of Marrakech. To come away with two podiums is testament to the team’s hard work so a huge thank you to them.

Q:
Hungaroring is next and, apart from Macau, it’s perhaps one of your most favourite venues you could say. Is that the circuit where we will see first the win from you?

RH:
I don’t know, we’ll just take the points. At the end of the day it’s a long championship and we’ve scored really well this weekend. If we can continue to score like this, it will be a very happy Huffy at the end of the year. At the end of the day I like all the circuits we go to. It’s a good variation of tracks and, ultimately, the car is strong at all of them and hopefully we’ll find some weaknesses from the other teams.

Questions from the floor

Q:
To Tom Chilton and Rob Huff from Andrew Abbott (Touringcars.net): The compensation weight will be recalculated this weekend. We don’t know what that will yield but how much are you looking forward to potentially having a lighter car?

TC:
Two thumbs up from us because obviously a lighter car is a faster car. At the moment we seem to be struggling right outright in qualifying just ever so slightly and the weight distribution will massively change our car and we’ll be a lot faster at Hungary and I think both me and Rob will be quite excited about that.

RH:
I’ll just echo that. At the end of the day the lighter the car, the faster the car and the longer the tyres last. Around here we don’t really struggle with tyre wear too much but somewhere like Budapest we do hugely. I’m not sure how much it’s going to change but it’s going to change a bit an of course we’ll take every bit as we can.