Q:
You finally got your first WTCR / OSCARO victory of 2019 after a flying start - just talk us through that race.

NM:
Yeah, I'm absolutely delighted with my first win this year. I was a couple of times close to achieving that. In the end, if I can have a choice, it would be the Nürburgring that I would like to score the first win, so incredibly happy. It was all down to the start. I saw that Esteban had some wheelspin, I don't know what happened to him, but on the first momentum I was able to get beside him and then the race was settled after that. I was giving it 100% to get a big enough gap coming back to the main straight. Fortunately, the car was fantastic, so I was able to be confident and be able to push, and this was the key to success.

Q:
You say the race was decided at the start but three laps of that 25-kilometre circuit weren't easy, right?

NM:
No, it wasn't easy! To be honest, on the first lap I was probably checking the mirrors more than I was looking ahead. When I saw that Esteban was slowly falling behind, I kept pushing because here it's impossible to judge whether you will lose the front tyres and he will come back toward­­­­s the end of the race. I was flat out, three qualifying laps, fortunately without any big mechanical issues.

Q:
Esteban Guerrieri, you still lead WTCR / OSCARO and extended your points lead. You experienced the joy of winning at this track last year but today, second position from the DHL Pole Position. A sense of slight disappointment or satisfied with that excellent drive?

EG:
Well, congratulations to this man [Norbert Michelisz] beside me. He's a good friend so I am happy for him and of course to Néstor, a great friend, we are doing a very good job with the team. It's not a disappointment. Of course, we don't like to lose opportunities and probably this one wasn't a lost opportunity but it's racing. We probably did a more aggressive strategy before the start so hopefully solving this for tomorrow but Norbi did the start that he did, and when I went to close the door, he was already there. If I were to start on the inside it would probably be a different story but this is life. Like Norbi said, it was three qualifying laps, pushing really hard. I was in between pushing but not killing my fronts because when you are struggling here, you overheat the fronts and then you are done. Then we did a gap from the third. So I knew it would be difficult to catch Norbi but at least try to keep close enough if there was any mistake or something but he drove perfectly. I'm really happy with second place. The Honda worked very well, we are both here in the podium with Néstor, so we couldn't ask for more. So I'm happy with this result.

Q:
Néstor, we saw some amazing action on that Döttinger Höhe straight. Just explain what it was like, first battling with Frédéric Vervisch and then Rob Huff. Talk us through those dramatic moments.

NG:
First of all, I would like to congratulate Norbi for the win. He did an excellent job today. Congratulations to Esteban as well because he did as well a very good shot but unfortunately we couldn't do a very good start. I think we dropped off a little bit in the start because in this weekend you don't have so many opportunities to make a good start because all the time, you go to the Nordschleife and try to practice as much as possible, so we couldn't practice that during the Free Practice 1 or 2. So we knew it was going to be difficult. It was and, in the end, at the first corner we managed to be second and third. And then we see the hit form behind, a little bit, he moved into the line, the race line, and Vervisch overtook me. So then I just report this incident and I try to catch up to him and follow really close. Then, when I was close to overtaking him, I finally overtook Vervisch but Huff came really quick, he took our tow, I ignored the gas. So last lap, really tight moments, I will say the highest of my life, because I tried to follow Huff. He had really good pace. I didn't want to keep the tyres in sector three especially, where it's the most important time for tyres, so I let him go a little bit. Then in sector four I catch up to him to have a good exit after the last corner before the main straight. This was the main moment for the race. We were side by side, trying to cut the air to slow down the other and at the last point we were side by side but with my apex first to the left, so I could go flat out and Rob didn't accept any chance. He understood that I had the first apex so he lifted. Finally we get this podium, so it was a really intense moment and I really enjoyed that overtaking.