RACE 2 PRESS CONFERENCE
FIA WTCR RACE OF NETHERLANDS
ZANDVOORT, 19-21 May 2018
WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO, Rounds 10-12 of 30

VIP Lounge 16, Circuit Zandvoort, 13h00, 21 May

Present*:
Aurélien Comte, DG Sport Compétition, first position
Yann Ehrlacher, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, second position
James Thompson, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, third position

Q: 
An incredible second place yesterday but now you’re a winner in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO after a fine drive. How good does it feel right now?

AC:
Yesterday I did a very good start to manage to be P2 and it was already a very good result for the team and for myself. Today I did the same, a very good start and I took the lead at the first corner. In some parts James was quicker than him but I managed my pace to the end of the race.

Q:
Leading throughout knowing the win was in sight must have meant a lot of pressure. What was it look inside the car?

AC:
I know there was some pressure but I focused on myself. But really I wasn’t thinking about the pressure. I was just leading the race and trying to go to the end.

Q:
We’ll keep with you Yann because not only are you a very good translator for Aurélien but that was also a very good second place in terms of your championship chances. Please explain your race and also that last lap when you got ahead of your team-mate James Thompson?

YE:
Actually it’s a very good result for us, P1 yesterday, P2 today from P5 on the grid, which is quite good. We did a good start to go to P4. We had a great fight with Pepe. It was tough, strong racing but still fair, touring car business. At the end of the race James just let me go through to score more points for the championship so thanks for that James, really thankful. That was our race. Technically we finished P3 but because of James we finished P2.

Q:
The incident between you and Pepe will be investigated after the race. Do you have any concerns about that?

YE:
Honestly he was already trying to shut the door a lot of corners before and on this corner I was straight in his back and he braked much too early to protect his place. But I am not superman and I can’t stop the car when I want. I had some times to react and I just pushed him a little bit to go through and that’s it. He give it back to me on the next corner quite badly I would say because I almost went off and hit the tyre wall but honestly we will see after the race about the investigation but it’s proper touring car business, nothing else. It was not an unfair manoeuvre.

Q:
Turning to James, the DHL pole which was the objective this morning but not quite the victory. Please explain your race?

JT:
I’m just very happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a world championship podium, 2008 in Imola when I won the race was the last time I’ve been on the podium I think so very pleased to be here. That was also in a Honda so it seems very fitting. Generally, I’m very pleased because the best result for us was to be in the top 10, that was our goal. My two team-mates are doing very well and this young generation are pretty good because they win races, they translate, they seem to do everything. I was happy to be there. I pushed as hard as I could without taking crazy risks. But the reality was he drove a very, very good race. I tried to wait until a little bit later in the race to put him under pressure and gave it two laps of giving it absolutely everything but unfortunately I couldn’t force him into a mistake so I was very happy with the result.

TC:
*Tom Coronel, the leading local driver, was unable to attend. His quote appears below: “I showed racing! I think this was good. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell how the race was but in this case it’s quite easy because I overtook nine or 10 people and was fighting with Yvan, overtook on the last lap Berthon… It was difficult though. I thought it would be more easy to overtake, especially on home ground where I know some of the tricks here. I was consistent though. I lost a bit of time when I was behind Yvan, putting him under pressure until he made a little mistake, but overall we can be happy with 14^th and that we could show the crowd some real racing!”