Yann Erhlacher, Yvan Muller, Santigo Urrutia and Tiago Monteiro attended the press conference following Race 1 at WTCR Race of Portugal. A transcript follows.

Press Conference Room, Circuito do Estoril, June 27, 2021

In attendance:
Yann Erhlacher (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co), first position
Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co), second position
Santigo Urrutia (Cyan Performance Lynk & Co), third position
Tiago Monteiro (ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport)

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xt5idzimb1ec8as/FIA%20WTCR%20RACE%20OF%20PORTUGAL%20RACE%201%20VIRTUAL%20PRESS%20CONFERENCE.m4a?dl=0

WATCH THE VIDEO:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yvxwkdg8j7mgd9/FIA%20WTCR%20RACE%20OF%20PORTUGAL%20RACE%201%20VIRTUAL%20PRESS%20CONFERENCE.mp4?dl=0

Q:
Yann, well done. Some valuable points gained there.

YE:
Thank you, yes, it was a good race thanks to the gents next to me as well. It’s really good for the team, thanks to them because we had quite a hard time I would say. We’ve struggled with performance but with the reverse grid we managed to get those points and this result. I would have preferred winning the main race but I will take that. About the race my only opportunity to overtake really was at the start. We nailed the start and then I managed to overtake him on the inside. The safety car didn’t make my life easy, but the restart went well, I had to defend for a few laps because with their top speed it is not easy to fight. But then he got the puncture and then we ended the race like this.

Q:
And it was a nice clean race for you.

YE:
Yes it was actually, trying to manage the tyres. There was debris everywhere, there were things to deal with. It was the first time I raced here with the touring cars so with experience there are a few things to improve for race two now. But it’s good points and I’m really happy about this team podium.

Q:
Yvan, do you remember racing here now?

YM:
That was a long time ago! It was a nice race, a quiet start. I was cautious at the first corner, I didn’t want to do any mistakes and let Yann and Gabriele fight together. Unfortunately Gabriele did a small mistake that caused him a puncture and I took the second place. A good result for us on the podium, we didn’t expect that. Our pace, especially on the straight when you are 6kph slower than the others doesn’t help. It is not because our engine is poor, it is because the BoP is like that, but we do our best.

Q:
You were doing a good job of holding the Hondas off, the three of you.

YM:
Yeah, but it is not easy. If you don’t take some margin into the last corner with the guys behind you they will pass you because they gain three or four car lengths on the straight, so it is very complicated. And in the corners we can’t go faster than what we do.

Q:
Santi, you capitalised on Gabriele’s misfortune too and did a good job of holding off the Hondas.

SU:
Yes, it was a good race. First of all congratulations to the team. Another 1-2-3 is really good for Cyan and Lynk & Co. It gave us a little bit of power even though we were struggling a little bit and if it’s the reverse grid it’s good for us. Then thank you to Tiago because it was a good race and he respected me very well, it was a clean race. It was difficult at the beginning but I think as soon as the tyres started to go away he was struggling a little bit more in the last corner and losing downforce. I tried to catch Yvan but the same thing happened. It was a good race, good points for the championship, for the teams’ championship as well as for the drivers’. Now we focus on the next one.

Q:
That moves you up to P3 in the standings and Yvan P2. And our new Goodyear #FollowTheLeader is Tiago Monteiro. Nicely done, but that sounded like quite an interesting race for you.

TM:
Yeah, it was. It was a good start, I was in the pack and unfortunately Néstor locked up and he pushed a few cars away which gave me a clear path on the inside, similar to what happened at the Nordschleife, so I was able to go straight away behind Santiago. From there I tried to push hard, of course, but they did a very good job so congratulations to the three of you. You capitalised on a good reverse race. We also learnt a little bit on the car and how it is evolving in a race, we have a few changes to do. As Santiago said, I struggled a little bit towards the end of the race, although we understand why, so we will make a few fine tunings. It’s good for the championship definitely and the fight is well open with many races to go. We’ll see what happens now in the next one.

Q:
Will you tell us about your conflab on the radio between yourself and the team with regards to Esteban?

TM:
It happens sometimes, we had different visions. The team had a view, I had another view, I was preparing myself to attack Santiago and they believed that Esteban was quicker at that point. I knew I had margin in me so then I attacked again, but I didn’t want to make too much of a mess so I let Esteban pass. We’re doing teamwork, so that’s the way it is.

Q:
Were there any concerns that you wouldn’t be able to get the pass back at the end?

TM:
No, that was always clear.