RACE
1 PRESS CONFERENCE
FIA WTCR RACE OF
PORTUGAL
Vila Real, 22-24
June 2018
WTCR – FIA World
Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO, Rounds 13-15 of 30
Present:
Yvan Muller, YMR, first position
Esteban Guerrieri, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, second position
Pepe Oriola, Team OSCARO by Campos Racing, third position
Edgar Florindo, Veloso Motorsport, leading Portuguese driver
Q:
A good victory following a very stressful afternoon after what happened
to your YMR team-mate Thed Björk and your start in the first place.
Just explain your race day from your point of view.
YM:
I don’t know how it happened exactly at the front because I did my best
worst start of my career. I missed my start and that was lucky for me
because I was not in the pack. I only have one car to repair and pay
for tonight instead of two. But yes, Thed’s car is quite damaged. The
boys have already started work on it. I believe they will spend all
night working on it, but I’m sure they will fix it. Yes, this is a
victory, I’ll take it of course. It’s important for the points. But I
would like to think of Rob [Huff] and Mehdi [Bennani]. They were the
fastest today and they should probably be on the podium, but
unfortunately racing is as it is. It’s a victory, but not a real one.
Q:
Esteban, you came here looking for a podium treble and you’ve made a
good start in Race 1?
EG:
First of all, congratulations to all the guys here for a good job. It
was an interesting day. The first start I would say I was lucky because
I’m here. I was in the pack and I don’t know how I got through, but I
just appeared in front of all of them. Unfortunately, as Yvan says, you
don’t want to be here because other people are not able to race, but I
think for the future this is a good learning point for all of us. I was
able to start the race because of the mechanics. I couldn’t believe all
the effort they put in. It was really intense, the moment they finished
the car and dropped it to the floor, and very emotional as I saw them
hugging; from Yann’s car, from Thompson’s car, they hugged each other,
smiled and said we did it. That was team spirit and I almost felt like
crying, it was so emotional, but I had to do the job to bring the car
home. Nothing broke down so it was perfect to finish the race and score
good points. Sometimes I have been very unlucky during the season with
little things, but in this case I was a bit lucky. For the rest, I hope
they can repair their cars quickly and race again tomorrow.
Q:
Pepe, up until the final lap it was looking like fourth place for you,
but you got third at the end. What happened?
PO:
Again, I want to think and to know that Mehdi and Rob are OK, because I
was really shocked. It was the first time I’ve seen a driver get out of
the car screaming in pain. I realised again that we are drivers and we
can get hurt, but sometimes you don’t even think about it. Today was a
day when I realised again. The last lap, I was pushing the whole race.
I overtook Jean-Karl [Vernay] on the joker lap, even if it was a little
after. We had a little bit of contact, but I managed to pass and then I
tried to push as much as I could. I was close to the pace of the guys
in front, but I’d lost too much time and then on the last lap I saw
Gabriele. I don’t know if he had a puncture or touched the wall because
the car was moving a little bit. I don’t think it was a puncture, but
in races like this you have to push to the last lap. I am happy for all
my team and my family to score a podium.
Q:
Edgar, this was your first time in the WTCR. Just explain your race and
your experience please.
EF:
I had a difficult qualifying session. I was only able to do three clear
laps with already worn tyres. It was not easy. Then the accident
happened. I hope everyone is OK. I send them my compliments. In the
race I was able to be fast and do a good race. I have good expectations
for tomorrow. I had problems with the transmission and also some
mechanical problems from the accident, but everything was OK and I hope
to be OK for the race tomorrow.
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