Drivers’ quotes after the Macau races

It has been a thrilling finale at the street track of Macau today. Andy Priaulx took his third consecutive World Touring Car Championship title, after it seemed he had no chance at the start of the day. Yvan Muller retired with fuel pressure problems, so the Frenchman had to settle for second in the championship. Here’s what the drivers had to say about todays races:

Andy Priaulx:

“I can’t believe it. I have never given up but I knew I needed something special this season. I am proud that I got to the last round with a chance. Yes, you need luck to win the championship but you also need to be there to take the luck. Today was my lucky day. I had a bad day yesterday and I need to thank my team for giving me the motivation for today. My car and team have always been reliable and that is a key factor in winning the championship.”

Mario Theissen:

“It has certainly been the most competitive season so far. We were in a difficult situation when we arrived here because we had to be defensive. This was confirmed with our qualifying results. However, Macau always brings something special and we pushed until the chequered flag. Nobody could have expected what happened but our drivers took all the chances and it paid off.”

Alain Menu:

“As in Pau, Yvan jumped the rolling start of the first race, visibly running ahead of me before the lights went green, so he obviously took the lead of the race. I pushed him as hard as could hoping to force him into a mistake, while the stewards investigated his jumped start, but he didn’t make any. Then he suddenly slowed at the Melco hairpin, where there is a permanent yellow. I brake hard to avoid passing him, as I didn’t want to be trapped into an illegal an overtaking maneuver, but then I noticed he had problems so I passed him anyway and continued to win. In the second race I had a good start, but got hit by Huisman at Lisboa, which put me into a big slide. I came back well up the order and was close behind Jorg Muller, when at Turn 10 I turned in too soon and clipped the inside wall, which bounced me off into the outside wall. Every year I make one mistake, and unfortunately it was today.”

“I am happy and proud of what we have achieved this season. This weekend has been fantastic although I made my only mistake of the season in race two. After five race wins I feel that the next thing I need is to be the world champion.”

Yvan Muller:

“I was controlling the race at the front and although pushing quite hard, with Andy Priaulx in eleventh and out of the points I was not taking any risks. Then the car stopped without warning one and a half laps from the end of the race. It is a problem with the fuel system, my diesel pump failed. It was the first time it had happened and it cost us the championship. Before Anderstorp we could not have imagined that we would be at Macau challenging for the title, so the team has done a fantastic job with the Leon TDI. If you lose a championship because you are not fast enough then that is okay, but we were quick enough. It is very disappointing for all the team but we can be proud of our achievement of second place.”

Gabriele Tarquini:

“It has been a very good season for SEAT but in the last event something happened that has never happened before – Yvan’s engine stopped. We came to Macau to win two titles and unfortunately we lost both, so we are very disappointed. My second place in Race One is my first podium finish in Macau, but it is unfortunate that we lost both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championships.”

Nicola Larini:

“Another second place, the fifth of the season… Always the bridesmaid but never the bride seems to be the story of my season! I’m sure I was able to win my first race here, because I figured that Andy (Priaulx) wouldn’t try too much at the start since he was in the best possible position to win the championship. But at the standing start I experienced clutch problems and dropped back to third behind Andy and James (Thompson). I had a good fight with James for second, finally passing him in run-up to Lisboa. At the same time Monteiro was all over me, so sometimes it was bumper to bumper in front as well as behind. It was close on quite a few occasions, but it was a fair fight throughout. I tried to catch Andy (Priaulx) but it was too late in the race. It’s a shame about the start because I felt I had the fastest car in race two.”

James Thompson:

“Surprised, relieved; I have a lot of emotions running through me right now! Everyone knows our situation this year and to have been the only man challenging the reigning champion in the last race of the year is fantastic!

“When I was running second, I couldn’t help but think that it could happen. Andy (Priaulx) could run off, we’ve seen stranger things happen! Larini was very fast though and we did really well to keep ahead of him and other cars this weekend.

“A little bit of disappointment, we could have been runner-up in the championship if we’d finished second in the last race but it really doesn’t detract from an amazing end to our season. If someone had told me I would be third in the drivers championship at the end of the year, I would have smiled and said no way!”

“People know that our chassis is three years old and I haven’t driven the car since Monza so a lot of credit has to go to the team. This season I have driven with passion and the boys have worked with passion; our achievement should not be underestimated.”

Mauro Sipsz:

“For N.Technology to finish third in the championship just reinforces the quality and offering of my team. This year we have had the smallest of budget, virtually zero testing but as usual the N.Technology commitment and professionalism has shone through.

“You don’t have a team for as long as we have had, with the major successes that we have had, without being good. I am sure that this year’s result will ensure any automotive manufacturer considering a motorsport programme will think of us.

“Like any successful company, we are only as good as the people that work within it. I would like to say a big thank you to all my team for an outstanding job this year.”

Robert Huff:

“I had a very good start in race one. At one point I thought of coming on the radio to ask Nicola to back off a bit, as I could see that Gabriele (Tarquini) and Augusto (Farfus) in front of me were having a serious scrap for position. I didn’t want that to go wrong for us to hit their debris and then ruin our race. As it turned out, it eventually did go wrong, but fortunately it was while exiting Lisboa Corner rather than under braking for that turn. I just managed to avoid Augusto’s wreck but ran over some body panels anyway, luckily without puncturing. That incident moved me up to third which was very nice considering I had started seventh. After the start of the second race, coming into Lisboa, Monteiro turned in on me and hit me on the left front wheel, bending the wishbone. A shame because I had had a good start and was looking forward to another points finish.”

Eric Nève:

“What a way to finish the season! A record fifth pole position and a seventh win, our third on as many street races this championship has. This year, the Chevrolet Lacetti has won every new race on the calendar (Zandvoort, Pau, Porto and Anderstorp), as well as every street race (Pau, Porto and Macau). This clearly shows the excellent natural ability of the Chevrolet Lacetti, as well as of the team running them, to successfully adapt to new or extreme circumstances each time out. Team and drivers have really done the brand proud this year, and I can hardly wait for the new season to start so we can continue our winning ways.”

Tiago Monteiro:

“It’s been a very positive season for me. World Touring Cars has been a new experience and the cars and drivers are very competitive, and I’m pleased to have taken one pole and three podiums. I’m pleased to have finished fourth in the final race at Macau, because I had a really good fight with James Thompson, but I just didn’t have enough speed to overtake him. I really must thank everyone in the team for making this season so good for me — my mechanics, engineers and all the team management. I really feel for Yvan. He is a great champion and I think he really deserved to win the title this year.”

Jordi Gené:

“We don’t deserve this bad luck. We’ve had a very good second half of the season, we did a fantastic job in Monza and everything was going well in Macau before something happened to Yvan’s car that has never happened in half a season of testing and racing. We can do nothing but accept what has happened and get on with it, but if you look at everything objectively you must think that SEAT deserved at least one title this year. For me at Macau I finished fourth in the first race, but in the second I had a lot of contact with other cars and because of the damage it was oversteering a lot. I had to try and keep pushing hard, and finally I touched the wall coming out of the last corner and broke the steering rack.”

Stefano D’Aste:

“I am more than happy because it was a very difficult year for me with a new car and a new team. At the start of the season we had a lot of problems understanding the car and the right way of getting the best out of it. From the third race things changed and we improved race by race.”

Rickard Rydell:

“It felt great to be back in the SEAT Sport team, because I really do feel at home here. My car felt better on race day than it had done in qualifying and I had an especially good second race, but for no gain. I came to Macau to try and help SEAT and Yvan win the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ Championship and we didn’t do it, so I’m really disappointed for everyone.”

Luca Rangoni:

“This season has been a fantastic experience even though it did not bring us a happy ending. We have proved we are a competitive team and I am happy I was fighting until the end.”

Jaime Puig:

“Towards the end of the season especially we have been very competitive and with the Leon TDI we are fighting for every race victory. We came to Macau fighting for two championship and we should be very proud of that. We came very close to winning both the Manufacturers’ and Drivers titles, but in life if you don’t know what it feels like to lose, you don’t know what it feels like to win. Of course we are extremely disappointed, but in moments like this you have to be strong. We have a fantastic team, an excellent car, the best drivers and we have to make sure we do better next time.”

Alex Zanardi:

“In race one I was right behind Priaulx, and due to the classification position I was keen to protect his position from any attacks. I am really very happy for his third championship success which arrived when the situation seemed to be definitely compromised. In race two I have been bumped at the beginning of the race and I concluded escape route. In the heat of the moment I selected the reverse too violently and this broke some gearing that shortly caused the damage of other gears as well. I finally wish to congratulate with Stefano d’Aste that conquered the Independents title behind the wheel of a BMW.”

Felix Porteiro:

“This was my first race at Macau. I constantly improved from session to session and I ended up with competitive laps both in qualifying and race. In the first manche I run with the objective to help Priaulx in his title fight, while in race two, once the situation was decided, I had the chance to express my best without keeping an eye to the classification and I got a seventh place which I reckon quite good on a difficult track like this. The experience gathered this year will surely be useful next season”.

Roberto Ravaglia:

“Macau is one of the most demanding tracks of the world. Zanardi already knew very well the track, while Porteiro had to learn it quite quickly to give his contribution in the decisive race of the season. The constructors’ championship victory is a result that awards the efforts of BMW Team Germany, BMW Team Italy-Spain and BMW Team UK. My sincere congratulations go to Andy Priaulx for obtaining his third world title at the end of a very tight season.”