Quotes from the drivers after Brno

An amazing weekend for Alessandro Zanardi and ROAL Motorsport. Zanardi won race one from pole and finished second in race two. His teammate Félix Porteiro made a double out of the first race by finishing in second. Gabriele Tarquini had a succesfull weekend as well, after winning the second race he took a bigger lead in the championship. Here is what they and the other drivers had to say about the race in the Czech Republic.

Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT):
“I couldn’t even dream about scoring so many points and getting a victory on this track which is so favourable for BMW and with such a heavy car. It’s been a great day for me and the keys of the race have been the good start, Yvan Muller’s help and Thompson’s fight with the BMW”.

Yvan Muller (SEAT):
“Gabriele and the team have done a great job winning under these conditions, but with so much weight and on this track it was difficult for me to find the right setting”.

Rickard Rydell (SEAT):
“The car was doing well during the race, especially in the first one, but I did not achieve a good result in qualifying and I had to fight in a very hard group. I hope to do better in Estoril”.

Andy Priaulx (BMW):
“If you carry a lot of handicap weight and don’t get the set-up 100 per cent right, such a Sunday is the outcome. We shall work hard to make sure we are back in the fight for top positions for the Estoril races.”

Jordi Gené (SEAT):
“Bad weekend for me. At least Gabriele’s victory sorted things out for SEAT but we’re still lacking race pace”.

Rob Huff (Chevrolet):
“My first race was unfortunately ruined in a contact, my steering got bent and I had to concede several positions. The afternoon race was quite lively, as everybody could see. It’s impossible to tell what happened, there was so much going on at every corner and cars all over the place! I had a good start, then it was hard fighting during the entire race, at some point I was hit and lost my rear bumper and four places but was able to catch back, keep the car out of trouble and finish third. Unfortunately, those good points were lost after the car was disqualified for a minor issue”.

Augusto Farfus (BMW):
“Ten points are not a bad result, although even more would have been possible. In the second race especially it was tough out there. I tried to keep out of all dangerous situations. Congratulations to Alessandro, who had a truly magnificent weekend.”

Jörg Müller (BMW):
“Who knows what result would have been possible today if I had qualified better. To improve from 15th on the grid to fifth is no something you can do in many WTCC races. Putting up such a chase you have to be happy if you stay on the track. The same goes for race two, which saw many hard fights for positions.”

Alain Menu (Chevrolet):
“I am happy with the podium finish in Race 1, I actually think it was one of my best drives this year. Despite my position in first row, there was little I could do at the start of race 1 against the rear-wheel drive. In the first laps, I was very cautious not to kill my tyres and this paid off. I have been able to keep the pace of the two BMWs in the front and use their stream, and keep my position. Race 2 was just crazy, the only thing I can say is that I could have opted to victory if I hadn’t been pushed out in the fight”.

Félix Porteiro (BMW):
“Brno is just a great place for us. Following my victory in 2007 I made it onto the podium again this year. I had a very good start in race one, but then couldn’t hold Alessandro behind me. Alain Menu put a lot of pressure on me, but I successfully defended second place. It was fantastic to score points in both races.”

Nicola Larini (Chevrolet):
“It wasn’t a good week-end at all, from the beginning until the end! In the first race I could finish 11th despite being at the very back of the grid, thanks to my experience. Race 2 was like a rodeo, I cannot understand how some drivers behave… It’s a pity because I was keeping the pace of Rob, before being hit a number of times”.

Alessandro Zanardi (BMW):
“It’s hard to believe how well this weekend went for us. We knew we could be strong here. But no-one really anticipated such a result. After I had passed Félix in the first race it was all about bringing a great car home safely. That’s what I did. Our strong performance gives us a lot of confidence and motivation for the coming races. This has been the most successful WTCC weekend to date.

Yesterday, after the pole, I was really psyched up. The single lap has a great value for a driver, because it´s where you see who has something more, who is the fastest. By considering the level of the WTCC this has been an unexpected satisfaction and I still struggle to understand what happened today.

The victory in race one is a merit that has to be shared among all BMW Team Italy-Spain´s men, that since Thursday´s practice did an excellent job. This is not false rhetoric: it has been a triumph of the team, including my team-mate Felix Porteiro, with whom I worked a lot in defining the basic setup according to what we did last year.

I am convinced that this success will strengthen further the confident climate within our team: the awareness of being able to count on a driver that can make the difference can be a motivation more for the team, therefore being the ending point of an exceptional team pushes me to give my best every time I get on track.

It is very hard to describe my feelings in these hours: we did not win thanks to the reverse grid or because someone got retired. We simply won because we were the best. And, considering the value of our opponents, we cannot be but extremely proud of this.”

Tiago Monteiro (SEAT):
“During the first race, another car hit me after failing the braking manoeuvre. In the second race I was just making up positions when it suddenly became a stock car race, with too aggressive drivers”.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“Once again we saw two very exciting races, featuring many interesting fights and two outstanding results for Alessandro. With his win and second place he not only scored a lot of points for himself, but also for BMW. Félix also achieved the best overall result of his 2008 season. Augusto and Jörg managed to improve well in race one, but lost their chances for podium results in the second race due to the many hard-fought duels. Andy experienced a weekend to forget and, for the first time since Monza 2007, leaves a WTCC weekend empty-handed.”

Jaime Puig (SEAT Sport Director): “I’m very happy for the great work done by the team throughout the weekend under rather unfavourable conditions. SEAT achieved its first victory in Brno thanks to Gabriele’s excellent driving and the outstanding performance of Yvan; and we have achieved our aim of keeping the leadership in the world championship.