ROUNDS 17 & 18 RACE QUOTES
Augusto FARFUS – N.technology, 1st
in Race 1, 5th in Race 2 “I am extremely happy with
this weekend and to be in the lead of the championship. I
had understeer in both races but I did my job so I am content.
I drove as cleanly and smoothly as possible in the two races
because I was conscious of my tyres. It was not really enough
though because the last to laps were tough to drive. Everything
went well and I was lucky in the second race because there
was a lot of accidents that I managed to keep out of. To be
honest I was faster than Menu in Race 2 but Larini was faster
than me so when he passed me I tried to catch him but in the
end I let him go because he was lapping roughly two hundredths
of a second faster than me.”
Jörg MÜLLER – BMW Team Germany,
6th in Race 1, 1st in Race 2 “Did I expect to be in
this position now? After yesterday’s qualifying probably
yes because my car felt good despite the weight. At the beginning
of the season we were struggling with the weight whereas Andy’s
(Priaulx) car was fine with it from the beginning. Now we
have worked hard and the car feels good with weight. You can’t
make any prediction for Macau and it is worth remembering
how many drivers can actually win the championship. There
are some SEAT drivers who don’t have a lot of weight
and I think Rydell especially has experience there. It is
near impossible to know what to expect.”
Luca RAGONI – Proteam Motorsport,
2nd in Race 1, 3rd in Race 2 “In all honesty I expected
to do well because the car felt great straight away. We were
competitive from free practice 1 and my car seemed to improve
as the weekend went on. I dedicate these results to my team
and also want to thank Menu for being so fair during our fights
in both races.”
Duncan HUISMAN – BMW Team Italy-Spain,
7th in Race 1, 2nd in Race 2 “It is very nice to be
on the podium, especially for BMW Italy-Spain in one of their
home races. In Race 1 the car was really good but I struggled
in the last few laps therefore I tried to push as hard I could
to get a gap. This was also the case in Race 2; I tried to
pull away from Jörg (Müller) but I didn’t
manage to. I could have closed the door on him but I that
might have left both of us off. I am here to score as any
points for BMW and seeing as I have no hope in the driver
championship I didn’t want to take any points away from
Jörg.”
Nicola LARINI – Chevrolet, 3rd in
Race 1, 4th in Race 2 “It’s been a good weekend.
Both the races were tough, but the second especially. I got
hit by Terting which meant I lost three seconds and contact
with the lead group. In Race 2 I was getting bigger and bigger
in Rangoni’s mirror but couldn’t pass him event
though my car was getting better and better on each lap.”
Dirk MÜLLER – BMW Team Germany,
11th in Race 1, 7th in Race 2 “Due to the yellow flag
in qualifying I suffered and couldn’t do a fast lap
which would have given me the possibility to be higher on
the grid. Starting from 22nd was a nightmare. I managed to
finish 11th in Race 1 because I got a brilliant lap and managed
to pass everybody. I have to say that I didn’t like
the racing that happened. There was lots of pushing and the
back of my car is covered with marks. In Race 2 I couldn’t
shift properly into 5th from lap 2 onwards and that meant
it was difficult to compete. I did manage to get 2 points
from Race 2 and 22nd to 11th in Race 1 is not too bad!”
Andy PRIAULX – BMW Team UK, DNF in
Race 1, 8th in Race 2 “Regarding the incident in Race
1, I thought that I had passed Tarquini and turned into the
corner. He didn’t want to go onto the grass and I don’t
blame him. He can’t blame me for what happened either,
it certainly wasn’t intentional. I’m on a huge
high at the moment from the 2nd race. I was driving my heart
out. I scored one point which I think could be a very important
one and I don’t have too much weight going into Macau.
I feel really positive going into Macau now, I feel ‘racey’!”
Tom CORONEL – GR Asia, 14th in Race
1, 13th in Race 2 “Of course it was the goal at the
beginning of the year to win the independent trophy so there
were many races when I couldn’t fight with the works
drivers because I had to think of the independent competition.
Now I am relieved that I am free to really race. I love Macau.
I have had fastest laps, lap records and won races there.
I have seen over 20 red flags at Macau but this year I am
hoping to see all green ones.”
Gabriele TARQUINI – SEAT Sport Italia,
DNF in Race 1, DNS in Race 2 “In Race 1 Priaulx came
in very hard at the first corner. I continued and had a good
pace on the next few laps. I caught Coronel and overtook him
which meant I had a chance to finish 8th. Then with 2 laps
remaining Coronel hit me and I went out. The car was damaged
and that’s why I hit Rydell on the straight before crashed
hard into the wall and the car was simply destroyed. There
was no chance of making it for Race 2. I feel so bad.”
Rickard RYDELL – SEAT Sport Sverige,
23rd in Race 1, 20th in Race 2 “These were not the results
I wanted. I suffered from bad luck in qualifying due to the
yellow flag coming out. In Race 1 the car was good. I passed
a group of cars on the inside but then Gabriele (Tarquini)
went into me and my suspension broke on the straight. As a
consequence of that the car just wasn’t right for Race
2. The only good element from this is that I have little weight
for Macau.”
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