Macau: Post-race quotes

ROUNDS 19 & 20 RACE QUOTES

Andy PRIAULX BMW Team UK, 1st in Race 1, 5th in Race 2
2006 FIA World Touring Car Champion

"I am nearly numb with emotion. The pressure was massive on me coming here. The second race was the hardest one I have ever had. Giovanardi was behind touching me on every lap and Thompson was slower than me ahead. I didn't know if I had won until I crossed the line. It has been a vintage year in the WTCC. This championship is a world class championship and I'm very glad to be in it and able to drive to win."

Mario THEISSEN BMW Motorsport Director
"It is a very rewarding feeling to be here winning our third touring car title in a row. It is so important to us. We introduced the new car this year; the BMW 320si E90 which is the same as the car we sell worldwide so we wanted to show our customers it was the right choice. To introduce the 320si for the start of the season was tight in terms of design and development but throughout the year we improved it and now we can definitely say it is a step up from the old one. Coming to Macau the championship fight couldn't have been closer. In this business you can never predict because anything can and will happen. We made it eventually!"

Bart MAMPAEY BMW UK Team Manager
"The key to BMW Team UK's success is that we have a group of people who have been working together for a while. They are committed people, they live close to the factory and to each other so we have stability. We have grown with the championship and we only have one goal which is to work as hard as we can to win the title. With the weight, the new car and with Andy as the favourite we had to work a lot harder and we've managed to do that. In the end it comes down to a team effort and Andy fits well into it. The commitment of the manufacturers in this championship is such that there is a big push forward. The level is so high and there are a lot of great teams and great drivers. It makes me proud to be here with my Belgian team winning again."

Jorg MÜLLER BMW Team Germany, 6th in Race 1, 1st in Race 2
"Andy has done really well this year and he deserves the championship. It has been a great weekend for me. I didn't have the best chance of winning the championship here as a result of us struggling to be quick with the weight at the start of the season which we improved but a bit too late. To win in Macau with 75 kg of ballast is quite something. BMW is like a big family so the development drivers in six good BMW cars and I am extremely pleased to be one of them."

Yvan MULLER SEAT Sport France, 3rd in Race 1, 2nd in Race 2
"Of course I'm happy with my fourth place in the Drivers' classification on my first season here. As Andy (Priaulx) stated, this is a world championship of the highest level and every small mistake costs points and I made a few mistakes while I was learning. What happened at the re-start of Race 2 was that Peter Terting misfired and slowed. However, there were yellow flags so I wasn't sure whether to overtake. He remained slow so I decided to overtake and everyone else followed me. When I was issued the penalty for three laps I had Tom Coronel flashing his lights at me and I wanted him to go away! In the end the penalty was cancelled so it was fair."

Duncan HUISMAN BMW Team Italy-Spain, 2nd in Race 1, 13th in Race 2
"I was here to get important points for the Manufacturers' championship. Even if I had the chance to attack Andy in Race 1 I wouldn't have done it because I'm not stupid. He had a good chance of winning the title and I didn't. Instead I stayed behind him and managed to give him a slight gap. In Race 2 I got quite a good start. I had Andy behind me at the Mandarin Oriental bend and I didn't want to block him. I was then touched by others at Lisboa and the subsequent corners which bent my suspension and so I lost speed."

Tom CORONEL GR Asia, 7th in Race 1, 3rd in Race 2
"What a fantastic season! I was one of the few independent drivers who was competing with the works drivers this season and because I knew I had already won the independents' trophy I raced with my instinct today. Paul Ridgeway, GR Asia Team Manager, is one of the best engineers I have ever met. He trusts his drivers 100% and listens to everything they say so he can improve the car constantly. The whole team is top class."

Augusto FARFUS N.technology, 5th in Race 1, DNF in Race 2
"The season didn't end as we had hoped but I did a good job this year and the car was perfect at every event, we never had any mechanical problems. I have to say thanks to the team and we must feel happy, it wasn't a bad ending."

Fabrizio GIOVANARDI JAS Motorsport, 4th in Race 1, 6th in Race 2
"This weekend has been great for me and the team because we did so well and I was close to getting on the podium. I think the performance of the team and the car was good because I was consistently fast. Andy (Priaulx) was really slow during the first couple of laps and I was thinking, `either you speed up or you let me past.' Anyway, it was a clean race for the both of us. I'm happy he won the title again."

-credit: fiawtcc.com