WTCC Valencia - Qualifying : They said...

Gabriele TARQUINI – pole position: “It was very tight, it was not a big gap but it was enough to claim the pole. It is very easy to make mistakes in qualifying here. To do one clear lap without a mistake is difficult as it is very easy to lose your braking point or the back end of the car. My first run in Q2 was a good lap without mistakes and was enough. The pole is always the best place to start from to stay away from trouble in the first corner. It’s not maybe the best place to start in Valencia as two years ago we lost a lot of positions in the pile up at the first corner, so this time I will try to use that experience to have good start.”

Rob HUFF – qualified second: “I think this is maybe my seventh second place in qualifying this year. It is very easy to make a mistake and is very slippery out there. I made a mistake every lap other than the last one, which is probably the best way to do it. It is one of hardest circuits we visit to set the car up as there is a lot of variation in corners and camber. It’s very tricky. Thankfully the weather didn’t mix it up and I’m pleased to be second and back at the front again.”

Yvan MULLER – qualified third : “The problem was that on every run I was fast somewhere but then I was doing a mistake and this cost me some time. The gap is very small so if you do a small mistake here you lose a lot of places. On my last attempt I saw my first sector was good, then my second was good and I said to myself ‘just keep cool and try to finish lap without mistake’. But it did not work…”

Fredy BARTH – top Rookie, P8: “For me qualifying could have stopped after Q1. It is a very good result for team because we have had hard times with four races without top 10. We have struggled a lot with the car but finally here found something to help me get car in the right place again. I had to abort my second run because of yellow flags and use a third set of tyres so this meant I didn’t have a new set for Q2.”

Kristian POULSEN – top Independent, P12: “I was very close to get into Q2. We had a good setup on for the second practice and this was my best qualifying until now so I’m really happy, it will be a good race tomorrow.”