Post-Race Press Conference
14 September 2009
Olivier Panis – Team Oreca Matmut-AIM (no. 10) Courage-Oreca LC70-AIM
“The race was really tough all day long today. The strategy was different for all of the teams and on the last stint we needed to change the front cover, for sure we lost a lot of time, but we had to do it. Everyone was pushing hard but in the end we won the race. The team has worked really hard all season to develop and improve the car to finish the season with a win, so I think it’s pretty good for everyone.”
Nicolas Lapierre – Team Oreca Matmut-AIM (no. 10) Courage-Oreca LC70-AIM
“The first stint was not so good for me, at the start I lost the lead to Stefan who was so quick in a straight line. Then I made some mistakes in the traffic and lost a lot of time, so at the end of my stint I was in 4th position. The car was looking good but we just had change the strategy a little bit to get a clear track. It seemed to work because we took the lead after around 3 hours.”
“At the end we had a big gap to Marcel, around 40 seconds, and we both had to pit so the situation was under control. Then we had to change the front cover and lost 30 seconds, but then it seems Sebah had exactly the same problem, so finally we could get the win.”
Hugues de Chaunac – Team Principal: Team Oreca Matmut-AIM (no. 10)
“First, I want to congratulate Aston Martin for winning the series. For us, it’s a very important win as the last race race of the series. I think all the team and the drivers did a great job and we are improving race after race. A great day.”
Marcel Fassler – Speedy Racing Team Sebah (no. 13) Lola B08/60-Aston Martin
“When I heard on the radio that I had to pit again to change the louvre, I was saying some words which I cannot say now! It was a disappointing moment but I think, when you look back at the season, this is still something great.”
Andrea Belicchi – Speedy Racing Team Sebah (no. 13) Lola B08/60-Aston Martin
“All season we knew our car was very fast in the race, sometimes not so much in qualifying, but in the races we are always very consistent. Finally we have the reliability and finished the race without problems.”
Nicolas Prost – Speedy Racing Team Sebah (no. 13) Lola B08/60-Aston Martin
“We hadn’t run too much before the season so Barcelona especially was not easy, but I have learnt a lot from my two ‘big brothers’ and now I’m much closer to them. I think I’ve learnt a lot about this series and driving the car.”
Stefan Mucke – Aston Martin Racing (no. 007) Lola Aston Martin
“It’s a great result for us to win the championship and we are really happy. It was a difficult race today, we had a lot of problems especially with the tyres, but overall it was fine and we are happy!”
Jan Charouz – Aston Martin Racing (no. 007) Lola Aston Martin
“At the start of the race our strategy was, if the Pescarolo wins, to finish 5th to get the championship. We pushed to be at the front but, after the Pescarolo had the problem with gearbox, we decided to have a bit more conservative strategy.”
Tomas Enge – Aston Martin Racing (no. 007) Lola Aston Martin
“We tried some different tyre strategies but it just did not work for our car. For some reason we were struggling to get them working with our car on this track, but we were not slow and did not make any mistakes. The guys did a great job in the pitstops and preparing the car. I want to thank the whole Aston Martin team, my team mates and everybody who achieved this brilliant result.”