What the drivers said after 6 Hours of Silverstone
Porsche Team (No.1 and No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, LMP1)
Brendon Hartley : Then I wanted to get passed a GT car on the outside, which is quite normal through corner two, but the driver didn’t see me and used all the road.
Mark Webber : In the beginning the Audi was really strong, but then I was able to catch up, get passed and create a gap.
Romain Dumas : During my first stint after the race start I touched a GT car and damaged the front aero. Afterwards the car was pretty understeery until the nose was changed.
Neel Jani : After my pit stop I was a lot luckier with traffic and, although we still had the damaged front wing on the car, I was able to go at the same speed as the leading car.
Marc Lieb : Race preparation wasn’t easy because of the weather conditions we had. Nevertheless we did a solid job in the race.
http://www.porsche.com/international/motorsportandevents/motorsport/worksracing/raceseries/fiawec/
Toyota Gazoo Racing (No.5 and No.6 Toyota TS050-Hybrid, LMP1)
Anthony Davidson : It was nice to see the other car score a podium and I am really happy for the guys in the team.
Sébastien Buemi : It is a bit unfortunate what happened to our car as we lost all chance of finishing on the podium due to the puncture.
Kazuki Nakajima : Many thanks to the mechanics who managed to fix the car and allow us to score some points which could be important for the championship.
Stéphane Sarrazin : It is not a win but it is a good podium for the team. The TS050 is a really nice car and there is big potential in it.
Mike Conway: Our speed generally on one lap was quite strong but we still need to work on the pace over a whole stint to get closer to the others.
Kamui Kobayashi : We need to continually improve how we are using the car to get more out of it so we can fight more closely with the others.
http://www.toyotahybridracing.com/
Audi Sport Team Joest (No.7 and No.8 Audi R18, LMP1)
Marcel Fässler* : A huge ‘thank you’ goes to our trackside squad, as well as to our employees in Neuburg and Neckarsulm.
André Lotterer* : I’m happy that our car was running so impeccably.
Benoît Tréluyer* : For us, this was the best way to open a season as you can imagine.
Lucas Di Grassi : We’d have liked to contribute to the result as well, but unfortunately suffered a failure of our car’s hybrid system.
Loïc Duval : Thank you’ to Audi Sport for a car that we took a position on the front row with.
Oliver Jarvis : Now we’d like to show what we’re capable of from the second race on.
ByKolles Racing Team (No.4 CLM P1/01-AER, LMP1)
James Rossiter : The partnership with Dunlop is new, just like several parts of the car. It offers a lot of potential which we will have to leverage.
Simon Trummer : We know much better now which tyre compounds work in the different conditions. I am looking forward to the race at Spa-Francorchamps in May!
Oliver Webb : My home race at Silverstone was great fun. The fans were fantastic as was the atmosphere on race day !
Strakka Racing (No.42 Gibson 015S-Nissan, LMP2)
Jonny Kane : This car suits Silverstone and we found a good balance that works through the tyre life cycle.
Nick Leventis : I’m looking forward to continuing the momentum at Spa in three weeks’ time.
http://www.strakkaracing.com/wp/
Manor (No.45 Oreca 05-Nissan, LMP2)
Roberto Merhi : I had a good start and made up two or three positions, it was a really fun part of the race.
Matt Rao : P6 behind such experienced team is a good result for us considering the car was only shaken down a few days ago.
Richard Bradley : We knew the first race was going to be tough, but we came through with no problems
http://www.manorwec.com/news.html
Aston Martin Racing (No.95 Aston Martin Vantage, GTE Pro / No.98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, GTE Am)
Darren Turner : The car ran perfectly and I’m both happy and encouraged by the performance of our new Dunlop tyres.
Marco Sorensen : I’m already looking forward to Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Mathias Lauda : We had a tough qualifying but I knew that Pedro, Paul and I would be really strong as a team.
http://www.astonmartin.com/racing
Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK (No. 66 and No.67 Ford GT, GTE Pro)
Stefan Mücke : It’s always exciting to start the first race of a new season and to take the start in the Ford GT was a special moment.
Andy Priaulx : The car ran faultlessly and I was able to get into a good rhythm straight away.
Harry Tincknell : I really enjoyed it and I’m happy with fourth, although a podium would have been nice.
http://www.chipganassiracing.com/
Dempsey-Proton Racing (No.77 Porsche 911 RSR (2016), GTE Pro)
Richard Lietz : This is not how we expected the start in the new season.
Michael Christensen : I’m sure that we will do a lot better already in Spa.
http://www.proton-competition.com/
KCMG (No.78 Porsche 911 RSR, GTE Am)
Joël Camathias : It’s frustrating to see the podium going at the very end, when we had been running second or third during the whole race, but this is racing.
Christian Ried : And if we then don’t run into problems and maybe have a bit of luck, successes will come.
Wolf Henzler : We all would have hoped for a more successful season kick-off.
http://www.proton-competition.com/
Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing (No.88 Porsche 911 RSR, GTE Am)
Khaled Al Qubaisi : We will learn what’s necessary from Silverstone and will start even better prepared in Spa.
http://www.proton-competition.com/
See you at Spa in Belgium for the second round on 7th May.
*quotes given before final classification