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Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai International Circuit
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March 28, 2012
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The traditional post-race Press Conferences are back for 2012! New man in charge Scott Woodwiss met after the Chinese Grand Prix with winner Lukas Euler (GER, Midnight Motorsports), runner-up Nick Rowland (ENG, Midnight Motorsports) and third-placed Lee Morris (ENG, Draig Racing).
Q. Lukas, starting with you: 2 races in Superleague, 2 pole positions, 2 fastest laps and 2 wins. It's looking pretty easy for you so far, isn't it?
LE.Yeah - it's looking really easy, but I think our team has really put up a great job in the winter testing, and that why we are so much up there.
Q.Obviously, again you showed excellent pace in the Midnight Motorsport car, it seems that the developments you guys have made have been excellent. Do you think this is a sign of things to come this season? Do you reckon that you guys can maintain this pace throughout the season?
LE.Well we hope so, definitely! But I think the others will close up because they definitely want to. We're not stopping but they won't stop developing either so I think in the end it should get closer.
Q.Just a quick comment on your team-mate Nick. He was a lot closer this time, obviously having a better race. How do you rate his pace compared to yours during the race today?
LE.Well I'm quite happy for Nick because in Australia his race wasn't that good. He couldn't show his pace and this time around he really was up there, always staying close to me. But it's quite OK to have your team-mate so close rather than any other teams, and I'm really happy for him. He's put a lot of effort into getting closer and he showed it today.
Q.We saw you at the end of your last stop you had a bit of a mistake on your out lap. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
LE.Yeah, I was just running a bit wide, touched the grass and that was it, basically. A slight loss of concentration maybe. Holding up the concentration is really tough and it's, let's say, quite easy at the moment so - a bit of a mistake but there's always some room for improvement.
Q.Nick, moving on to you. Great job for a Midnight 1-2, fantastic effort for 2nd place so well done to you. Talk us through your race and how your pace faired compared to Lukas today.
NR.Well firstly I'm absolutely ecstatic about it because I've got my first podium in a couple of years, I think it is now, so it's brilliant the fact I got onto the podium again. My pace in the early stages wasn't too bad, but I noticed around pit stop time I was losing quite a significant amount, but I think it really paid off in the end, because the tyredegradationfrom the first lap to the last lap of the stint, so I was basically just trying to maintain everything I had to keep going forwards. The start was a worry for me because off the line I noticed my engine was actually smoking, and I was thinking these temperatures are not going to come down quick enough, but thankfully I just about was able to push enough on the first lap when the temperatures came back down enough to maintain the engine.From that point onwards I actually had to turn down the boost a little for probably the first stint, and then also had to short shift because I wanted to make sure it was cool enough (the engine). From then onwards, I just basically tried to maintain my gap to Lukas. My initial aim was just to try and stay as close to Lukas as I could to show the pace that I really did have, so I'm very pleased that I was able to do that.
Q.You touched on the fact you had a better race than Australia, you had a bit of an eventful race. In terms of your first podium, how do you see this panning out in terms of the rest of the season for you?
NR.I think to echo what Lukas said, it's going to be so difficult to be able to maintain this. We're very fortunate to be able to do this early on, but I can't see it lasting the entire season because other teams will catch us and they will develop at a good rate as well. We've seen time and time again Nordsjoen do it, especially, and there's nothing stopping Lee in just pure ability alone to get back up there. It's going to be such a tight season, but it's been fantastic for myself personally as a team manager as well to start the season in this way.
Q.Having Lukas in the team, being a very quick driver having won 2 races, how much can you learn from Lukas in terms of developing your own ability in terms of skill and pace?
NR.Hugely, as probably Lee will tell you after, huge amount I can learn from him and it's been brilliant to be able to work with him and develop a set-up along the way. The amount that I've been able to take from it has just beenunbelievablein the past few months, and it's brilliant drafting him into the team.
Q.Turning to you, Lee, another podium, 3rd place. Again, the car was a little bit off the pace again to the Midnights. Just talk us through how your race developed.
LM.It was going to be a struggle to keep 3rd place, I believe, until (Janne) Tanskanen had some issues, I believe he hit the front wing that I also hit, and he came off worst from that. Once he was removed, that was pretty much it. Just cruised home for 3rd place really, there was nothing else I could have done.
Q.You touched on the battle you had with Tanskanen, it was a great battle too-ing and fro-ing. In terms of pace with Tanskanen, with the Midnights being fairly quick, the pace that Red Archers are showing possibly means they have more pace than the Nordsjoens. How much of a challenge do you see coming from the likes of Nordsjoen and Red Archer as the season goes on?
LM.I was really surprised by the Nordsjoens today. I expected them to be in front of us by a little margin, but they were slower, again, than both us and the Red Archer. The battle with Tanskanen was pretty good. I got in front of him early on and just controlled the pace, really. At one point he passed me under yellow flags into the hairpin which I think had been reported to the Race Director, but nothing was done so basically on the next corner I decided to re-pass him, because I was pretty annoyed about that. Apart from that, I don't think they'll be a constant threat (Red Archer) because - Tanskanen's a good driver but I don't think he'll able to keep it consistent enough with that car, because I just see it being Midnight and Nordsjoen, so I think they'll be the ones to watch.
Q.Your team-mate for this race Keith Storrie did a fantastic job to get up to 9th place and score himself 2 points. We won't touch too much on what is the apparent situation I believe we've heard between yourself and Ryan (Walker), so we'll leave that for another time. In terms of Keith at the moment, what are your thoughts on his performance in the race and if there is any possibility, as the season goes on, that we could be seeing him in more regular outings in a Draig Racing car?
LM. Yeah, I just want to say Keith did a superb job because he didn't get the call to race until last night and it was nearly midnight, so it was a very late decision because we were not sure if Ryan was going to make it or not. We've heard nothing from him for a while now, so I hope Ryan's alright. But Keith did a superb job, he really tried hard today in testing and made a lot of progress with the car. We got through a lot of things that we didn't expect to get through, and for him to come home with 9th place after a pretty hard fought race from what I heard is really good for him. We might see him in a few more races, but we'll have to wait and see what happens with our second driver. I also just want to say well done to Midnight and Nick especially, because he's been trying for a couple of years now to get back up front and it's good to see him up there.
Q. Final though from you, Lukas - the season now goes off to Abu Dhabi for the next race. Looking ahead, how do you see the field closing up, your chances for Midnight and also how much development do you reckon the other teams will bring in order to try and close the gap?
LE. I think development-wise, the next race is a huge update for some teams, so we may see a close field. We won't stop development and I think we are still running quite good. I hope to continue like that, but it won't be easy because we'll have to push every race and every lap. Therefore, I just will give my best in the next round and hope for a good finish.
Q. Lukas, starting with you: 2 races in Superleague, 2 pole positions, 2 fastest laps and 2 wins. It's looking pretty easy for you so far, isn't it?
LE.Yeah - it's looking really easy, but I think our team has really put up a great job in the winter testing, and that why we are so much up there.
Q.Obviously, again you showed excellent pace in the Midnight Motorsport car, it seems that the developments you guys have made have been excellent. Do you think this is a sign of things to come this season? Do you reckon that you guys can maintain this pace throughout the season?
LE.Well we hope so, definitely! But I think the others will close up because they definitely want to. We're not stopping but they won't stop developing either so I think in the end it should get closer.
Q.Just a quick comment on your team-mate Nick. He was a lot closer this time, obviously having a better race. How do you rate his pace compared to yours during the race today?
LE.Well I'm quite happy for Nick because in Australia his race wasn't that good. He couldn't show his pace and this time around he really was up there, always staying close to me. But it's quite OK to have your team-mate so close rather than any other teams, and I'm really happy for him. He's put a lot of effort into getting closer and he showed it today.
Q.We saw you at the end of your last stop you had a bit of a mistake on your out lap. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
LE.Yeah, I was just running a bit wide, touched the grass and that was it, basically. A slight loss of concentration maybe. Holding up the concentration is really tough and it's, let's say, quite easy at the moment so - a bit of a mistake but there's always some room for improvement.
Q.Nick, moving on to you. Great job for a Midnight 1-2, fantastic effort for 2nd place so well done to you. Talk us through your race and how your pace faired compared to Lukas today.
NR.Well firstly I'm absolutely ecstatic about it because I've got my first podium in a couple of years, I think it is now, so it's brilliant the fact I got onto the podium again. My pace in the early stages wasn't too bad, but I noticed around pit stop time I was losing quite a significant amount, but I think it really paid off in the end, because the tyredegradationfrom the first lap to the last lap of the stint, so I was basically just trying to maintain everything I had to keep going forwards. The start was a worry for me because off the line I noticed my engine was actually smoking, and I was thinking these temperatures are not going to come down quick enough, but thankfully I just about was able to push enough on the first lap when the temperatures came back down enough to maintain the engine.From that point onwards I actually had to turn down the boost a little for probably the first stint, and then also had to short shift because I wanted to make sure it was cool enough (the engine). From then onwards, I just basically tried to maintain my gap to Lukas. My initial aim was just to try and stay as close to Lukas as I could to show the pace that I really did have, so I'm very pleased that I was able to do that.
Q.You touched on the fact you had a better race than Australia, you had a bit of an eventful race. In terms of your first podium, how do you see this panning out in terms of the rest of the season for you?
NR.I think to echo what Lukas said, it's going to be so difficult to be able to maintain this. We're very fortunate to be able to do this early on, but I can't see it lasting the entire season because other teams will catch us and they will develop at a good rate as well. We've seen time and time again Nordsjoen do it, especially, and there's nothing stopping Lee in just pure ability alone to get back up there. It's going to be such a tight season, but it's been fantastic for myself personally as a team manager as well to start the season in this way.
Q.Having Lukas in the team, being a very quick driver having won 2 races, how much can you learn from Lukas in terms of developing your own ability in terms of skill and pace?
NR.Hugely, as probably Lee will tell you after, huge amount I can learn from him and it's been brilliant to be able to work with him and develop a set-up along the way. The amount that I've been able to take from it has just beenunbelievablein the past few months, and it's brilliant drafting him into the team.
Q.Turning to you, Lee, another podium, 3rd place. Again, the car was a little bit off the pace again to the Midnights. Just talk us through how your race developed.
LM.It was going to be a struggle to keep 3rd place, I believe, until (Janne) Tanskanen had some issues, I believe he hit the front wing that I also hit, and he came off worst from that. Once he was removed, that was pretty much it. Just cruised home for 3rd place really, there was nothing else I could have done.
Q.You touched on the battle you had with Tanskanen, it was a great battle too-ing and fro-ing. In terms of pace with Tanskanen, with the Midnights being fairly quick, the pace that Red Archers are showing possibly means they have more pace than the Nordsjoens. How much of a challenge do you see coming from the likes of Nordsjoen and Red Archer as the season goes on?
LM.I was really surprised by the Nordsjoens today. I expected them to be in front of us by a little margin, but they were slower, again, than both us and the Red Archer. The battle with Tanskanen was pretty good. I got in front of him early on and just controlled the pace, really. At one point he passed me under yellow flags into the hairpin which I think had been reported to the Race Director, but nothing was done so basically on the next corner I decided to re-pass him, because I was pretty annoyed about that. Apart from that, I don't think they'll be a constant threat (Red Archer) because - Tanskanen's a good driver but I don't think he'll able to keep it consistent enough with that car, because I just see it being Midnight and Nordsjoen, so I think they'll be the ones to watch.
Q.Your team-mate for this race Keith Storrie did a fantastic job to get up to 9th place and score himself 2 points. We won't touch too much on what is the apparent situation I believe we've heard between yourself and Ryan (Walker), so we'll leave that for another time. In terms of Keith at the moment, what are your thoughts on his performance in the race and if there is any possibility, as the season goes on, that we could be seeing him in more regular outings in a Draig Racing car?
LM. Yeah, I just want to say Keith did a superb job because he didn't get the call to race until last night and it was nearly midnight, so it was a very late decision because we were not sure if Ryan was going to make it or not. We've heard nothing from him for a while now, so I hope Ryan's alright. But Keith did a superb job, he really tried hard today in testing and made a lot of progress with the car. We got through a lot of things that we didn't expect to get through, and for him to come home with 9th place after a pretty hard fought race from what I heard is really good for him. We might see him in a few more races, but we'll have to wait and see what happens with our second driver. I also just want to say well done to Midnight and Nick especially, because he's been trying for a couple of years now to get back up front and it's good to see him up there.
Q. Final though from you, Lukas - the season now goes off to Abu Dhabi for the next race. Looking ahead, how do you see the field closing up, your chances for Midnight and also how much development do you reckon the other teams will bring in order to try and close the gap?
LE. I think development-wise, the next race is a huge update for some teams, so we may see a close field. We won't stop development and I think we are still running quite good. I hope to continue like that, but it won't be easy because we'll have to push every race and every lap. Therefore, I just will give my best in the next round and hope for a good finish.
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