May 31, 2012
Published on tags: Superleague
The top three drivers in the Superleague SimInk Canadian Grand Prix, as is the custom, joined GPVWC Reporter Ollie Woods for the Official Press Conference straight after the race.


1st - Lukas Euler, Midnight-Ferrari

You're back to winning races after a blip at Monaco last time out with another dominant win. Was it as easy as it looked?

I
believe it looked easy, but it definitely wasn't. Especially after
throwing away the Monaco win, I needed to stay concentrating for the
whole 70 laps. As well as that my brake wear in the first one and a half
stints looked quite high, so I was backing off after that and always
managing the gap to P2. It is really tough to keep concentration when
racing alone, especially with the brake wear we have in Canada.
Everytime I almost outbraked myself and went wide, I was a bit scared.
But in the end it worked out fine.

Midnight have won all but one
of the races now, and this is your fourth of the season. Is getting the
win just an expectation now within the team?

I want to deliver
the best possible performance in every race and given our car, that is
the win. So to answer your question, yes, we expect to win, but we put a
lot of effort in our car, the setup and therefore I think we also
deserve it.

You've still yet to be beaten in Qualifying or for the fast lap of the race. Do you think anybody can stop this incredible run?

If
we look at the gaps, we can see that it has been decreasing the last
races and therefore it will get tougher from race to race. I do hope the
run continues for, well for my liking, the whole season, but you
never know. I have to get the lap right and push the car to the limit,
and the closer the opponents are getting, the more I have to push. So
mistakes can always happen, but so far I just always got it right in
Qualifying.

Finally, is it now a question of "when" not "if" for the titles? Are you still tackling every race with the same preparation?

I
do. I don't want to start and get sluggish. But also I don't look too
much in the future, I prefer to concentrate on the next race, with all I
have. I think we as a team do it like that and it has been paying off
for the season. Therefore I don't see a reason why we should change how
we approach the next round.

2nd - Nick Rowland, Midnight-Ferrari

Another Midnight 1-2. How does it feel?

Absolutely
fantastic. Really has been a unbelievable team effort after a few
issues in Monaco. We pulled together as a unit and to produce this
result is nothing more than superb. Thoroughly delighted for the team
and the lads put in a lot of effort. Very pleased for Lukas after his
troubles in Monaco as well.

Do you think you have a chance of upsetting Lukas' pole and fastest lap streak?

Currently,
no. Lukas is an absolute demon on cold tyres and has a magic touch of
switching the tyres on straight away and I have not found that. It is
testament to him that he has the ability to do that. A lot of natural
talent is helping him use that car.

We go to Korea next, a
track that the GPVWC hasn't visited before. Have you had a chance to
try the track? Do you think you can get another 1-2?

We
are yet to drive Korea. Much like real life we just take each event as
it comes and focus on that one event and not look too far forward. Deal
with what is in front of us and utilise what we have to the best of our
ability. Do I think we can get a 1-2? I would like to think so, the
nature of the track should help us but I think the chasing pack will
just get that little bit closer to us again.

It seems
like your rivals may be closing the gap to you slightly; will you
continue to upgrade the car or does attention now turn to making the
2013 car even better than this year's creation?

Mid-season
is approaching fast and we have discussed the possibilities for the
future. We are currently in a strong position and feel that we keep this
effort up more will come. In terms of the 2013 spec car, discussions
are still currently on going.

3rd - Dave Carr-Smith, Green Stripes-BMW

Your great performances in a relatively inexperienced team continue. Are you happy with how today went?

Very happy. I said pre-race that I felt confident for this event, we put
a lot of effort into preparing for this one in comparison to previous
events and I think it showed. We were aiming for a top five today so a
podium is very welcome indeed. It's great for the team. A real
confidence boost for those involved in the running of the team as it's
obviously an indication that, despite being a new team, we're doing
things right in order to let us fight with the likes of Red Archer and today
Draig.

You
had Lee Morris pushing you all the way to the finish. What's it like
knowing you have such a fierce rival trying hard to catch you? Does it
put more pressure on you?

It wasn't so bad today to be honest, I was only really ahead of him for
the final ten or twelve laps so by that point it was just a case of
managing the gap rather than being under direct pressure from him.
Earlier on in the race though it was very tough to get past him, a real
struggle as he placed his car exactly where he needed to to stop me
getting by - as you would expect with someone of Lee's calibre.

I
wouldn't say it puts more pressure on you, but it certainly forces you
to up your game. Today was possibly the best race I've driven in terms
of being on the limit for so much of it; that wouldn't have been the
case had I been cruising around on my own, it's something that only
comes about when you know you have to be absolutely perfect to stand a
chance in a battle with someone like Lee.

Christoph, your team
boss, must be loving the performances he's seeing. Has anything been
mentioned about making you a full-time race driver? Will Midnight, the
team you work for as Technical Director, allow it?

Christoph has been really supportive; he's done a superb job as a team
manager this year. There have been discussions regarding me taking over a
seat on a more permanent basis, but for the time being we're just
seeing how things go race by race, keeping our options open. Both Matt
and Christoph are both doing a great job in their driving as well, they
have had some poor luck that has masked their true potential so I hope
to see them both get the results they deserve sooner rather than later.

If
such a situation were to occur, I don't believe Midnight would have a
problem with it. Obviously I play quite a big role in the day to day
running of Midnight in order to allow Nick to focus on his driving more.
So I'm sure they wouldn't stand in my way if I was to get the offer of a
full time drive with Green Stripes - the whole Midnight team,
management and drivers included were more than happy to allow me to
pursue the Nordsjoen drive when that was offered to me, so I don't see
that they would have any issue if it were to be Green Stripes instead.

Do
you think the car has the potential to beat the Midnights, or are you
merely aiming to consolidate your position against other similar teams?
Is your teammate progressing to the point where you can challenge
Nordsjoen and Draig in the Constructors Championship?

At this point in time I don't think that is a possibility. As a new team
obviously we lack the resources of a top team such as Midnight, Red
Archer and co. so developing the car to the extent that they have is an
unrealistic target for us. Personally my aim for the team is to try and
end the season as best of the new teams, whether this is attainable is
up to us really, we need to go out there and collect the data to allow
us to maintain our advantage over the likes of Kernow.

Similarly,
challenging Nordsjoen and Draig isn't something that we're thinking
about at this point in time. We're extremely happy to be within range of
Red Archer, obviously defending champions from last year, so we don't
want to get too carried away and lose focus - our aim coming into this
season was to score twenty points, we've managed to score thirty-eight
in just seven races so we've already exceeded our pre-season
expectations. We just need to keep doing what we're doing.

Thanks to the drivers for providing answers so quickly. Look out for more reaction to the Canadian Grand Prix soon; the Press Conference will return at the SimInk Korean Grand Prix.