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Portimão Race 2: Quotes from the podium
01
May
2022

Portimão Race 2: Quotes from the podium

Franco Girolami (1st): “A big congratulation to Comtoyou Racing, the Audi family and for my teammates. Viktor Davidovski helped me a lot to be here and Tom Coronel always pushes me forwards and helps me a lot. I did a very good start; I tried to go outside when I saw the drivers inside but it was an amazing race. I know Pepe is not happy with me, but I would like to see the camera with him. We had some contact in the beginning, I think he hit my car and then in the second contact I hit his car which I want to apologise for. We are friends and I don’t want to race with him in an unfair way.”

 

Pepe Oriola (2nd): “I want to say a big thank you to Martin (Ryba) and everyone at the Brutal Fish team for doing such an amazing job. I actually feel a little bit upset because I think I did a good opening lap even if I had a small contact with John, but that is Touring Car racing. Then I managed to open up a gap but the Safety Car came out. We know the power of the Audi on the straights is better than us, although we are stronger in other areas. I think I was really fair in the fight with Franco, giving him space and not pushing him out of the track but on the straights he was pushing me to try to move me and unsettle the car. I think his driving standards aren’t quite right for this championship; we saw last year that he and Mikel Azcona made contact on the straights several times. Okay, Touring Cars are all about big fights and some contacts, but you don’t have to go into another competitor on the straights. I have asked to have a review of the driving standards of everyone. If someone keeps touching other people on the straights at 200kmh, someone is going to get hurt.”

 

Tom Coronel (3rd): “I think it was all alright. I think we could have been a little more aggressive in the first two laps, but finally it was okay. In the end I lost the gap to the front guys, I couldn’t keep up with the speed and Filippi was attacking me all the time, but finally I could defend from him quite well after I overtook him. But I’m happy to be back with a trophy on the first weekend. It gives you a good feeling. You know, the second race was the reversed grid – the first race was the real one. We are there, but you could see the Honda was very strong and the competition is strong. It’s good for the fans and Touring Car racing and so everything is good.”

 


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