Mark Webber - #20 Porsche Team
“I was driving way over the top in the first session here. I was braking too deep and expecting too much of the car, so I had to really peel it back and then Timo really put the session back on the rails and showed what the car could do. The tyres weren’t too bad when I got back in and I was pretty confident we could improve the average which we did and I was really happy with my last lap and we got a front row for Porsche which is great.”
“I think it is our best chance for win this season here in Interlagos. It will be a long hard race and anything can pop up and wreck your day. We have some brutal opposition and some very well-oiled machines against us and it will be hard but we will give it our best shot.”
Timo Bernhard - #20 Porsche Team
“We have always had a mega qualifying in the last five races but the #14 car got the pole in Shanghai and Bahrain but we were pretty close too. We had a nice fight at the end with the #14 car for pole here. What we are seeing is that there is not so much tyre degradation so the times were really close together and for me it is nice because it is the first time I am here in Brazil so it is awesome.”
Darren Turner - #97 Aston Martin Racing
“The plan is to win this weekend so we’ve got off to a good start. Last year we were close to the win, there was less than a second between us. This is one of my favourite tracks and with the new surface it’s a joy to drive.”
Stefan Mücke - #97 Aston Martin Racing
“Yes, the team did a great job. With the new asphalt the track is totally different so we were starting from scratch but we progressed really well through practice and in qualifying the set-up was spot on.”
Olivier Pla – #26 G-Drive Racing
“I was quite confident about the pole today and we are too about the race but as we know a lot of things can happen as we saw in Bahrain even at the end. We have worked a lot on the set-up for the race tomorrow so it looks good; we will do our own race and for sure we have to look at the race closely.”
Toni Vilander - #51 AF Corse
“Overall there’s a huge step up in grip on the circuit from the re-surfacing; it’s a real pleasure to drive. We can really push the car to the limit and the tyre degradation is well under control. We were a bit surprised about the red flag out in qualifying as the car seemed to be way off on the right hand side. On that lap I was closing and I think we would have been P3 or P4 but now we are behind a couple of Am cars which makes it a bit more of a battle for tomorrow. Overall the balance of the car is good and we should be quite okay for the race…maybe during the race you’ll see some interesting strategy from us compared to our competitors, so it should be an interesting race even if it will be hard physically.”
Pedro Lamy - #98 Aston Martin Racing
“The car was fast and it was really nice to drive. Before the session we knew it would be tough and it was really close at the end but we managed to make pole, which is great. It’s a long race and we still have a lot to do.”
Christoffer Nygaard - #98 Aston Martin Racing
“The #95 team is so strong so we knew it would be hard to beat them. Pedro did a fantastic job to go quicker than Nicki and then I knew that I had to go quicker than David. They never make it easy for us but we did it.”
Neel Jani - #14 Porsche Team
“It was another exciting qualifying. Unfortunately we missed getting our third consecutive pole position by a small margin. However, it is nice to have achieved the most pole positions for our team this season. Also today it looked good in the beginning, as we had a gap of half a second. But Timo and Mark were fighting back strongly. Tomorrow is another day. We have been quick here all weekend and now we need to be fast in the race.”
Marc Lieb - #14 Porsche Team
“On my first lap I didn’t have the right feeling for the car. The third lap was supposed to be the best, but then I struggled in traffic and made a small mistake. That was it. In the end, we didn’t miss taking pole by much.”
Darryl O’Young – #99 Aston Martin Racing
“I’ve raced here one time before but I do like the circuit and I really like the surface they have used here. The grip level of the car fits my style and I enjoy it, with more confidence in the car. We don’t know why we have such an advantage over others this weekend but the car is handling fantastic. The engineers have worked really well to find the perfect combination with this surface and circuit, and the car really does feel good, even in the longer runs. One thing for tomorrow’s race, with such a new surface, we don’t what’s going to happen, how the car will react as the race progresses - will it grip up more or lose grip. Previous years’ experience count for nothing!”
Stéphane Sarrazin - #7 Toyota Racing
“I did my best but the car was oversteering quite a bit on corner entry and Mike suffered the same feeling. We are fifth so it’s not the end of the world. We had a chance for fourth but that’s racing. I think we have a good car for the race; we have spent the week trying to find the best compromise for the six hours so we will see tomorrow.”
Mike Conway - #7 Toyota Racing
“We should have been fourth to be honest, to put both cars on the second row. The car was quick enough to move up to fourth and it looked like I would manage. But I made a little mistake on my last lap and that cost us time. I was going a lot quicker before that. But it’s a long race and I am confident we have a strong car, so our focus is on tomorrow.”
Anthony Davidson - #8 Toyota Racing
“It was a slightly better qualifying than we expected. The Porsches were flying in qualifying trim; we couldn’t fight them today but tomorrow is where the real work starts. It will be a tough race; physical, hot and the traffic is always a consideration here. It should be fun. I think this is the first weekend this season where all three LMP1 manufacturers have been so close in race trim so it should be exciting.”
Sébastien Buemi - #8 Toyota Racing
“I think we did the maximum we could with third place today. The Porsches did a great job again in qualifying, which was expected. I am sure we have a chance in the race so I am still confident. Let’s see what we can do. The target is clearly the manufacturers’ World Championship for the team but I am sure we will have a say in the fight for the race win as well.”
