Post Race Press Conference

Drivers Present -

1st - LMP900 - Rinaldo Capello (RC) / Tom Kristensen (TK)
2nd - LMP900 - Frank Biela (FB) / Emanuele Pirro (EP)
3rd - LMP675 - Didier De Radigues (DR) / Eric Van De Poele (EVP)

Q - Congratulations on the win Rinaldo and Tom, can we have your thoughts on the race.

RC - I had a very good start until the first corner, then in the first corner I was a little bit too wide when I lost two positions. It is very slippery there and I couldn't close the door because Emanuele was already on the inside but behind him there was the car of Magnussen. Then in the second lap I overtook Magnussen in the third corner. Then I started to push a little bit more compared with the first two laps. I then lost my second position to Stefan Johansson in traffic. It was easy to lose three to four seconds a lap because I had some bad overtaking. I had a small crash against a yellow Porsche in a very quick corner. I was already inside and in front of him when he went off and fortunately nothing happened to my car. It was not easy to overtake today. Unfortunately for Stefan he had a brake problem I think, he was leading and he went off. I got the lead and then after a few laps we did a driver change and then Tom drove 'til the end.

Q - Tom, although obviously a lot of it was driving skill, how much of it was team and how much of it was luck today?

TK - I jump in the car and I'm in the lead. The car was perfect, so when you are in the lead with this it is good. But it is always hard to drive here but the car was perfect and there was nobody close to me. I drove as quick as I could, making sure I didn't make any mistakes with back markers, it all worked very well. I just had one problem where I said 'oh' but everyone else was very kind.

Q - Were you ever concerned about being caught by your team mate?

TK - I had a good lead when I got into the car. We were running consistently. On paper it looks like an easy victory, but only for me, for Rinaldo it was hard work!

Q - Will Le Mans be this easy?

TK - No, it was only easy because I had the lead, it was a very hard fight between the cars in the beginning and it was good to watch that. I was looking forward to having a fight with the Gulf car, but they got this problem and that will be hard for them to take for sure.

Q - Second place today went to Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. Frank can we have your thoughts on the race.

FB - Second place is a good result, unfortunately all the races this year we have finished in second. We had some possibility to grab a win in the past and also this weekend. Emanuele did a very job at the being, he had fantastic start and was leading. Unfortunately, he had to come in for a stop and go, I have to say on this circuit it is very easy to do a little mistake on the yellows, with all the up and downs sometimes you don't see the flags. It is really hard to close a gap once it is there. The second stint I was really trying hard but there was no chance to close the gap.

Q - Emanuele can you tell us about the team. How well is the team working now?

EP - We look really good at the beginning of this race, then I did this mistake, I don't know where but I didn't go to the stewards because I am sure they are right. It doesn't matter because once I stopped the race was over, we really didn't have the groove, though we tried very hard to close the gap. It's history, we now have to try the result home, we have got potential to do well but so far we are missing a win. Lets try again.

Q - Third place overall and first place in the 675 class. A great job and a historic win for the Dick Barbour Racing squad. Didier what are your thoughts on being up with the faster guys?

DR - We didn't stay very long with them, but I had a very good start and I was with the Panoz. I was looking forward for a good race up against them but very soon I saw one in the gravel, then I think the other one had problems too. So I thought this could be interesting for the result. So OK we have taken profit of their problem and here we are on the podium with them. The team worked really hard and the car is brand new, this is only its second race and the car has improved every race, which is very important.

Q - How much better can the team get, because things are very good?