After a quick Sprint Press Conference, the three podium finishers from the Challenge series join us for the press conference A welcome to race-winner Tom Eley, second place driver Mickael Folcher for GRIDline Racing and rounding up the podium for Milennium Racing, Jan-Moritz Kammann.

Q: First questions for you Tom. According to the result, this must have been a simple walk-over for you. What is your point of view on the race?

TE: The race was a complete suprise for me. Before qualifying I had just over an hour to try the mod and track. I had set up the car for 1 lap and was running about 1 second off the top guys.  Going into qualifying gave me more experience with the car and I was quickly able to improve my time lap by lap.

Q: Did you expect to be this competative straight away?

TE: I didn’t expect anything from this race, I hoped to be semi-competative due to the lack of track-time in practice. I had no expectation to win this race. I did expect a little more from Kammann though, but his position on the grid was not helped by his strategy.

Q: All in all, a perfect weekend for you. What are your goals this year?

TE: I just hope to be a dangerous competitor in the races I take part in this year. I will not be able to attend all the races, but the whole  community has made me feel very welcome and I hope to race again next time I have the chance.

Q: Thank you Tom, now Mickael, a fantastic return to GPO after missing the Melbourne GP. How did you experience the race today?

MF: Fantastic it was indeed. Especially when I only could practice for three sessions this week. The result is made possible by the fantastic work the GRIDline team did the last week. I was very happy to be on the front row besides Tom. I didn’t make a good start though, as I wanted to battle for the podium. A few small contacts with Nick, caused my car to be a little damaged. I couldn’t push like I wanted to after that. A few small mistakes during the race, didn’t cause me to loose my position anymore. After about halfway the race I realized Tom was out of my reach, so I just tried to bring the car home, in which I luckily succeeded.

Q: Was Tom really too fast and did you know second place was the best possible position?

MF: First of all, Tom is a great driver, I am happy I can measure myself to him during the race. I lost a lot of time behind Nick ( Rowland ), so I knew it was  going to be hard to catch up to Tom. I decided I better could concentrate on not letting Jan-Moritz come too close.

Q: After a solid performance and a new team aswell, what are your expectations for this season?

MF: I want to win a race and take a lot of points ofcourse. But most importantly I want to have fun while doing it. I would like to thank Stuart Fields for  providing me the possibility to do this in GRIDline and a big thank you to my teammates.

Q: Thank you Mickael, final words are for Jan-Moritz. Third place made sure you held the lead in the championship. Were you happy with the result? Or could it have been more for you today?

J-MK: We had a lot of problems today to get the race underway. The Race Director put me back in P14. I thought this was not needed as I didn’t hit anyone, but that’s another story. I think third place after starting 14th is a good way to end the race.

Q: Where did it go wrong for you today?

J-MK: The start was the trigger for a bad race. And I tried to get the most out of it, as I was on the harder tires this time. My car was damaged all over,  because of some hard battles in the opening laps. If I started in P3 I think I could’ve battled for the win.

Q: Your still leading the championship after three rounds. Who do you think are your main competitors?

J-MK: I am a lucky man to be still infront, because I don’t like the first few tracks of the season. They don’t suit me very well and it’s hard to motivate yourself when you do not like the track your on. In Australia and Malaysia I didn’t perform well, but you can’t choose how a race develops. I have absolutely no idea who will be battling for the championship in the end. It’s a long season and everything can happen. We have a lot of very strong drivers in Challenge and the competition is very good.

Thank you all for your time..

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