*A low, rhythmic rattling comes from the ventilation system as several journalists try to dry their wet socks on the media center radiators.*
(Dieter Gross - Magdeburg Motorsport-Zeitung): Jean-Marc, you finished thirty-eight seconds ahead of Mika Salo's Maserati with a best lap of 1:25.882. Was the Lister Storm actually adhering to the laws of physics today, or did you find an illegal shortcut through the triple-chicane while the marshals were distracted?
Jean-Marc Gounon: The car was behaving like a heavy oak wardrobe on caster wheels, but the wardrobe happened to have a very large engine. I did not see any shortcuts, only Mika Salo getting progressively smaller in my mirrors until he was the size of an insect. If the Maserati team wanted to catch me, they should have built a faster car. I drove in twenty-seven circles and now I would like to eat some sausage and go home.
(Matti Korhonen - Helsinki Daily): Mika, second place is a solid result for the AF Corse squad, but a forty-second deficit to a British brick looks somewhat alarming. What happened to the pace of the Maserati MC12?
Mika Salo: The Italian horsepower went to have an espresso around lap twelve. The understeer was so heavy that I believed I was steering a ferry across the Baltic Sea. I spent most of the forty minutes trying not to think about the fact that Matt Kenseth's Lamborghini was only six seconds behind me at the line. Second is second, but my hands are still vibrating and I do not like the coffee they serve in this media lounge.
(Tiago Silva - Gazeta de Interlagos): Fernando, you finished tenth overall in G3, a lap behind Bob Sinclair's Viper and even behind the GT2 Porsche of Jan Vonka. Your best lap was a 1:34.050, almost ten seconds off Gounon's pace. Is the Gillet Vertigo Streiff actually a race car, or did the Lotus F1 Team simply glue plastic wings onto a very loud lawnmower?
Fernando Horta: The Gillet Vertigo has many beautiful qualities, but moving forward is not currently one of them. Every time I hit the straight, the Viper of Sinclair passed me so fast that the wind almost took my helmet off. It felt like driving a 1972 Brasília with three flat tires through heavy traffic on the Radial Leste. At least I finished twenty-five laps, which is twenty-four more than my last disaster here, so I will not complain too much. But yes, the lawnmower comparison is actually quite respectful to our actual engine power.
(Gex - Gecko TV): Fernando, this race felt longer than a Boy George marathon at Richard Simmons' house, but do you think we can blame the lack of traction on the German humidity, or did someone spill cold sauerkraut on our rear tires during the pit stop?
Fernando Horta: Gex, please do not talk to me about Boy George right now, my lower back is entirely ruined from the cockpit. I think the rear tires were actually made of cold cheese.
(Jean-Pierre Clouseau - L'Equipe): A question for anyone who saw it: Greg Biffle was running a decent pace in the #16 Lamborghini Murciélago but retired on lap 23. Did he run out of fuel or did he simply remember he had a flight to catch?
Jean-Marc Gounon: I passed his car parked near the final corner. He was looking at the engine bay with the expression of a man who has just found a dead pigeon in his mailbox. In GT1, when the Italian engine decides it is finished, it is finished.
(Lucio Santos - Rádio Transamérica): Fernando, you got a small totozinho from Mike Jordan's Porsche on lap nine that almost put you into the gravel. Did you think about retiring the car and joining the marshals for a cold Brahma?
Fernando Horta: The temptation was very high, especially when Gerold Ried's Porsche passed me like I was parked. But the team told me over the radio that if I retired, Gex would write the official team press release, so I stayed on track out of sheer terror.
Ps. Mansell, we know you are hiding behind the tyre barriers near Turn 3. Please come back, the team misses your excuses.
