Neel Jani – #20 Porsche Team
“The first thing I would like to say is that Mark is basically ok so that is good. To Tom (Kristensen) I would just like to say thanks and it was nice to race with you. At the beginning of the race we had a good battle with Anthony but we lost a bit of time to the leading sister car. At the end we could undercut the Toyota as we stopped about ten laps earlier. I think we could have been ok even if the safety car had not come out. I am delighted for the team who were fantastic all season long.”
Romain Dumas – #20 Porsche Team
“It is a big day for us this is clear. We started to speak about this project in 2011. We have progressed throughout the season and we have had a lot of poles so it is nice to get a win of course. This track and with this new tarmac was very good for us this weekend and we have shown that we can do it in our first year even though we still learn so much about the 919 Hybrid package.”
Marc Lieb – #20 Porsche Team
“It was quite interesting because I lost a position on the first lap and Anthony got me in to turn four and I was concentrating more on Timo really and all of a sudden there was this blue car passing me. I struggled and was in dirty air but it was a good fair battle. It was a real pleasure to race against Anthony and going flat out like that. It was amazing.”
Sebastien Buemi – #8 Toyota Racing
“If you look at the seconds we lost in the incident then you could say that we could have lost the race there but I think really we lost it in many, many small areas too. We had to push more than ever to be honest. The altitude here did not really help us. We worked hard but it was just not enough. We have won both titles in 2014 so it has been a great year and now we look to next year and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
Anthony Davidson – #8 Toyota Racing
“From our point of view we won the Championship today and we showed why we are the champions because we never gave up today. If someone had told me today we had been fighting with the Porsche cars for victory I would never have believed it.
“So it was great we had that chance and like Marc said it was great racing. It was an epic race and I haven’t had one like this since Le Mans in 2011 with Peugeot when we were fighting the Audis when it was no-stop the whole race and with just the two of us in #8 we are both really tired at the end. We drove every lap like a quali lap and the track allowed us to do that. The cars were properly stuck to the ground and there was no sliding at all. We didn’t have the advantage of better tyre-deg over the Porsches but ironically we couldn’t double stint the tyres as we had too much wear on the front and although we had the speed we weren’t allowed to show it.”
Tom Kristensen – #1 Audi Sport Team Joest
“I think we are incredibly proud to be on the podium here today. We needed a little more electrical grunt but as Anthony said the circuit and the surface feel absolutely amazing with the grip. We wanted to achieve what we did today. We lost 30-40 seconds with an issue at the pit stops so we always dropped back. We also had to do seven stints and a splash so we had to save some fuel. When the team said I could ‘go’ after saving some fuel I went for it again and everything felt good and I was able to make a small gap to Sarrazin before the safety car came.
I think it (my retirement) will hit me soon but I am still in the race moment now and I have just got out of the car and I am enjoying things. But this is it! I look back at a long time of a lot of people I want to thank and also the fans of this fantastic championship which will go in to a great future and I look forward to following it. All of my happy memories I take with me from here. My first race that I did with Audi I finished on the podium so it is all a dream come true for me and also thanks to the kids on the right, they did a great job.”
Loic Duval – #1 Audi Sport Team Joest
“We had a great race and the grip from the track helped us. We thought it would be the good time to try for a double stint but for the first 15 laps I was able to maintain the gap to the Porsche ahead but we struggled with the front left tyres and I lost a lot of time, about 4-5 secs at the end of my stint. But it was worth trying.”
Matt Howson - #47 KCMG
“We were well in the lead of the class when I went off and ironically I was not pushing and cruising really. The lap before a Toyota had put me on the grass at turn ten. Then I snatched a brake, ended up on the marbles and went on to the grass and this time I hit the Armco. Unfortunately the floor dug in to the grass and it took the floor off. It is actually my first on track mistake of the year and it was a big punishment. Richard and Alex did a lot to make up for the position we were then in and it was a great team effort. KCMG started off with a lot of ambition and it has been really satisfying to claim three class wins in LMP2.”
Darren Turner – #97 Aston Martin Racing
“The contact with Toni (Vilander) was when I think he had a puncture or something and he just caught the back of me and we both went off. Then later on I was trying to challenge James at T6 and I just got high up on the kerb and it was enough to just send me in to a spin. The guys did a great job with changing the strategy and Stefan did a tremendous job as always. It would have been tight if had been green to the end with fuel and the safety car at the end was even more stressful for us and if we had gone green we would have been in all sorts of problems. It has been a great season in many ways for Aston Martin Racing with lots of positives.”
Pedro Lamy – #98 Aston Martin Racing
“We had a good set-up today. With the new asphalt we had great grip and we felt good all race. We were fast and the team did a great job in the pits. It was easier for us in the end with the safety car so we were quite happy not to have any big pressure.”
