Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference for today's Race 1 here in Barcelona: joining us today are Race Winner Mitch Evans (MW Arden), second placed driver Marlon Stockinger (Status Grand Prix) and third placed Aaro Vainio (Lotus GP).GP3 Series: Congratulations on the win today, your first of the season, talk us through the race?Mitch Evans: I’m absolutely stoked, you can’t get much better than that to start the season on the top step of the podium. I was quite disappointed after Free Practice and Qualifying so it was good to come back with a win. I was fortunate with Daniel and Antonio’s jump starts and their misfortune but I am not going to complain about that. I made a great start, the car was brilliant from the first lap, it was fantastic. Once the two in front went into the pitlane, I tried to pull a gap at the front and then of course we had the restart but I maintained my advantage. My goal before the weekend had been the victory so I am very happy we delivered.GP3 Series: What do you think has made the difference with the car’s performance compared to last year?Mitch: We have worked really hard in Winter testing to maximise the performance of the car. We know we have found a good race set-up and we are confident we will be strong again in the race tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll make a clean getaway in race 2 and we will see what happens. We can’t plan these things so I don’t have any expectations. GP3 Series: Congratulations on P2! Your first podium, how do you feel?
Marlon Stockinger: I’m really happy. Last year we were really unfortunate so to have the chance to be on the podium is really great. At the start, a lot was happening around me and I was lucky to get around the mayhem. I was fortunate that Abt and Felix Da Costa in front had the jump start penalties. In the race basically I was trying to keep up with Mitch and we were struggling at the end of the race a little.GP3 Series: What are your aims for Race 2?Marlon: I think it’s just about picking up points and being consistent. Any chance of getting on the podium is a fantastic result and clearly we need to push more in qualifying. Ideally we would have had the win but I am very happy with the points for second. I couldn’t catch Mitch today .GP3 Series: This track is notoriously hard on tyres, how were they?
Marlon: The tyres were ok actually, the team did a great job giving me a good car in qualifying, so a big thank you to Status Grand Prix for this.GP3 Series: Obviously, It’s a big change this year for you after a difficult 2011, to be on the podium, what do you think has been the change this season?Marlon: I think it’s because I have more experienced, also coming from Asia it’s a lot more different than coming from Europe to settle into everything. I think I am with a better team now and I think when all these cards come into play, the results improve. I think winter testing went well and we were very consistent.GP3 Series: P3 today, was it a tricky result for you after losing some places at the start?Aaro Vainio: It wasn’t the best start of my life today and I made a few small mistakes. Managing the tyres was the trickiest part of the race for me. I think I will need a different mindset for Race 2 tomorrow. At the moment it seems that Mitch was way too fast but Daniel was going very quick and still did fairly well after his penalty. The team is doing a great job and I need to make sure I do well as part of the package.GP3 Series: You looked like you were struggling through the races and mentioned tyres, was it just that or did you have any other issues?Aaro: The first five laps I tried to hang onto Marlon but I could see that wasn’t going to happen. I saw that Daniel and Antonio had to go through the pits so I was up to P3 and I knew they were good points to score. The Series is long so points at this stage are valuable.
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