All language subtitles for tarquini-en

Gabriele Tarquini I'm glad to see you after so long.

Good evening and I'm glad to see you again.

It is always my pleasure and I will not forget the beautiful moments we had at the WTCC.

But before we deal with this championship

I would like to ask you about the beginning of this career.

It was a long time ago because I started participating in kart racing.

When I was 5 years old and I trained a lot

Because my father rented a track near the house and I started driving.

My first fight was when I was 10 years old so exactly 50 years ago.

It was a long time ago!

And after the kart you went up to the top and went to Formula 1?

Yes I spent a lot of time on karts and I enjoyed it as I was at the same time as Ayrton Senna in Italy.

It was a very nice time. I won three Italian championships.

A European championship and a world championship.

And that was the impetus for me to go to the cars. My first was a Formula 3.

Then F3000, F2 and then Formula 1 and it was a dream.

I never dreamed of being in F1 when I started karting.

It came step by step and even my family was not rich enough to be normal.

They did not have that much money to support me, but I was lucky.

And I spent six full seasons in Formula 1.

And it was a success, regardless of whether the team as far as we know was not a leader.

You made great efforts then. Would you like to tell us some details?

Yes, at that time I was with Senna, Prost, Alboreto, Patrese.

Great champions and personalities and I am lucky to have been their contemporary.

I certainly did not have the opportunity to win seats. I took sixth place in Mexico in 1994.

That was my best result and then it was Monte Carlo in 1989.

I was fifth on Friday, but I never had a good car.

So that I have the goal of victory. It was a bit annoying but a good experience.

And it was also a reason for me to take revenge with the tourist cars because at that time I started them.

And I always had good cars there. First with BMW and then with Alfa Romeo.

I won the BTCC in 1994. Then I went to Honda.

In 35 years in touring cars I have always had great cars and very good teams.

Perfect engineers. I had everything to win and I was winning.

I won the BTCC, the European Championship and twice the World Championship.

In 2009 and 2018. With Seat the first and with Hyundai the last.

Three years ago and it is unusual, because since 2009 I was the oldest with a world title.

And I outdid myself in 2018, so I'm very proud.

Do you feel that touring cars were the right path after Formula 1?

Did it make it easier for you to succeed in touring cars after the F1 experience?

The first time I got in such a car I did not want to because for me racing cars have no doors.

It was too far away for me to see a match with doors.

To be honest, I immediately fell in love with these cars because the F1 is the best to drive

It's fast in the lap, in the corners, but the touring cars are perfect for racing.

Fighting with such cars is much better than with a Formula because you lean on the other

Before turning you have to look at all the mirrors because you have many opponents around you.

And yes I had fun and I think it was a very good choice for me.

And that immediately brings me to the next question ...

As these fights are usually a good reason for misunderstandings

Throughout your career, you have been very popular in all the tournaments you have participated in.

It was a good balance. How did you do that?

In tourist cars it is certain that you have to be in the right car at the right time.

Why is the car as important as in Formula 1?

And if you are not with a good car and a good team you do not win.

This is not an excuse but you have to share the laurels with the car when you win

And the responsibility when you lose. You need to be in the right car at the right time.

I was like this 2-3 times and I was lucky enough to achieve my goal.

Because in tourist cars I always ran to win.

I mean in F1 I was very happy if I went through the qualifiers or qualifiers.

In the tourism competitions I always aimed for the victories and the titles and that was very good of course.

You also had great stability in your career.

I think you were already 55 and you did 30 races a year with that consistency.

How difficult was that for you?

It was normal. I do not think I had a disadvantage behind the wheel.

Until the last year, I was there, towards the younger ones and I did not feel disadvantaged due to age.

I use my age in the experience that helps a lot in managing the race.

Also for setting up as I have extensive experience in front-wheel drive cars.

Probably in the last two seasons I was not as fast as the previous ones.

This in the tests, in one round. In the race, however, no disadvantage.

These are for your experience and the races. But one thing I remember well from you.

It's your personality and of course I have memories from the WTCC era.

But I will not forget. I think it was 2012, yes it was 2012.

When I introduced you to a young man from Poland with his wife

They had come to Brno if I remember correctly as his wife had made him a birthday present.

Oh yes the Poles!
Do you remember? Marek.

And you suggested that you all eat together because you were excited to have come to see you up close.

And guess what Stathis did?

He had won that fight and given the trophy to his fan.

That was unbelievable.

They still support me you know.

I would do the same
How did you do that; Please explain to us

How you gave the trophy. Isn't it something personal? How did you give it? It was very strange.

It's weird because I know a lot of people who pay attention to their prizes, I do not.

My house has been full of cups since I was a kid and I have no room for one more.

And they were very surprised by my move.

It was fantastic and in the next race they brought us pictures from a special corner they made in their house.

Yes, they support me. They come every year in 1-2 games. They are very good.

Good people indeed.

But I think in general your secret weapon is your personality.

The way you treat your teammates, your opponents.

And as I said you were very dear to every fight.

Is it your secret and we saw that at the end of your career you were something like a teacher?

Especially in the last ten seasons I was something like the Godfather for the team drivers.

Who worked with me. And I was the greatest of all engineers and everyone.

It is very difficult to find someone bigger than me in the team.

But yes I enjoy that. My behavior in the races has not changed since I was a child.

My nickname is Cingio which means wild boar.

It's because I'm aggressive and I start the fight from the first turn, as soon as I close the door.

This is the way I fight. I do not change. I can use the experience more.

Both the logic and the management of the race, but these are not for me.

This is the way I fight and it does not change.

When did you first think about the record of the oldest in all motorsport,

Because this is your record.

Did you ever realize that you can stay in the races until old age?

When I was 40 I started working for Italian television, at Sky.

As a commentator as I was thinking that in 1-2 years I would stop competing.

But I continued the fights and stayed on TV and after that I did my family too.

With my child then I had to choose between games or television

And I had no hesitation in choosing the games.

Even if I did not know how long it would be.

But my love for driving and the fire inside me do not change.

And I have no other occupation besides this job.

One of the secrets is that my older teammates and the people of my generation.

They always started working in restaurants or businesses or on runways.

I never did another job. I was completely focused on the races

And I think that's the secret to staying afloat for so long.

So this has to be an element for what you intend to do next.

As this is a question we have to ask.

And we're waiting for some announcements maybe.

This is difficult, but I can not stop driving.

I will no longer be involved in the WTCC in full season.

But with my experience I can help a manufacturer to for a good front racing

So I think I'll probably work with a manufacturer as a driving instructor.

Or as a team consultant. I want to stay for another 2-3 seasons in this league.

I think your contribution to Hyundai's success at the WTCC was already significant.

So it's probably a role you know how to handle.

Yes, they trusted me from the beginning.

They decided to participate in the track and made this NTCR and invited me to develop it.

And when I went the car was on the computer, so I worked with the whole team.

It was a fantastic car. I also tried the Elantra from the beginning.

And it looks very good, even if it did not go so well this year.

I think the car is very competitive.

Gabriele, you have participated in many championships.

Nationally, internationally and globally.

Who has entered your heart for good?

For me it is the ITC. The 1996 International Touring Cup with DTM cars

At that time I was driving the Alfa Romeo 155

I think this is the best car I have ever driven.

Because it was full of electronics and at that time it was more complex than F1.

And it was very nice to spend time with such good drivers.

And with such a manufacturer because Alfa Romeo was famous all over the world and I enjoyed it.

We have one last question and if you do not mind we will mention a few names

Will you put a phrase next to these names?

Yes, why not;

Tiago Monteiro

My best friend in motorsport.

Alessandro Zanardi

Alex. I spent a lot of time with him in the games.

Starting with the kart because he is younger than me.

But it is very important. With one word. Great!

And we all pray for him.

Norbert Michelitz

Very smart and fast driver.

And I have a very good relationship with him because I think he is very fair.

James Thompson

Crazy James. I had the best time at BTCC when we shared the car.

And off racing is one of the craziest I've ever met in my life.

Tom Coronel

Oh, very close to James.

I do not know if it is a little more or a little less but very close to James.

And the last one, Nini Russo.

He was my manager when I won my first title in 1994.

He is great with great experience in the whole motorosport.

All over! Rally, track knows everyone and everything.

And it was a great help and honor to work with him.

Gabriele one last question from me too.

You have a very long course in motorsport with enjoyable but also difficult moments.

Which do you remember most in both cases?

Yes, I had some difficult moments, in such a long career you can not have difficult moments.

Luckily I did not have major accidents and that is very good for a driver.

Especially for a driver who has spent so many years on the slopes.

But probably the hardest moment was when I quit F1 in 1992.

It was not good at all but fortunately I started to win in tourist cars.

And in 2015 when I was fired from Honda because they told me I was too old.

But history says that Honda did not win any championship and I won another with Hyundai.

It was a good revenge
Yes, it was.

Would you change anything to end up in Formula 1?

Would you change everything or nothing?

No, no, nothing. I do not regret anything.

Probably some moves in the past but this is normal.

You can not have the right choices every time, every year.

In F1 I obviously was not good enough for the right choices.

And that probably cost me my F1 career.

But I'm lucky because I spent more than half my life doing the best for myself.

I consider myself very lucky.

Gabriele, thank you very much for this interview.

We wish you all the best for your new beginning in your career.

Whatever you wish for and especially enjoyed the family and happy new year.

Thanks too and I hope to meet you on the track again.

Whenever you are in Paris do not hesitate to call me.

Thanks. Goodbye.