Warren Hughes Q&A

"Yes. It's starting to become more familiar. I think the atmosphere within the team has eased that, and once I'm actually in the car I'm starting to get used to having a roof over my head. I feel I've actually got to grips with the front-wheel drive scenario very quickly. I've heard stories about it taking people a long while to adapt, but I do think I got a handle on that quite quickly. It's just being in an enclosed environment and because of that there's contact. And it's just getting used to there being contact. It's not a surprise when it happens now, where I remember the first time it happened in a touring car it was "bloody hell, he shouldn't be doing that," but now it's just part and parcel of it.



"Yep, yep, but I'll say no more..."



"I am. It's nice that people give you the attention, because you know that you are getting things right. The atmosphere within the team has helped me feel at home generally. There are just so many good people within WSR [MG works team, West Surrey Racing] and the enthusiasm within MG is just such - I know it sounds like I'm toeing the corporate line, but I'm not - I really do just feel very at home here. I get on fantastically well with Anthony [team-mate Reid] and we work well together. The whole thing's very open and the team try to keep everything as equal as possible. It's just a nice atmosphere to work in. There's no back-biting or anything. Everybody just wants success for the team."



"Pretty well. I'm not that disappointed at qualifying third, though there is a bit of that, because I was running second until right at the end when [Yvan] Muller pipped me. It's a good start for the new car. We've not even had a chance to test it and I lost the first free practice session just because of typical new-car problems, so to actually get out in qualifying and do what we did was a mega effort by everyone. The car feels like a slight step forward over last year's - more responsive and just a bit stiffer maybe. We've also made a bit of progress with the engine since Brands Hatch - that seems a bit more aggressive. It's all going in the right direction and hopefully it won't stop at this point, I think we can still go forward from here on both chassis and engine. It's a good position to be in. It's not an easy track here and to be as close as we are bodes well."



"It's hard to say. Possibly. I'm just under three tenths off, but it's not easy to overtake here. Maybe I can get mega starts again like at Brands. I don't know. The car's not far away, so with a bit of good fortune a win isn't out of the question. It'll come at some point, but how soon it comes is a difficult one."



"It's slightly ambitious to be truly thinking about the title for the team at this stage. We're still behind. We're not quite on the Vauxhalls' pace and we've got to push to get there and the testing regulations make that very difficult. It means all the work is done on theory so it is difficult to bridge that gap, but we are bridging it. Certainly by the second half of the season if we're not winning regularly I will be disappointed and even in the first part of the season I think wins are a possibility. We're definitely moving forward and next year realistically is a title year, that's how I feel."



"Yes. It's a two-year deal, this year and next. It's nice to have that and to know that I'm going to reap some of the benefit of the progress that we're making and my input into developing the car. I won't be properly happy until we're winning regularly. I want to really make my mark in touring cars and be regarded as a proper title-contender year-in, year-out. This is the beginning of that process."