Gabriele Tarquini: “As long as I find a job where I can be useful, I will be in a paddock”

Gabriele, we are at the Ring of the Rhine, the new WTCR circuit. Would you have liked to discover it?

It’s clear, I took a tour of it with the pilots, it’s really not bad. I was surprised, because I didn't know this circuit at all, not even its name. The region is also superb.

You retired last year. Do you ever miss putting on the helmet?

Je vais être honnête, c’est un manque indéniable. Prendre la décision de partir en retraite devait se faire au bon moment. J’y avais déjà pensé en 2009 après avoir gagné le titre de champion du monde en WTCC (avec Seat. Ndlr). Cela aurait pu être l’occasion de dire basta. Tout comme en 2015, lorsque j’ai été licencié de chez Honda. Finalement, j’ai pris ma décision l’an passé. J’ai alors envoyé un message à Hyundai pour les prévenir qu’il fallait trouver un autre pilote pour l’année suivante. C’était ma décision, personne ne m’a poussé.

Is this new role of team manager in the BRC Squadra Corse WTCR team something you have been thinking about for a long time?

It was Andrea Adamo, before his departure from the management of Hyundai Motorsport, who initiated the reflection. For him, it was his way of telling me: “You stay in the Hyundai family and you will take care of the drivers in TCR, we need you for strategy”. In the meantime, a lot happened, Andrea left, but the negotiations continued. At the end of December 2021, they asked me to become a team manager. I then answered them very honestly, having never done anything like that. I know the job, the track, I've had many jobs other than driving. But here I had to learn something new. The idea being beautiful, I have access