Campana impresses on 3rd day of Monte Carlo

Pierre Campana really got into his stride on the third day of this week’s Monte Carlo rally to reduce the gap to the top six overall after a particularly impressive performance in SS12, which demonstrated the Corsican’s true potential on the World Rally stage in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

A wet day continued to make conditions difficult to read and with a double stage this morning with no service in between, tyre choice played a key role in determining the outcome of SS11 and SS12. Pierre was one of a few drivers who judged conditions perfectly thanks in no small part to the professional input and experience of the MINI WRC team, whose insight gave Pierre the confidence he needed.

Pierre’s tenth quickest time in the day’s opening stages did not do justice to a performance that was comparable to the more elite drivers who had adopted a similar strategy with studded tyres at their disposal. The decision was made to sacrifice performance in the day’s wet opening stage in order to benefit from fully studded tyres in the icy and snowy conditions in SS12, a sublime strategy that saw Pierre set a sensational third quickest time.

Pierre was able to deploy masterful driving skill with his adept tyre choice to negotiate some of the worst conditions of the rally with several kilometres of icy conditions, as well as damp, wet and extreme wet conditions thanks to the downpour at the start of the stage. Pierre’s time in SS12 was third quickest behind the rally leader Sébastien Loeb.

The afternoon’s 29km long final stage ran also without incident with Pierre claiming the seventh quickest time in the stage to close the gap to the overall top six to just over one minute. He has, in turn, built up a one minute buffer over Ott Tanak in eighth, following a strong third day for the Corsican.

The entire field is now heading from Valence to Monte Carlo where action will resume on Saturday afternoon with a repeated loop of two stages, including the legendary Col du Turini stage, the second loop of which will take place in the dark, before the final power stage will wrap things up on Sunday morning.

Pierre Campana said: “I am pleased with how today has turned out for me and really pleased to be in Monaco with the MINI WRC team. After two quite conservative days, I started this morning determined to prove myself and show my worth in this competitive field, despite my limited experience. We knew weather conditions were difficult this morning so, thanks to the expertise and professional guidance of the MINI team, we made a strategic call on tyres that would compromise our performance in the first stage, but allow us to get the most out of the studded tyres in SS12 which had some of the toughest conditions I’ve faced. The strategy worked well and I was also happy with my driving as we finished the stage with the third best time right behind Loeb who adopted a similar strategy to ours. The final stage of the day was more straight-forward and we end this third day with a reduced gap to the top six, which is my target in the remaining four stages and Sunday’s power stage. I think we’ve given a good account of ourselves today, so I’d like for that to continue tomorrow and Sunday, which starts tomorrow with the famous and legendary Col du Turini – I cannot wait!”