Four questions to Pierre Campana

Pierre Campana has taken time to reflect on his incredible success at the recent Rallye Monte-Carlo, in which he triumphed in the 2WD class just one year after his debut in the prestigious event. Pierre looks back at the highs and lows of this year’s Monte-Carlo rally and what this result means for the rest of his 2011 season.

Pierre, a tremendous achievement in Monte-Carlo – how special is it to be part of it?

“It is an amazing feeling to be part of such a renowned event like the Rallye Monte-Carlo and after coming runner-up in 2WD in last year’s event, which was my first time competing, I was definitely hoping to win the class this year. It is a demanding event and requires a special focus but it is the type of event that I relish. We worked hard over the week and achieved our objective of a class win, so it was fantastic and a great career achievement for me personally.”

It was an up and down start to the rally wasn’t it?

“I wasn’t expecting it to be a trouble-free week but it was frustrating to run into trouble on the opening stage. I had to pass four slower cars on that stage and they were not making it easy, which was quite unfair. Unfortunately, when getting past the fourth car, I made contact which resulted in some suspension damage. The second and third stages were good. I was quickest in SS2, the long and legendary Burzet stage which was a great achievement. I was just two seconds off the 2WD lead going into stage four but before we could go out, the organisers had to stop the stage because of an accident. Using our time from the third stage to give our fourth stage result, we ended the day with a 12 second lead in the class. The second day was tough from the start. A puncture in SS5 put us right back and then in the afternoon the arrival of snow made things really tough. We made the decision to use unstudded snow tyres based on the weather conditions when we left for the stage but the conditions quickly got worse. Thankfully we had two studs in the boot which came in useful and, to be honest, in those conditions, I was happy to make it to the end.”

You were in dominant form in the final stages, was there much pressure?

“We started the final day third in the 2WD with a lot of ground to recover, so my target was just to take each stage as it came and to do the best I could in each one. I tried not to put too much pressure on myself, but the aim was still to win the class. The first long 30km stage went really well and the car and tyres were fantastic. Then we had the legendary night stages which I enjoyed a lot. It is this part of the event that makes it so special, so to be so competitive through these stages was a great feeling. In the end, we were able to make up the lost time and even extend our 2WD lead by around one minute. It was thanks to my navigator Sabrina, the Munaretto team, Michelin and my event backers Ellip6 that we were able to celebrate such a result together. It has been a pleasure to work with Ellip6 over the last twelve months and I was pleased to reward their support this result.”

You are leading the IRC 2WD Cup after one round, but what will this result mean for the rest of your season?

“I hope my performance in Monte-Carlo will make more people aware of my capabilities and performance potential. I am now working hard with my management team to finalise plans for the rest of the year but my objective is to take part in the Tour de Corse in mid-May with an S2000. Monte-Carlo was a tremendous result and I want to keep this momentum up. Hopefully what we achieved will lead to interest from a manufacturer, one who is willing to take an informed gamble on me. I know what I can accomplish and I am determined, more than ever, to showcase that with the right support.”