Monte-Carlo post-event press conference

The top three overall crews on Rallye Monte-Carlo, round one of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, attended the post-event press conference in Monaco today. A full transcript follows.

Bryan Bouffier

Bryan congratulations on winning your first Rallye Monte-Carlo and, of course, your first Intercontinental Rally Challenge event. How are you feeling right now?

BB: “For me, it’s really fantastic to win the IRC event. I did some races last year; my skill was not so bad, but I had some mistakes and it was not possible to win. To win in Monte Carlo is fantastic. Okay we are in Monaco, but the stages are in France, so to win in my home country is great. Monte Carlo is a mythical race, I have done this many times and to win this with Peugeot is fantastic.”

When you had the problem with the rear differential on Friday afternoon and dropped more than 1m30s off the lead, what result did you realistically expect to achieve?

BB: “When you have a look at the previous Monte Carlo, you can see that everything can happen until the race is finished. My speed was not perfect, but I believed it was possible to do a good result. We did a good tyre choice in the snow and we moved from seven to first place, everything is possible in this rally.”

Xavier Panseri

Congratulations Xavier, you said before stage 10 that you and Bryan were confident you could win but what was the atmosphere like in the car on the final night of the rally and when you reached the finish?

XP: “It was really good. We knew the challenge was big, but we have quite good gap with Freddy and we try to do our best without so much pressure. We pushed a little and stayed in the middle of the road. We couldn’t do any mistakes. The night was good.”

What was going through your mind when you spun in the snow on Thursday and hit the bank?

XP: “It’s never good situation when it’s like this, but all of the time we had to believe it would be okay. The car came back to the good position and we re-start quickly. We didn’t think the race would be finished like this.”

BB: “I’m not sure, about Xavier, one time on the test, we rolled and he didn’t feel it…”

Freddy Loix

Freddy, congratulations on your second place. Are you satisfied with your performance or do you think you should have won?

FL: “I have to say, I’m disappointed not to be first. For me, it’s clear: when we were 50 seconds behind Bryan, on speed it’s not possible to beat him, I can only win two or three second on each stage when he was driving so quick. I had more work with the boys behind than the guy ahead; Guy [Wilks] was pushing very hard, [Francois] Delecour and [Stephane] Sarrazin were also there and all pushing hard. I had to push to stay second.”

Is this a one-off for you in the IRC or will you do more rounds this season and, if so, what is your programme?

FL: “Yes, definitely. I will be there for seven rallies. My sponsor and Skoda Motorsport made an agreement for seven IRC rounds and two rallies in Belgium. I do here, Canaria, Corse, Ypres, Madeira, Barum and Sanremo. I have no joker, I have to be very clean, but I am working well under pressure.”

Frederic Miclotte

How difficult were the conditions in the snow on Thursday afternoon?

FM: “Of course it was not an easy job and we didn’t make the good tyre choice, but also not the bad one. We were not on studded tyres and actually, I was quite happy we were at the finish line, it was very, very tricky.”

We were privileged to have watched Eurosport’s excellent live television coverage from the Col de Turini last night. Were you able to appreciate the atmosphere and were many friends and family watching you at home on TV?

FM: “Yes, exactly, it was the first time I had so many messages at two in the morning, thanks to Eurosport.”

Guy Wilks

You finished the final stage in fourth overall but you’re here as the third-placed finisher. What happened and how important do you think the extra points will be to you?

GW: “I think, first of all, anybody who’s a driver knows you never want to take the position in that way, but it wasn’t our decision. As they say, c’est la vie. It was my first time in the car, so there was a big pressure – particularly from a manufacturer like Peugeot on a rally like Monte Carlo. I thoroughly enjoyed the event, but okay, we were getting a little bit stressed last night. We lost a bit too much time with some decisions we made, but we got there in the end.”

This was your first event for Peugeot UK. Were you happy with the performance of the car and what was it like being in a new team?

GW: It’s always a tricky situation when you change car and team, to find out how they work and especially how the car works for me. I felt comfortable in the car and Peugeot UK have been fantastic and made me feel very comfortable. All of this has allowed us to be very relaxed and that’s resulted in our classification.

Phil Pugh

Guy spoke about a couple of incorrect tyre decisions on this rally. Who makes the decision and what help were you getting?

PP: “There’s lots of help at hand, from the gravel crew, the meteo crew and team managers, they all have an input. It’s important when you join a new team to take all of that information on board, and not to be too rash. Maybe we were a little bit conservative with some decisions.”

It’s Guy’s 30th birthday today so happy birthday to Guy. But what plans do you have for a party for him and how extra special will those celebrations be now you’ve got a podium on Rallye Monte-Carlo?

PP: “Definitely not. He’s brought two big brothers along to do that.”

GW: “They’ve been brought in to to keep Phil away from me tonight! I’d completely forgotten about it being my birthday. My girlfriend and baby daughter are here, we celebrated quite hard last night, but I think we have to try and better it tonight.”

Bryan Bouffier

Back to you Bryan, we’re hearing talk of a 10-event programme for you in the IRC this year. What is the situation and how confident are you of going on and winning the title following this result?

BB: “I don’t really know what will be. Sorry I can’t give you more information maybe [Peugeot Sport competition manager] Frederic Bertrand can answer this question…”

Xavier Panseri

Final question to you Xavier, Olivier Quesnel said he believed Bryan would win because he is so strong mentally. What do you think of him as a driver?

XP: “I can’t tell you anything. Bryan is very strong in his mind. We will not be crazy if this situation is changing.”