Q&A: Mads Ostberg

Following his heroic run to second in Sweden and an impressive finish in Mexico, Mads Ostberg started Vodafone Rally de Portugal fourth in the overall standings and on a high.

But a mistake on Thursday’s superspecial in Lisbon and a gearbox failure on today’s first stage have dropped the M-Sport Stobart driver firmly out of contention on round three of the World Rally Championship. Back in the service park in Faro, Ostberg talked to wrc.com about what had gone wrong.

What exactly happened to your car on Friday’s first stage?
“I was a bout zero centimetres into the stage. As I released the clutch on the startline I just heard a bang in the gearbox. Straight away I thought it was something from yesterday’s superspecial since we had the impact there. But it was on the backside of the gearbox where the propshaft is fitted. It’s cracked and let all the oil out and I lost the rear-wheel drive so there was no point continuing after 300 metres. I just had to wait to be rescued after that.”

How disappointed are you?
“Yesterday was disappointing and it’s more disappointing now but what can we do. There are always ups and downs in rallying and it’s been quite up this season but things happen. Yesterday I did a mistake and today I had a technical problem. That’s just how it is sometimes.”

Did you damage the car when you crashed on the superspecial?
“Nothing was bent, nothing at all. We checked the whole car during the night and there were no issues. We changed a lot of things as a precaution.”

Will you be back tomorrow?
“We change the gearbox and everything will be perfect again.”

What are your plans between now and then?
“I will go back to the hotel, have a shower, have a beer by the pool, bring my computer and watch the stages for tomorrow. I always want to set good times but it’s never easy when you are disappointed and lack motivation. Even if you feel like you are pushing you don’t take the last bit out of yourself. It will be tricky, we try to test we try to improve the car. I have a lot more to learn so it’s just about getting experienced.”

Can you learn anything from this setback?
“I know a lot about disappointments from the last few years with bad things happening. Okay you can learn something about yesterday when I pushed too hard on cold tyres but today I’ve had this before and I don’t need to learn that again.”