Rally Monte-Carlo - Press conference 2

Present:
1st - Sébastien Loeb, Citroën Total World Rally Team
1st - Daniel Elena, Citroën Total World Rally Team
2nd - Dani Sordo, MINI WRC Team
2nd - Carlos Del Barrio, MINI WRC Team
3rd - Petter Solberg, Ford World Rally Team
3rd - Chris Patterson, Ford World Rally Team
Yves Matton, Team Principal, Citroën Total World Rally Team

Q: Sébastien, congratulations on win number 68 of your career and your sixth win at Rallye Monte-Carlo! How has it felt to be back competing here?

SL: For sure it is a pleasure for me to be back in Monte-Carlo, but for different reasons. First, this is the most specific rally of the year; it’s a rally which is in France and it’s the home rally of my co-driver. We won this rally a lot of times and one more time today. I’m really happy to be back here.

Q: Taking maximum points on the Power Stage also means your season has got off to the best possible start.

SL: It couldn’t be better. Great start to take 28 points. There were nearly no mistakes, a little mistake with the tyre choice at the start, but there was some very good help from the team in the choices we made. [It was a] good drive and great atmosphere. Yes, it’s great to start the season like that.

Q: What did you think of the five-day format?

SL: I was not a fan, it’s not for me. I think it’s a bit long. I think it’s a bit long for everybody: for the journalists, the drivers and I’m not sure it brings more media for the two extra days. For the private drivers, it’s also more complicated, I’m not a fan of that.

Q: There are three manufacturers on the podium here; do you expect a big fight from not only Ford, but MINI as well?

SL: You should ask Dani [Sordo] if he will be fast everywhere, he will try for sure. But yes, it looks good to have three manufacturers on the podium, hopefully it continues like this.

Q: At the start of another WRC season are you feeling as passionate as you ever were about defending your title?

SL: Yes. It’s for that that I’m here. For sure my goal is to try and get another title, but it was another possibility to stop with eight. I still have the record and I don’t take the risk to lose in my last season. But I enjoy what I do: driving and fighting. I’m really happy to start again and the motivation is the same.

Q: Daniel, a win very much at home for you, congratulations. What have you thought about the new five-day format here?

DE: I am very happy. I did [drive] last year the rally and I finished, okay not last… I am first and this year I enjoy it, it was very complicated and then last night in the Turini, there was a fantastic atmosphere.

Q: The weather was quite calm on this Monte?

DE: It’s never easy. You have two days which were complicated. Day one and day three were tough. The first day with the snow in Burzet, but we did a very good first loop with the super soft tyre and this puts us on the red line [for tyres], thank you Petter! And the third day, it’s very difficult. After that, you go on the stages and Sébastien [was worried he could] lose the race, but in the end it was a good choice [of tyres]. This was a very complicated race.

Q: Dani, congratulations on second position. To see a MINI back on the podium is something special, how are you feeling about the result?

DS: The feeling is really, really good to do a podium on the first rally of the season. For MINI to come to Monaco again and to finish second was very good.

Q: Have you been pleased with the performance of the car here?

DS: The performance was very good - you can see this. We can have some evolution for Mexico and we can be happy, so maybe we do a little bit better there.

Q: There was a little incident on the first day but other than that were there any moments out there?

DS: The only problem was on the second stage of the rally, we hit a bridge, we were lucky and we stayed. After that we did an incredible choice of tyres. We did hit some ice and we were lucky, but yesterday we pushed hard to do some good times. I was a little bit scared, but it was good.

Q: The MINI John Cooper Works WRC is clearly very quick on asphalt, what about on gravel?

DS: The car is competitive in the last [gravel] rally of the [last] season, there were some really good times with Kris [Meeke]. We can do nice things on gravel, but at the moment we have done more development and we are more specialists on tarmac. But we do three podiums on seven rallies, this is not bad.

Q: Carlos, a good result to start the season, what is the aim for you both in 2012?

CDB: To go as fast as possible, and try and prove our speed with the car. And to be happy, there is nothing special about it. We have enjoyed this event. The battle with Petter and Chris was fantastic. We had very good moments on Friday morning, and these kinds of things make us happy. We had tough moments before Christmas and this is well deserved for the team.

Q: Petter, you are rejuvenated for the new season. Tell us about that, where did it come from?

PS: Well, the car fits into my hands very quickly. We had a good one-day test before the rally. It’s good to have a proper team with a lot of people. When we went testing, it was a good feeling all the time – but I must say this car is very fast. This rally is the most difficult for me, but it was a really good feeling and this is my best start to the season ever! We won four stages. I’m really happy, a good start.

Q: Tyres play a big part of this event, how difficult was that aspect?

PS: It’s always difficult, but we had a lot of guys and they do a very good job. We took some risks with the tyre choices to try and take some time, but that’s the risk on this event. We almost took Sordo, that’s the challenge I enjoy. They tell me the car is better on snow and gravel – so I am looking forward to that test!

Q: The last stage you used ‘worn’ tyres and one winter tyre; had you run out of an allocation of others?

PS: We thought it should be snow on the left side! We had a puncture earlier in the event and that was the tyre we should have used, that’s how it is. Unfortunately we couldn’t fight for the Power Stage points here, but next time we will be there and fighting. It’s great to be back in the team. You know there is a very nice family feeling in the team.

Q: And tell us about the season ahead…

PS: I feel very sorry for Jari-Matti He started very well, he’s a very good team-mate. He’s working very hard. As a team we work very well together and we will be very strong. Together we want to fight for the Manufacturers’ title; we want to win the title. I think everybody’s a bit fed-up with Loeb winning the title! He has done a very good job on this rally, but we have to have an aim or there is no point to drive.

Q: Chris, a new team for the year ahead – how is it all working so far?

CP: It has been seamless, and this is one of the benefits of the team: they have made us very, very welcome. They’re working with us and we are working with them. It’s down to the good people in the team who have just welcomed us in, it’s working fantastically well.

Q: How much of a challenge is it to co-drive on this event?

CP: This whole rally is a challenge from the first stage of the recce to the last stage of the rally. The road sections are very difficult, there’s a lot of traffic around and you have to keep three steps ahead to stay on time. We have been here for one week and one day of complete concentration. It’s a challenge and one we enjoy. When we got to the last time control there was relief and a great result.

Q: Yves, maximum points for Sébastien Loeb, and Citroën leads the Manufacturers’ Championship after the opening round. How would you evaluate the first event of the season?

YM: For sure it’s a great weekend to win in Monte-Carlo and with all the stages in France, it’s very important for the brand. And six wins for Sébastien is very good, but also we did first and second in the Power Stage, which is very good for the Championship. Mikko did a great job as well.

Q: You have a new driver on board in Mikko Hirvonen, what have you thought of his performance this weekend?

YM: Yes, he fits very well in the team. We ask him to be at the end of the rally to take points, then to go step-by-step until his feeling is better. He did this and the proof of this is the three fastest times. It’s very good for us going to Sweden.

FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Present:
1st – Michal Kosciuszko
1st – Maciej Szczepaniak

Q: Michal, you wanted to take maximum points away from Monte – you have done that but there have been some dramas along the way!

MK: It was really a long way for us. Finishing this rally with a Group N car is very difficult, we need to manage to drive fast on one side, but on the other hand we have to take care of the car. The aim was very clear: we had to be at the finish with 25 points and, for all these difficult five days, that was all we thought. This was the first time in Monte-Carlo for me and all those difficult stories which we heard about the rally all came true.

Q: How did you find the Mitsubishi EVO X this weekend?

MK: The car was really well prepared. We had a brand new car, which was much lighter and faster, it has some new mapping which is good for tarmac spec. We were well prepared for the battle and we will be well prepared for a battle with anybody on tarmac on the following rounds, and of course on gravel.

Q: What was the biggest challenge for you?

MK: For sure yesterday, the front differential was broken about two kilometres to the finish of the first stage yesterday – we were really close to retire. I was really shocked, Maciej tried to cool me down and we managed to drive through those stages and the guys managed to fix the car. That shows how difficult this rally is.

Q: Maciej, what a tough event, you must be very pleased to be here?

MS: Of course, as Michal said, that was the goal. If you consider the whole Championship, it’s only six events and you need points every time. Even one failure hits your chances and for the four-and-a-half days we were thinking of the big picture. We realise from the experiences of last year, Group N cars are not strong enough for the life of three days of the full speed of drivers. We needed to manage the life of the car and we were very pleased to do this.

Q: Who did you compare your times with?

MS: After our competitors from PWRC retired, we followed the Group N times. We were leading the Group N against [Olivier] Burri, who did this event many times. When the conditions on the road changed, we took the safe way and it was not very exciting from the sporting point of view, but this is very demanding rally.

FIA SUPER 2000 WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Present:
1st – Craig Breen
1st – Gareth Roberts

Q: Craig, full points in SWRC, a great start for you. How was the ‘Monte’ for you?

CB: It’s definitely a good feeling to have achieved what we came here to do. The circumstances were unfortunate for P-G [Andersson] and Proton, but I got the experience of this event at a pace I was very comfortable with. I came here to take in the stages and make a good set of notes. The environment in which I have taken part in this event is perfect and it’s a massive bonus to get maximum points. All of the team has had to work very hard to get here and to come off the back of the WRC Academy win was a hard act to follow, but this has been a good start.

Q: What has been the toughest part of the challenge for you?

CB: The toughest thing was to keep a level head after the first day. P-G was quite a distance ahead, we were, in want of a better phrase, in no-mans’ land. After the first day I couldn’t go any further back [in the SWRC standings]. I talked to myself and said: “Look Craig, do this event at your own speed, develop the car and the notes.” We did that and, when P-G retired, we drove the rest of the rally at recce speed. There were many challenges on this rally, but keeping a head level was the biggest thing.

Q: The Monte offered a bigger choice in regard to tyres, how much of the time did you get it right?

CB: I don’t think anybody can get it spot-on every time. There were a couple of small mistakes due to a lack of experience. Towards the end of the event the tyres were working, but when the weather improved the tyres were moving quite a lot. The first time we’re here has been a massive challenge, just to get to the finish. We have faced everything there is to face and to get here is a great feeling.

Q: Gareth, it has been a big challenge across the board here in Monte; from a co-driver’s perspective what has been the most difficult aspect?

GR: It’s the longest rally I’ve ever done, but to be perfectly honest, it’s kept everyone on their toes. You still had to think ahead; if you had a bad first day then, okay, there were still two, three, four days ahead and we never knew what the weather was going to do. I think it’s worked out fine, actually.

Q: Gareth, how did you keep him calm in the car?

GR: We were talking a lot in the car and on the road sections. We had a couple of punctures along the way, which brought the morale down a bit, but we picked ourselves up – you knew there was always three of four days still to run. I said: “Monte’s not bitten back yet, we’ve just got to get to Monaco, get off the last stage and we’ll take it from there.” That’s what we did.