You scored your best result on a gravel rally to date in Japan…
“I was very pleased to finish second on what was only my second visit to Japan, especially since it was such a tough event this year and many stages were new to me. The situation regarding grip was very complex and we needed to keep up a fast pace to maintain pressure on Mikko Hirvonen all the way to the finish. Happily, Marc and I came through the various pitfalls unscathed. We lifted where necessary and pushed whenever that was possible. I haven’t lost sight, however, of the fact that our result was also due to the numerous mistakes made by those drivers who either had to profit from the SupeRally ruling or else retired. “
The next event takes you back to asphalt, but Rally Ireland doesn’t seem to a straightforward event…
“I have to say that I’m not expecting the Irish stages to be at all easy! We saw that at first hand when we contested the Cork Rally recently in a Xsara WRC. The roads shake you all over the place in a way that’s not marked in the notes! During recce, we will therefore make a special point of noting as much about the surface as we can. There is very little margin for error because the stages are so narrow, with very little run-off, if any at all. I enjoyed my first taste of them, but now we need to see what the stages in the Sligo region are like. “
What will your objective be in Sligo? Will you be looking to keep up your momentum after your result in Japan?
“That would be perfect, especially if it’s Seb and Daniel who win! We will all be on an equal footing, of course. Nobody knows the stages and nobody really knows what to expect. I have a very good feeling on asphalt with the C4 WRC which has shown what it can do on this type of surface, so we hope we can help Sébastien by finishing ahead of Marcus Grönholm. That said, we saw in Corsica that Marcus is very quick on asphalt, so my role will perhaps be to put as much pressure on him as I can. ”
| 
|