It was an early start on Sunday the 20th of May, heading up at 6.30am on Sunday for the two-hour trip to the Northampton track. The weather was fantastic, with sunshine and blue skies. Ed Hocknull and I had been invited by Lexus UK to attend the second UK round of this championship that is held in the UK, although this would be the longer endurance three-hour race, rather than the two separate one-hour sprint races held at Brands Hatch.
There were perfect track conditions for the three hour race. – Photo credit, Warren
The team run two Lexus RC-F GT3 cars, numbered 14 and 114. The drivers of car 14 are, Albert Costa, Christian Klein and Marco Seefried, whilst Stephane Ortelli, Norbert Siedler and Marcus Palttala team up in 114. We were given a warm welcome by the team, with VIP passes allowing access to the garage at all times and grid access too.
Emil Frey Racing hospitality – Photo credit, Warren Nel
The first track action of the day was qualifying, which is an hour long. Each driver has to drive the car in qualifying, getting 15 minutes each, with a seven-minute break between each run. This makes for a busy hour when there are 50 cars on track! When all was said and done, the number 14 car was third on the grid, whilst the sister 114 car had qualified seventh. The team were very happy with this result, particularly after topping the timesheets in the second part of the session with car 14, showing that they were starting to find the sweet-spot in the set-up and unlocking the potential pace.
Everyone was watching how qualifying would turn out! Photo credit – Warren Nel
At the start of the afternoon, we were given a garage tour. The BOP or, Balance of Performance was explained. The are so many different cars that run in this championship, that SRO mandate certain things to keep the performance of the cars very close. For example, every team get the same tyres and fuel and then there are also restrictors placed on the inlets for the engines, controlling the power the engine can produce. There are freedoms though and the teams use trick single seater suspension systems.
Garage tour – Photo credit – Warren NelThe poor guy giving us the tour kept getting interrupted by engines revving and wheel gun noise! Photo credit – WarrenThe garage tour continued with a look at the engineers area. – Photo credit, Warren
A pit walk followed the tour, allowing the fans to meet the drivers and teams. The championship definitely welcome fans with open arms, and it’s great to see! After this, we had a delicious lunch at the teams’ hospitality. It was getting close to race time though, and before that was the grid walk. It was super busy on the grid, with the cars coming around from the pitlane, before being pushed to their spots on the grid.
The drivers meet the fans! Photo credit, Warren NelA very fan friendly championship – Photo credit, Warren NelWhat a great looking race car! – Photo credit, Warren NelOn the grid with the team – Photo credit, Warren NelThe number 14 Lexus chases down the 62 Aston Martin. Photo credit, Warren Nel
Race Recap
Christian Klein would be taking the wheel of the number 14 car, whilst Stephane Ortelli would start the 114.
Now after half an hour of racing, the two Lexus were running very well, with Klein in 4th place and Ortelli two places further back in 6th. As the pitstops approached after nearly 50 minutes of racing, the RC-F GT3’s were 6.3 and 9.4 seconds from the leader.
The team had done a very good job indeed. The number 14 Lexus, with Klein behind the wheel pitted, but suffered a slow pitstop. The reason? Well, the team had a failure with a wheel gun slowing down the changing of the tyres.
Ortelli pitted a couple of laps later, and the pitstop was completed without any hitches. All of this meant that the 114, driven by Marcus was now in 5th place, whilst number 14, piloted by Marco was now in 7th.
Lexus 114 approaches the left-right-left before Hangar Straight. Photo credit Warren Nel
Twenty minutes after the pitstops Marcus passed the number 4 Mercedes, and then quickly closed on the number 62 Aston Martin which had Alex Brundle behind the wheel. On lap 51, Alex made a mistake and slid wide in the left-right-left and this allowed Marcus to get alongside the Aston and then make the pass into third place down Hangar straight!
With an hour and five minutes to go, Marcus pitted and handed 114 over to Norbert. It would be down to him to bring the car to the chequered flag. A lap later and Marco pitted and Alberto Costa took the wheel of the number 14 and re-joined in 8th place. He started setting some very fast sector times, looking to move up some places.
Lexus RC-F GT3 – Photo credit, Warren Nel
On lap 69, Albert Costa passed the Strakka Racing number 43 Mercedes for 7th place. He was just two seconds behind the 62 Aston Martin now. Just thirty minutes remained in the race.
With just twenty minutes left, Costa was dropping back a little, with the 43 Mercedes getting closer and behind that, the 72 SNP Ferrari closing on the Merc.
Meantime, the 114 was holding its own, 22 seconds from 1st place, but the number 1 Audi was within 1 second of the Lexus. Drama though for the number 14 car which ran wide at Aintree on lap 75, giving the 72 Ferrari 7th place. Just six minutes remained now, and the battle was on for the final spot on the podium between 114 and 1! With less than 4 minutes remaining the 114 Lexus was still in 3rd place! The team were looking at their first podium finish!
The number 114 Emil Frey Racing Lexus RC-F GT3 chases the number 4 Mercedes – Photo credit, Warren Nel
Coming into the loop near Silverstone six stand, the number 1 Audi got a run and was starting to get alongside the Lexus, but he ran wide, giving Norbert a breather! It was enough! They’d done it! Further back number 14 had lost another place unfortunately, crossing the line in 9th place. The team had definitely done a very good job to improve the car, allowing them to fight at the front.
Nerves were high in the garage as the final minutes of the race counted down. Photo credit, Warren Nel
We all headed down to the end of the pitlane to watch the podium, which was their first ever in the Blancpain championship. The trophies were handed out and then it was the time-honoured tradition to spray the champagne!
The top three celebrate on the podium – Photo credit, Warren NelStéphane Ortelli, Norbert Siedler, Markus Palttala, hold their trophies aloft! Photo credit, Warren Nel
It was now time to go home, but first we visited the team garage and watched as the team all celebrated their great result!
Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to Matt at Lexus/Toyota and Emil Frey Racing for the invite. Ed and I had a fantastic time, with a really friendly team.
Ford Fiesta reece car – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
Recce for Rally Portugal is particularly challenging, the stages are tight and twisty but also rough. Today we did 6 incredible stages, which will form the route for Friday and Sunday. A lot of KM covered and in the hot and dusty conditions you really have to focus.
Rally de Portugal reece day – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
I get a few funny looks around the world when I turn up to Recce with a pillow ‘borrowed’ from the hotel. But on rough roads it makes all the difference to lean on as a shock absorber. Along with a lot of practice it means I can usually get all my notes down tidily on the first pass, with little touch up work later. It’s actually quite interesting to see which countries make the best Recce pillows. Keep an eye on my Twitter as I usually post the best ones.
Recce day Two (Wednesday 16th of May)
Similar to day 1, another challenging day of recce awaited us. Today we covered the Lousada super special as well as the monster that is Amarante. The surface in Portugal changes a lot so it is important to make sure your pacenotes take this into account.
Calm. Serene. Picturesque. Beautiful scenes during @rallydeportugal recce. But nothing like the dusty, sandy, rocky and rough barrage of stages that lie ahead over the next few days.#ReadyForItpic.twitter.com/7JF18G04Xk
Shakedown is a spectacular, if short, stage finishing in a huge arena full to the brim with fans. We had a good run, getting a good feeling for the car and the surface.
After a long drive to the ceremonial start, a great opportunity to meet the incredibly passionate Portuguese fans, we headed to the Super Special at Lousada. The sheer volume of rally fans crammed into this venue was a sight to behold.
Friday: (18th of May)
The rough northern stages bring their own challenges, we tried to keep it clean and were running comfortably inside the top ten despite a puncture. For a co-driver here in the heat and dust it is very important to keep focused. the tight twisty stages require a lot of information to be delivered often whilst the road is very rough.
Tom and Phil press on in their M-Sport built Fiesta R2
Saturday: (19th of May)
A new day and a new surface, and the iconic Amarante test. At 37km this is a big test for crews, and for us unfortunately where it all unravelled. Amarante hasn’t been kind to me, I rolled out of the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy event on this stage in 2016, and again today we had a small roll that put us into Rally 2.
Sunday: (20th of May)
Another tough day, and the attrition rate was high. A few stages were cancelled because of incidents and we focused on just being clean and getting to the finish. despite a couple of near misses, we did just that and got to the end. In fact, we managed to hold on to our top ten position, with 7th overall in the JWRC.
Things to take away about Rally Portugal:
– The Fans are incredible!
– The stages are a true test of physical and mental stamina
– Dust!
-Truly iconic roads
Many thanks again to Phil Hall for this great diary! Why not give him a follow on Twitter? @PhilHallRally
Check out the latest video from Mobil 1 The Grid. In this piece, the Japanese driver discusses his win in 2017, how he went about winning the race, whilst laying down a blueprint of the key to success at Indianapolis.
Takuma On Winning The Indy 500: “In my entire life, maybe the birth of my child, that is obviously an amazing day. But besides on that, [winning at Indy] was my significant moment in my life, and certainly the best day of my race career. And that changed so many different things. I just never forget the feeling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has and how deeply I understood the history and the energy that the Indy 500 has. That was just an unbelievable, amazing, amazing experience for me.”
Takuma On How To Win At Indy: “The key is to stay out of trouble problem, because it’s just such a long race. Anything can happen. Just stay calm, because the race comes back to you.”
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana Credit: hondanews.eu
Takuma On How Heartbreak In 2012 Prepared Him: “Going through all the preparation by yourself and as an athlete, you learn from your faults: What you didn’t go through, and what you know already. Then there is a great chance to learn new things. Moving forward, that’s the name of the sport. 2012 is obviously a bitter experience and but I really appreciate it because I’m proud that I was able to challenge for that. In the end, I failed it. But it’s really made me stronger. Going through every single year, there’s lots of ways you think about it, and of course, before the 2017 start, you’re going through 2012, saying ‘What could I have done? What should I have done? What we will need to do?’ And that’s exactly what I did. That was the moment I really needed.”
Takuma Sato On The Legacy Of Winning The Indy 500: “Indy 500 winner… we knew that’s a big deal. People say that it’s going to be forever, and then like almost every month there is some award or there is ceremonies and the events just it’s go on and on and on. When I go back to Japan, there was almost every week, an event or award. So it was an unbelievably busy winter, but it was a happy busy moment. The Indy 500 is beyond your imagination.”
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana Credit: hondanews.eu
Takuma Sato On Indy 2018: “I can’t imagine how it’s going to be as a defending champion going to the Month of May. I think it will be so cool, so pressured and so busy. I can’t wait [to] go there. But, equally, I think that now everyone wants to win and beat me so, basically, I have to have a huge challenge to do back-to-back race wins. Nothing is impossible, but I think it’s going to be very tough but we will challenge for that anyway.”
Check out the latest video from Mobil 1 The Grid. The piece features Daniel Ricciardo and Christian Horner as they look back on the achievements of the team since the first race in 2005.
Check out the latest Mobil 1 The Grid interview feature with FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Charlie discusses the key processes involved in turning Monaco’s streets into a circuit and why he feels the event is of “great importance” to Formula 1.
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 07, Rally Italia Sardegna 05-11 June 2017 Day 1 Portrait Thierry Neuville Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry gives his thoughts after five rounds of this year’s world rally championship. After three podium finishes including a win in round two in the snow-covered stages of Sweden, he’s now just ten points away from championship leader Seb Ogier with Rally Portugal next week.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Argentina 26-29 April 2018 Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Warren Nel
Thinking about Day one of Rally Argentina, how hard is it the judge the pace to drive at when you’re second on the road?
Thierry Neuville
Its not more hard than before, but you know that due to the road cleaning you are losing time, but that’s part of the game so you try your best you have to take some times a bit more risk, but the Friday is the most important day because it influences your road position for the upcoming days so you have to give it everything.
WN – Day two of Rally Argentina saw some foggy stages. Can you give an idea how hard it is to drive fast when faced with this?
TN – Really tricky, especially when there were no trees- was really really tricky, but had to say I had good pace notes, I was confident, I was decided to make a difference in that stage, to try to make a gap with Kris Meeke, and I was able to do it, kept Dani Sordo behind, Ott Tanak was on the same speed as us, but we have done pretty well.
WN – Sunday saw you win the power stage and score another podium this year. When we spoke at the Autosport Show in January you said you were aiming for a consistent approach to the results throughout the year. Would you say that was working so far?
TN – Of course, it’s working so far, no real big mistake, good points couple of podiums, a win so I’m satisfied, there were only some issues we had in Mexico which made us lose some points, but other that this we are really consistent, we never gave up, even in difficult conditions and scenarios like in Mexico with the powersteering and the fuel problem, but we kept it going and were still able to score important points.
WN – Leading the championship heading into Rally Mexico meant that you opened the road on day one. How did you approach the creation of the stage notes taking this into account?
TN – No different approach, you just need to be mentally prepared, you won’t be the fastest, it’s not possible, but still we were driving well, obviously we got some issues, but yeah, my approach is the same, try to do your best, make no mistakes, and obviously so far always try to keep Ogier behind.
WN – With eight rounds of this year’s championship left you’re ten points behind Seb and Ott is now third. Do you think the championship fight will just be between you three, or will someone else join the fight?
TN – Ah yes, I think so. We are three drivers, we are clearly always fighting for podium positions. Yep, it’s going to be between us. Maybe Mikkelsen can join at some point as well. But for sure the wins in upcoming events that won’t be us, we have Hayden joining with a very good road position, Kris Meeke, Jari-Matti Latvala, who are quite far in the standings as well, Lappi a bit behind, so all those guys going to fight for wins on the next events so we going to try to survive with our road position and try to make podium out of it.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 02, Rally Sweden 15-18 February 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
A big thank you to Thierry for answering my questions. Also, a big thank you to the PR of Hyundai Motorsport, Nicolette Russo for sending these to Thierry, and finally our own PR, Julia for setting up the interview.
Robert Kubica – many fans were waiting for his comeback to F1. The winner of 2008 Canadian Grand Prix is the reserve & development driver for Williams. After qualifications of Azerbejian GP, the polish driver answered some questions asked by Julia Paradowska.
Julia Paradowska:The Chinese GP was much better for Williams than Bahrain and Australia. Do you think it’s possible to get their first points of the season for the team in the upcoming races? Robert Kubica: Well, Formula 1 is a fantastic sport because it is changing very quickly. Of course we are beginning the season not where we expected. In the initial races we did face more issues than we had hoped so generally we are working on trying to improve areas where we face issues. We will be on tracks where we could be performing better. As I think all of the cars in the paddock have better tracks and worse tracks so there is time for our car. But this doesn’t exclude that generally we have to keep working and keep focusing on as we think we have an issue.
JP: How does a non-race week look for you as the reserve & development driver? RK: For sure it is completely different to a race driver’s weekend. Nonetheless it’s still very exciting for me to be back in the paddock. Ok, it is a different role than I have been used to but still this gives me an opportunity to stay close in the team, stay close to the sport to which I have a lot of passion. It gives me the opportunity to see a Grand Prix weekend from a different perspective and a different point of view so it is a good opportunity for me. It isn’t easy to see and hear what I was racing but still as I said I am enjoying it and I am trying to help the team as much as I can.
World Copyright: Mark Sutton/Williams F1
JP: What’s your part in solving team problems? RK: My part as a driver is to try to give the best feel as it is possible when I get to drive a car. As a part of my role I am doing a lot of simulation work so we are trying to improve our simulator, to improve our correlation between the simulator and reality. As part of our development, I am doing a part of our development programme which is involving me doing some internal technical meetings so as you can see I am a bit more than just a reserve driver and this is very nice from the team. I am really keen to play a part and also trying to help the team but also to learn from other people.
JP: Before the 2018 season there was much speculation about your comeback to F1. Did these rumours sometimes get you tired? RK: Well, it is a part of the game and I think the media got very excited about the possibility for me to comeback as a race driver. I think everybody was trying to get their opinion around. I think this was the normal approach from the media. It looks like during November-December my name appeared and was quite popular and I think media had some speculations to talk so they used it.
World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/Williams F1
JP: F1 is a sport that is constantly evolving, changing. What do you miss the most when compared to the beginning of your career? RK: Driving, very simple and being younger. But on the other side I have much more experience so actually experience is helping a lot.
Generally, I think the sound was making F1 races very exciting which we are missing. It is easier for media commitments – in the past it wasn’t as easy, you were travelling to do interviews as well. The Season was running and we can do it (the interview) so there is always pros and negatives.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Argentina (ARG) – WRC 26/04/2017 to 30/04/2017 – PHOTO : @World
The WRC heads to Argentina for the fifth round of this year’s championship. Seb Ogier increased his lead over Thierry Neuville last time out with a dominant victory on the tricky roads that make the Tour de Corse. This year’s event features 18 stages and a very interesting twist at the end. El Condor, which is the Power Stage and is one of the most famous stages in the world will be tackled uphill this year.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Argentina (ARG) – WRC 26/04/2017 to 30/04/2017 – PHOTO : @World
Here’s the full stage schedule.
RALLY ARGENTINA SCHEDULE (GMT-3)
THURSDAY 26 APRIL
8.00am: Shakedown (Villa Carlos Paz – Cabalango)
6.30pm: Start (Villa Carlos Paz)
6.45pm: Regrouping (Villa Carlos Paz – 20 min)
7.08pm: SS 1 – Villa Carlos Paz (1,90 km)
7.33pm: Parc fermé (Villa Carlos Paz)
FRIDAY 27 APRIL
6.25am: Start and Service A (Villa Carlos Paz – 15 min)
8.10am: SS 2 – Las Bajadas – Villa Del Dique 1 (16,65 km)
9.00am: SS 3 – Amboy – Yacanto 1 (33,58 km)
10.13am: SS 4 – Santa Rosa – San Agustin 1 (23,85 km)
12.08pm: SS 5 – Super Especial Fernet Branca 1 (6,04 km)
12.48pm: Service B (Villa Carlos Paz – 30 min)
2.51pm: SS 6 – Las Bajadas – Villa Del Dique 2 (16,65 km)
3.38pm: SS 7 – Amboy – Yacanto 2 (33,58 km)
4.51pm: SS 8 – Santa Rosa – San Agustin 2 (23,85 km)
6.41pm: Flexi service C (Villa Carlos Paz – 45 min)
SATURDAY 28 APRIL
7.30am: Start and Service D (Villa Carlos Paz – 15 min)
8.23am: SS 9 – Tanti – Mataderos 1 (13,92 km)
9.08am: SS 10 – Los Gigantes – Cuchilla Nevada 1 (16,02 km)
9.35am: SS 11 – Cuchilla Nevada – Rio Pintos 1 (40,48 km)
11.38am: SS 12 – Super Especial Fernet Branca 2 (6,04 km)
12.15pm: Service E (Villa Carlos Paz – 30 min)
1.23pm: SS 13 – Tanti – Mataderos 2 (13,92 km)
2.08pm: SS 14 – Los Gigantes – Cuchilla Nevada 2 (16,02 km)
2.35pm: SS 15 – Cuchilla Nevada – Rio Pintos 2 (40,8 km)
4.35pm: Flexi service F (Villa Carlos Paz – 45 min)
SUNDAY 29 APRIL
7.45am: Start and Service G (Villa Carlos Paz – 15 min)
9.08am: SS 16 – Copina – El Condor (16,43 km)
9.55am: SS 17 – Giulio Cesare – Mina Clavero (22,41 km)
12.18pm: SS 18 – Copina – El Condor Power Stage (16,43 km)
2.21pm: Service H (Villa Carlos Paz – 10 min)
2.31pm: Finish
There’s 358km of stages this year. Last year, we saw welsh wizard Elfyn Evans and Dan Barritt drive brilliantly throughout the event, only to be denied victory after some technical problems by Thierry Neuville who won by just seven tenths of a second.
Here’s the views from the drivers then.
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“Rally Argentina is a famous event and one that attracts an incredible crowd of passionate rally fans. It creates a fantastic atmosphere that we appreciate during the stages. We have good memories of last year’s rally, which we won in dramatic style in the Power Stage. I hope we can pull off a similar result this time around. It is a highly demanding event, very tough on the car and the crew, so it’s not one that we can take lightly.”
2017 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Argentina 27-30 April 2017 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen
“Rally Argentina is probably one of my favourite rallies of the entire season. It is a very special type of gravel event because the roads are sandier which suits my driving style a bit more; you can really create an angle, which helps to attack the corner. The stages can get quite rough on the second pass so it’s important to take care of the car, but all in all it is a beautiful rally. El Condor and Mina Clavero are two stages I particularly look forward to.”
Dani Sordo
“The huge number of spectators really makes this a special rally for everyone. It is always nice to see so many people lining the routes and cheering us on. It gives us a real boost regardless of how we are performing. Of course, our aim is to be fighting towards the front. We have had a couple of solid results in a row, so we want to use the momentum to add another gravel podium to the one we scored in Mexico.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala
“Argentina is a place where I have had some very enjoyable moments in the past, including my win there in 2014. It is a really challenging event and that makes it very satisfying when things are going well. There is a nice mixture of different stages over the weekend, from the fast and sandy roads in the valley on Friday to the rougher mountain stages on Sunday, including the famous El Condor, which is the Power Stage again this year. It is always a very spectacular stage with all of the fans up on the hillsides cheering us on. Argentina is a very demanding rally for the cars, and we learned a lot there as a team last year. Together, we are working hard to constantly improve the car, and hopefully we can show some good progress. It would be good to get some more points on the board.”
Jari-Matti Latvala, Miikka Antilla. Photo credit – Toyota Gazoo Racing
Ott Tanak
“Rally Argentina has always been a tough event. There are some nice smooth and fast stages but also some pretty technical roads, so it’s a rally where you get a bit of everything in one weekend. It’s also really demanding on the cars, as the stages can get pretty rough. I finished third there last year, and that gives me confidence that I can perform well this time. I’m also feeling good after our pre-event test in Sardinia: the roads went from wet to dry during the test and the surface can be just as rough there, so I think that we got just the right conditions that we needed for a good test for Argentina. I am pretty happy with the improvements that we were able to make to the car and now I am eager to see how we are going to compare against the others.”
Esapekka Lappi
“Although I haven’t competed in Argentina before, I have done the recce twice, so I have some picture of what the rally is like. I have heard that it can be the toughest round of the championship: the surface can get very rough in places, and there are a lot of rocks, so you need to take care sometimes. It looks as though on Friday the roads are going to be a little bit softer than on Saturday, and then on Sunday in the mountains there will be more loose gravel and rocks. I am really confident that we can do much better in Argentina than in our last gravel rally in Mexico, where I think I learnt quite a lot. It is usually a rally where a lot of things can happen, so it might be that my main target will be to just try and stay out of trouble, but let’s see how it goes.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT
Kris Meeke
“I come into this fifth round very determined to move back up the championship standings, but this rally is such a challenge, you have to treat it with respect it deserves. I’ll do my very best, as always, but the weather may be a factor. The condition of the roads is often determined by how much rainfall there has been over the previous six months. In any case, it’s a rally that I really love, both for the wide range of difficulties involved and the warm, very enthusiastic welcome we get from the local fans. Added to which, I have always been comfortable here: I’ve finished on the podium twice in my four appearances, including my first WRC win.”
Craig Breen
“Having only raced here once before, and even then, only for part of the rally, when the other guys have been driving on these stages for years, I fear that my lack of knowledge may hamper me a bit. But I really enjoyed the brief glimpse of the rally that I got here last season and I can’t wait to get started. Testing went really well. It had been a little while since I had last driven the C3 WRC on gravel and the car has clearly improved on this surface. So, my confidence has been given a serious boost coming into this rally, which is set to be pretty demanding.”
Craig Breen, Scott Martin. Photo credit Citroen Racing.
Khalid Al Qassimi
“I think this rally is going to be a real challenge for me because it has been some time since I last competed here, but I am very much looking forward to it. I’ll have to get my bearings again, review and revise the pace notes for the stages. My sole aim is to make it to the finish and enjoy myself, whilst also supporting the team.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“We’ve made a great start to the season and come to Argentina with the ambition of continuing this positive start. It’s the only event Julien and I are yet to win and, even though I won’t be fixated on a win this week, I would also love to stand on the top step of the podium in Argentina!
“We know that the win won’t be easy, but we have made a lot of progress this year and will certainly give it our best. The competition is strong, but if we can limit the time loss on Friday, which will be the key, I’m sure we’ll be in with a chance.
“The car felt great last time out on gravel, but the surface in Argentina is completely different. The roads are much softer and sandier here, but also quite rough in places meaning that a good result is dependent on a compromise between speed and endurance.
“We completed a development test in Portugal last week and everything continues to go in the right direction. We’re keen to see what we can do next week, and optimistic of delivering another strong result.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Mexico (MEX) – WRC 08/03/2018 to 11/03/2018 – PHOTO : @World
Elfyn Evans
“It’s great to see Dan fully recovered and back at an event that holds a lot of special memories for the both of us. It’s where we secured our first podium in 2015, and where we came so close to victory last year. That was a hard defeat to take at the time, but it made us stronger and we’ll be hoping to challenge for the top results again this year.
“It’s fair to say that I’ve not had the best start to the season, but we’re determined to turn that around this week. With a solid result in Corsica, and Dan back by my side in Argentina, we’re looking forward to the challenge and focused on delivering a strong result.
“You have to take a fairly measured approach to an event like this as there is very little margin for error. There’s the potential for something to catch you out around practically every corner – so you have to have a clean rally and keep mistakes to a minimum.
“We completed some development testing in the lead-up to this event where we were able to get a feel for driving on gravel again. We will have a fairly good road position for the opening day and the car feels good – so let’s see what we can do.”
Teemu Suninen
“Argentina will be an interesting event in that sense that I have not competed here before. We did the recce in 2016 and from what I can remember there are quite a few rhythm changes on the stages – high-speed roads often turning into very narrow tracks with no room to run wide.
“The rhythm change is the biggest challenge, but the roads are also soft in places and the risk of punctures is increased by small stones bordering the road.
“We completed a development test in Portugal and got some good kilometres under our belt on gravel. It was really important to have that test. We have trust in the car but I know that the conditions will be a little different in Argentina.
“My aim this week is to continue to learn, continue to gain experience and continue developing my driving. If we can do that, the good results will come too.”
Well, we are set for a very good rally. All the ingredients are there, with Kris and Thierry who have conquered these very challenging stages in recent years. Also, let’s not forget that Elfyn and Dan led a large portion last year, only to miss out by such a small amount in the end. Perhaps Seb will take his first win here this weekend. He’s come pretty close before, but with him opening the road throughout Friday, he’ll need to ensure that the time loss to the leaders is kept small.
One driver missing, which is a shame, is 2016 winner Hayden Paddon. I’m surprised that Hyundai didn’t have him in the third i20 this weekend. Still, we’ll see him next time in Rally Portugal.
