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ERC Junior Under 28 post-rally di Roma Capitale quotes

  • gb
19.09.17

Round 5 of 6: Rally di Roma Capitale, 14-17 September

JAN ČERNÝ (CZE) Position: First
Co-driver: Petr Černohorský (CZE) Car: ŠKODA Fabia R5

“It was a good weekend. All the European season wasn’t the best for us but we’ve won here and that’s what we wanted before the rally. I’m happy, big thanks to the Czech federation, all the team and my co-driver. I’m happy to win. And with my team-mate Filip [Mareš] winning in Junior Under 27 it’s quite incredible, big congratulations to him. He did a really good job under big pressure but he won.”

STÉPHANE CONSANI (FRA) Position: Third
Co-driver: Valentin Salmon (FRA) Car: Ford Fiesta R5

“Valentin and I leave Rome 100 per cent satisfied. We discovered the ERC and appreciated the level of an international competition, proudly climbing on the ERC Junior Under 28 podium with a scratch time. We had a problem with the engine cutting out on Saturday’s first stage losing time we would never recover. Then we left with rain tyres for Sunday’s stage and lose more time. This bad choice penalised us more but we improved our knowledge of the car and the Erreffe Rally Team did an exceptional job.”

NIKOLAY GRYAZIN (RUS) Position: Second
Co-driver: Yaroslav Fedorov (RUS) Car: ŠKODA Fabia R5

“We lost too much with the transmission broken, we lost four minutes after the service because my team replaced it. After it was okay and the second day was quite okay. It was slippery in the first loop because it was my first time this year in rain so I was a little bit careful. There second loop was better so I am happy with that on a big event.

PEPE LÓPEZ (ESP) Position: DNF (mechanical)
Co-driver: Borja Rozada (ESP) Car: Peugeot 208 T16

“It was a shame about the oil leak on Saturday, because by then we were racing at good speed and able to fight for the top position in ERC Junior U28. But with all the smoke it was impossible to continue and we decided to stop. When we were allowed to get back on track it was too late. And Sunday morning there was the problem with the powersteering and there was nothing we could do to continue. I'm sorry for the team because they worked very hard on Saturday evening to fix the car. Now we have to put Rome behind us and look at Latvia where we aim for a good result over gravel to say goodbye to the season in style.”

JOSÉ SUÁREZ (ESP) Position: Fourth*
Co-driver: Cándido Carrera (ESP) Car: Peugeot 208 T16

“This is how I drive. I'm so happy for the speed and the reliability we showed today, but also disappointed for what happened yesterday. My mechanics worked really hard to have the car ready for today and we experience no problems. So a big thanks to them and to all the crew. I was looking at the fight between Bouffier and Kajetanowicz and how they were enjoying it that I wanted to join the party for a bit.”

*Crashed on SS2, restarted on leg two and was fastest in ERC Junior U28 on all six stages, also claiming an overall stage win