Thursday 10 September

Present:
Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Motorsport
Hayden Paddon, Hyundai Motorsport
Kris Meeke, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Ott Tanak, M-Sport World Rally Team

Q:
Let’s talk about shakedown – a lucky escape for you this morning Seb…
SO:
Yeah, I had a nice stunt moment at the first corner. Like I told you before, I was a little bit too slow into the corner. I hit the inside bank too much and went on two wheels. It was low-speed in the hairpin, but it was close to a roll. Luckily I had the quick reflex and in the end it was just a spin with some spectacular pictures. But I have a good feeling with the car. I’m ready to go!

Q:
This is a big weekend for you, but you seem very relaxed. Is that how you feel?
SO:
Of course; I think everybody would love to have the position I have. I’m getting close to another title, but that’s no reason for any extra pressure. I will try my best to fight for the victory here, on stages I really love. We had a good performance last year and I hope to do the same again.

Q:
What do you think of the new stages?
SO:
Beautiful. They are on the same level as the others. This is a beautiful rally, with some really nice flowing stages, but also some technical places as well. There is some loose gravel, it’s not easy to open the road and I will have to take some risks to compensate for this. I hope to stay in the fight and stay in the good group to fight for the victory.

Q:
Is the cleaning effect here going to be worse than anywhere else?
SO:
I shouldn’t say anything… if by some chance I’m still at the front then they say: “See, it’s not so bad!” We have seen some bad conditions in places like Sardinia, but there we were lucky with a bit of rain. Here I crossed my fingers with the cloud, but unfortunately they did not bring so much water. It can be hard here, difficult in some sections. The longest stage of tomorrow is not as bad as last year. Anyway, I will not think so much about that – just give my best.

Q:
What about Saturday’s longest stage and the night stage?
SO:
The long stage is part of rallying from time to time. It’s a nice challenge, especially this one, which has a beautiful profile. The night stages on gravel, I’m not sure this is the best – when it brings dust, it can be not so easy. You know I’m always fighting for the fair conditions for everybody, but when it comes to dust it can be tough. I have heard we will get three-minute gaps, I hope it’ll be enough. This is not the best on the safety side.

Q:
And what about that possible third title – how do you feel about that?
SO:
You work so hard and hope so much for that, when it comes it did not give you back enough from what you invest – but it will make me a really happy man. When we do our sport, we invest a lot of effort and spend a lot of time with this. When we have the satisfaction of reaching our target at the end of season, that’s the best. It would also mean that I could relax at the end of the year and fight for victory [on rallies] and not think about the championship. I will do all I can to get it this weekend.

Q:
Hayden, you’ve got a lot of support here – does that give you good feeling?
HP:
It’s amazing and I don’t think we’ve even seen half of them yet! This is the closest we get to home – they give even more motivation to push harder and put on a good show for them.

Q:
You talked about a podium before the event, is that still possible?
HP:
Definitely. It’s a very hard goal to reach, but that’s part of the process – you have to set the target that’s harder to achieve. This is the best chance since Sardinia in terms of road position, but I also feel more relaxed. I need to put the pieces of the puzzle together and hope the stage times come. It’s really important to stay relaxed. If you push too hard, you can make mistakes and go slower. I have fire in the belly for tomorrow morning’s stages, these are where the biggest advantage will come for the whole weekend. I’m only going to get one opportunity to make the most of it.

Q:
We’ve seen some quite cool temperatures in the mornings, what do you think about tyres?
HP:
I’m sure we’ll see some tyre strategy this weekend, but we have a good plan in place. I’m confident in that, I’m sure it’ll work out well.

Q:
How much pressure do you put on yourself?
HP:
Not too much. A lot of variables come in; in terms of outright pace, we don’t have top-three speed, but if we can be consistently in the top five on most stages, then we should be right. The three guys here are very fast, especially Kris and Ott with the road position. We need to be consistent and make no mistakes.

Q:
You were quite frustrated that you couldn’t match your team-mates in Germany – how’s the rivalry in the team?
HP:
We all talk. It’s the same as any team-mates: they’re the number one rival. We all look at the stages times… we all get on, but when rally time comes we’re pushing for ourselves as well as scoring for the team.

Q:
What about next year and contracts; are you signed up with Hyundai?
HP:
Things are close. We want to focus on preparing for this rally, there are a few formalities after this weekend.

Q:
Kris we’ve seen great times from you before on this rally. How’s the feeling for you?
KM:
Good. We had a good recce and it’s always nice to come back to familiar ground, this will be my third time here. Day one has changed a bit, but they are really nice stages. I look forward to this one – we’ve always had good speed here and we missed the podium last year because of a penalty. I hope we have the speed to be right up there.

Q:
Without Mads this weekend, does that put more pressure on you to score points?
KM:
I still have to do my job. It was very unfortunate for Mads. It was a very nasty incident on the recce – he was very lucky. OK, he’s unlucky not to be competing, but it could have been a lot worse. Citroen’s very lucky to have Stephane [Lefebvre] here for the recce and this is a very big opportunity for him – it’ll be his first time on gravel in a World Rally Car. It can be tricky for him, but this is a longhaul event with not so many cars, so if he can get some points then it can be a good event for him and the same if I can get some good points.

Q:
Hayden mentioned those first stages in the morning – how important are they?
KM:
As Hayden said, the first three are very loose, but they are quite short stages and there wasn’t so much cleaning in the last one last year. I’ll drive it with what road conditions are there and see where we are. If the rhythm’s good, the road will come to you.

Q:
Is a podium realistic?
KM:
It’s a realistic expectation. We missed out last year due to the penalty. I enjoy these stages and, especially if we can find a good rhythm, there’s no reason why we can’t do that.

Q:
You’ve been the driver closest to the Volkswagens – are you happy with the 2015 season so far?
KM:
I can never really be happy… OK, we have the speed, but we need consistency. I’d be happier to be splitting the Volkswagens in the championship table. I’m not happy with the mistakes, we have been unlucky sometimes. All I can do is keep doing my best and try put that right.

Q:
Ott, we’ve seen you here in the past – but this is your first time in a World Rally Car. Confident?
OT:
I’m feeling quite good. It’s nice to be back on the loose surface – the team is competitive on gravel and we have a good position, I’m in a good mood.

Q:
Can you fight for the podium?
OT:
We need to do our best. Like you say, I haven’t been here in a World Rally Car and I have many things to discover. We had a good recce and the feeling is good. We need to find the right rhythm and keep it. And enjoy it.

Q:
What’s the critical aspect of the stages?
OT:
All the stages are quite challenging, but then we have to have the correct tyre choice and find the good feeling. I’m sure it will be OK – there’s nothing too bad out there.

Q:
Are you under pressure for a seat next season?
OT:
Pressure doesn’t help, but we still have four events to go – we will do our best job and it goes how it goes. When we do it as good as we can, that’s the best we can do – we will keep the focus and see what happens. No point thinking about it now.

FIA WRC 2 CHAMPIONSHIP

Present:
Scott Pedder, Drive DMACK 2
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, Youth & Sports Qatar Rally Team

Q:
Scott, how are you feeling coming to your home event?
SP:
Fantastic. The car is starting to come to me. It took a couple of events and crashes for me to work it out. Finland was a fantastic result, but to come here with the M-Sport team is a dream come true, I’ve really got to pinch myself. But I’m ready.

Q:
You felt at home in Finland?
SP:
It was a very daunting event. Ouininpohja was unbelievably tricky, probably the trickiest stage I’ve ever done. It was daunting and the advice I got from everybody who’d ever been there or lived there or anything helped prepare me for this difficult event. Being honest, it wasn’t as difficult as some of the others this year. I’ve always liked the fast roads. It was pretty amazing. I now know why Finns are pretty good rally drivers, growing up on those roads!

Q:
You’ve got M-Sport’s 100th Fiesta R5 here – was there ever any doubt about the entry?
SP:
We always had the plan to contest five, but the budget changed after the first two… Full credit to DMACK and M-Sport for helping us get here. We’ve got the 100th car, but I’m not sure what I did to deserve that level of confidence Malcolm Wilson has shown in me for his little baby. I want to prove the R5 car can still mix it with the RRCs.

Q:
Malcolm wants it back in one piece…
SP:
That’s the plan – but it doesn’t always go to plan! Full credit to the organisers of this rally as well. I’ve been a bit critical of the first stages last year, but this is a great Rally Australia. These stages are incredible and this will be one of the most difficult events of the year. The stages are so technical with so many different surfaces, the terrain’s really tough – you’re in the trees, out of the trees. It might be one of the shortest rallies in the championship, but it will be very, very difficult – don’t let that fool you!

Q:
Will you be on the money?
SP:
This is the biggest moment of the year. If you look at the entry, there are only seven cars there [in WRC 2], but the quality of the field is incredible – they all have mathematical chances of winning the championship, Yazeed Al-Rajhi as well. It would be easy to look at fifth or sixth place, but that’s not the plan. The plan is to go out and drive as quickly as possible. And if that’s not good enough…

Q:
What about next year?
SP:
Ask my wife! It would be a bit of a waste to do the WRC for one year only – you need the experience. Some of these guys have done these stages 20 times. For me to go back to Finland for a second time I would be half a second or a second per kilometre quicker. I’d be quite happy do Finland and Australia in an R5 car as a minimum, but I hope to do more.

Q:
When will you know?
SP:
The biggest thing at the moment is the government pushing the dollar down – things are getting more expensive by the day – that’s a real problem, but we have to be deciding soon.

Q:
Abdulaziz, how are you feeling about the championship position coming into this event?
AA-K:
Good. The situation is that we have done one less rally than the others, but we are 15 points behind the leader. This will be one of the most important rallies this year. There are not many entries, but they are all fast drivers: Nasser, Yazeed, Yurii and Scott – it will be really difficult to beat even one of them, we can see this from the shakedown times. I won this one two years ago, but it’s been three months since I drove in Sardinia. I finished Sardinia at a high level, but that’s the only thing.
But these are nice stages, I feel confident. I hope it’s good for us

Q:
Shakedown was useful for getting rid of the rustiness?
AA-K:
I don’t know. All the drivers did the stage last year. I did just two runs to be happy with the car and tyres. The rally is very different from the shakedown. I don’t take the shakedown as the serious thing, just set-up. The winner of the rally has to cross the finish line and not stop for the flat tyre or anything. I try to be consistent. This keeps me high in the championship, I won Argentina this year, but this will be a very tough weekend for all of us.

Q:
What do you think of the stages?
AA-K:
These are the most enjoyable in the championship. I still have to drive in the rally car, but even in the recce car – in the 50 kilometre stage, I was telling my co-driver every three or four kilometres: “What a nice stage!” Tomorrow’s are really nice as well – well done to the organisers for picking these roads. Sometimes we have tough stages, but here every stage is nice!

Q:
Do you have a 2016 plan?
AA-K:
First we have to wait and see what will the rules be for WRC 2. I heard the Regional Rally Cars will have a smaller restrictor, which will be bad for the car. We have to see and we have to see for the sponsors. We have no budget now, I want to finish here and jump to the top-three in the championship and then we will see.