Present:
1st - Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Motorsport
1st - Julien Ingrassia, Volkswagen Motorsport
2nd - Thierry Neuville, Hyundai Motorsport
2nd - Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai Motorsport
3rd - Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Motorsport II
3rd - Anders Jaeger, Volkswagen Motorsport II
Andre Dietzel, Volkswagen Motorsport
 
Q:
Congratulations on the win in Corsica Seb, it must be very satisfying for you to take your first victory here?
SO:
For sure, that was our target when we arrived here. We knew it would not be easy. On tarmac there are many drivers ready to fight at the front so, for sure, on Friday when we managed to lead with this gap it was a surprise. For sure it was a great day in the car but after that the aspect of our race then changed a bit, it was not so enjoyable after Friday anymore during the week-end but still, we had good fun in the car and we managed almost perfectly the times and to control the gap we created on Friday, so we are very pleased, especially as on the same time, the fourth title is closer. It’s just a fantastic weekend.

Q:
You have had some fantastic days in your career competitively. Is that one of the best in terms of performance?
SO:
I remember that I already said I had some perfect days, I would not describe Friday as a perfect day because it was not absolutely perfect, but good. On the first day I was a little bit cautious, the notes were a little bit too low, I could have gone a little faster but I wanted to start also without too much risk. It was definitely a very strong day, I mean, it must be when you create such a gap, you can’t say you have done something too bad.

Q:
As you said the fourth title is very close. Will you feel differently going into Spain than you did here because it was a long shot here to get the title?
SO:
The question was there because there was the first mathematical chance, but we knew there was almost no chance that it happens here and I absolutely didn’t have this in mind. I just wanted to focus on the event. I knew victory here would have the meaning of getting very close to the title. I can now be quite relaxed towards the end of the season. I think I need something like 16 points more now to be sure of being the champion. I won't go to the next rally to score 16 points, I feel relaxed so I will go with the target to win again.

Q:
Julien, how are you feeling at the end of the weekend? Are you tired? Has it been exhausting for you? On the notes? On the phone to the gravel crew? 
JI:
It was the recce that was the most demanding for me. Once you are in the rhythm inside the race car, then you have the adrenaline to keep you up. The recce was quite tough because 50% of the job is done there. You need to be really, really concentrating. This morning I asked one of the guys of the communication staff to count all the corners of my stage number 5 because I had 100 pages, he counted 659 corners in this stage - proper corners not the sliding parts of the road - and he calculated, this is only 4,795 corners [in the event], I'm sorry but this is not the 10,000 Corners Rally!

Q:
Is it a special win here in Corsica because it is a legendary rally?
JI:
Yes, especially as for me there are two nice memories of Corsica. I spent many summers here as a kid because I had some family here. In 2007 when we were with the zero car, I remember that I have one picture in Ajaccio with our zero car and just behind it was Sébastien Loeb with the red C4 with number one. For 2008, for sure we also had our title here. What I miss is that the rally was passing through the village where I used to spend my holidays, now the stage is not existing any more. Maybe the organisers could do that for me...

Q:
Second position for you Thierry, we have seen some great performances from you this weekend, great pace, you seem to be very happy, are you?
TN:
I have to be happy, since a couple of rallies it's been going really well. We feel very comfortable in the car so coming here I knew we could do a very good result. The motivation was obviously very high and finally being in the second place on the first day and keeping this position with some VWs behind was a great effort from me and Nicolas. We had to give it most of the time everything, except today on the tricky stage we could relax a bit more with a 20 second advantage. Finally we did it and it's a huge result for the whole team.

Q:
Did you feel any pressure going into this morning?
TN:
Not really, our gravel crew did a great job. I knew the pace, I just drove through the stages and kept the four wheels on a clean line and at the end we didn't lose any time so it was a perfect day again.

Q:
You are obviously a man in demand! It must be satisfying for you as a driver to know there are options there for next year for you?
TN:
For sure. I've known this situation in 2013 as well. In the same time it makes things more difficult as well when you have more options. It's like on a menu when you go for dinner. It all sounds good and nice but you don’t know if you are making the good choice. You first want to try them all! Things are getting very clear as well in my mind. There are still two cars I didn’t test!

Q:
It is so tough for the co-drivers out there. It doesn’t stop for you?
NG:
It's true, personally I like this rally, I like the island. We had already very good rhythm in 2011 when I won the rally with Thierry. For sure it was really a demanding race again, I am completely tired but I enjoy a lot, a lot, a lot. I like this kind of conditions. Even if we are not at the first place, but only at the second at least I am happy for Julien’s grandmother (because she doesn’t talk to him if he doesn’t win a rally).

Q:
You got off to a bit of a slow start on Friday Andreas, but Saturday you really started to pick up the pace. What was the change?
AM:
There was no real change, I just took my time to get really into the rhythm. I was also struggling a bit with my foot in the beginning, I lost the feeling a bit. But that sorted itself out, on Saturday morning we managed to pass Jari-Matti and close in on Thierry, but in the afternoon he was doing very, very good stage times and it was hard for us to keep up. Today it was 25 seconds to catch him in very short mileage. When the conditions were really, really tough it was always a balance between thinking about the championship and thinking to try and attack for the second place but when it was really tricky then the risk will be too high so we settled for third and tried to get as much on the Power Stage as possible and almost managed three points, very close. For the championship it's looking really, really well. We only lost one point to Thierry who is the closest competitor to us. I’m very satisfied for the weekend. 

Q:
For Seb to have taken his championship title here, he needed something to happen to you and it didn’t happen. We all remember what happened in Spain last year, how are you feeling about Spain Andreas?
AM:
I have good memories from Spain of course. It will be nice to try to make that happen again! We will see, I have some good rallies coming up for the rest of the season which I really, really like. Things are looking quite good.

Q:
It is your first season alongside Andreas, Anders. I know it’s been a bit of a learning curve and you were thrown in at the deep end at the start of the year. Has this been the toughest rally for you in your job?
AJ:
Probably, I would still mention Monte-Carlo though, the first rally and it's quite complex. It's a really tough rally, long stages and a lot of information. You need to keep the focus really.

Q:
Enjoyable weekend for you though?
AJ:
Yes, for sure, Friday was tough. First I have to congratulate Seb and Julien, Thierry and Nicolas. On Friday Seb and Julien, they really made the difference, that was tough to see. On Saturday afternoon’s loop, Thierry and Nicolas, they also made some difference there. This Sunday was more or less set without any incidents, so all in all, enjoyable. We had a good rally for sure. Could be a bit better in some places but the rally will go next year as well so we’ll try then.

Q:
Normally it is the team director we’ll see in that seat, we would expect to see Sven Smeets today Andre. But it’s you, tell me why.
AD:
I would like to send some greetings from Sven to you all. As you might know he's still in his double role for now, he’s the Motorsport Director and at the same time he’s still the Team Manager, so he had to run the team until the end of the stage so he couldn't make it. He's very happy for the team, for the performance we delivered here in Corsica.

Q:
It has been a great performance from the team, it’s always great to see a win in Corsica. It’s such a dominant win from Seb this weekend, that must boost team morale even further. 
AD:
Of course, I think everyone expected it to be a very close rally under these conditions. I think Seb and Julien made a big difference from the start of the rally and from the start they were really in control so I think this already was a performance that is worth a World Championship title. He’s really close on that and it’s also good for the team.

Q:
Hopefully we will see Jari-Matti Latvala on a little bit more pace in Spain than we saw here. It wasn’t quite the same Jari-Matti we’re used to seeing. He said that the set-up direction had been wrong. He changed things today and it seemed to be a little better but not quite what we’re used to seeing.
AD:
He was not happy with his brake feeling, he changed a bit around with his brake pads. In the end he came back to the performance that he was aiming to but I think it was just a bit too late through the rally to catch up to the others. I would also like to give a big thank you and compliments to the organisers. I think they improved the rally a lot. I know that for these six guys beside me, the rally is still a big challenge and they all had some short nights, but I think for a classic rally you need some special aspects. I think for everybody who has been here last year for the first time, the rally really improved a lot and we're already looking forward to being here next year. 

 
FIA WRC 2 CHAMPIONSHIP
 
Present:
1st – Elfyn Evans, M-Sport World Rally Team
1st – Craig Parry, M-Sport World Rally Team
 
Q:
WRC 2 win and a great dominant win from you this weekend Elfyn. It was a good battle with Jan Kopecky at the start but from yesterday afternoon you really stretched your lead, congratulations, how are you feeling?
EE:
It was a pretty good weekend overall, we started off quite strong and then Jan woke up a bit and started to claw back some time. Overall we had a fairly good rhythm in the car and everything was working quite well. Yesterday afternoon we managed to stretch the lead and then today it was just a case of managing and bringing it home. Overall it was pretty good and some of the overall times were pretty good as well.

Q:
Would you say that the pace we saw you on out there, certainly when you were setting the fastest times, was that the maximum you could do or did you still have a little bit more that you could give? 
EE:
You can always give a little bit more. Overall they are long stages, you have to control, you have to manage the brakes and tyres, we don’t have water cooling the brakes for example on the R5s. You have to be a bit more careful so yes, for sure on individual corners you can push more but it’s a bit of a balance and a management game more than anything else with the long stages here.

Q:
This is your final WRC 2 event of the season. It’s a waiting game now to see what happens in the championship, whether you get that title or not.
EE:
Yes exactly, it hadn’t gone fantastically well for us mid-season. It started off really, really well and Argentina didn't go to plan and we had a few small problems in Portugal and Finland as well. It hasn’t been a trouble free run and unfortunately that has cost us, a mistake from me as well in Portugal. We have to wait and see what the others do. I think if they can be consistent and score good points then it’s looking unlikely, but you never know.

Q:
We want to see you back next year, any news you can give me?
EE:
No, it’s still the same as the pre-event press conference.

Q:
It’s a tough event for the drivers, I would say even more so for the co-drivers out there. You are busy boys on a Corsican weekend. How was the experience for you? 
CP:
Apparently it's a beautiful island but I haven’t seen a great deal of it over the weekend. Every co-driver will know it's a fairly hefty workload from the pre-event recce to the actual event itself. Especially with the climate as well, it makes it a little more difficult.

Q:
Enjoyable though?
CP:
Yes, it has been enjoyable. It’s been different as well with the long stages and not so many of them. When you get to the end of the day and you’ve done four stages and that’s half the rally as well, it’s a bit of a culture shock to what we usually do but yes, definitely a great experience.

FIA JUNIOR WRC / FIA WRC 3 CHAMPIONSHIP (event winner)
 
Present:
1st – Laurent Pellier, Equipe de France FFSA
1st – Benoit Neyret-Gigot, Equipe de France FFSA
 
Q:
Congratulations, what a great battle you had with Rossel all weekend and today, a dominant lead. How are you feeling?
LP:
It's magic for us, we had a great battle with Rossel. At the start we wanted a good time and no win, and so for us it's a really, really magic weekend.

Q:
A special feeling to take a win in Corsica?
LP:
Yes, it’s very hard to manage the brakes and the tyres. With French Team FFSA, it’s OK and with Citroën Racing too.

Q:
We’ve seen great results for drivers who have been with the FFSA who have then moved on up into the WRC. What’s next for you? What are you doing next year?
LP:
For the moment we are going in the Citroën Racing Trophy France and we have two rallies for the end of the season. I would like to be in Wales but I don’t know if we have the money to take part.

Q:
Congratulations, how are you feeling at the end of a tough rally here in Corsica?
BN:
I'm very happy with my results and it’s my first participation in a WRC event. I'm very optimistic for the following rallies.

 
FIA JUNIOR WRC CHAMPIONSHIP – (Championship winner*)
 
Present:
1st – Simone Tempestini
1st – Giovanni Bernacchini
 
Q:
What a season you’ve had! And to win here in Corsica a good deal before the season ends for you, that must be so satisfying. Congratulations, how are you feeling? 
ST:
It was a really hard season for us, but it was very, very good because the rallies went very good a perfect rally every time. This one was also a bit harder, because yesterday and today we have a big problem with the gearbox, sometimes we think that maybe we cannot come to the finish but we continue. Today we only use the second gear for example in the last stage and in the long one only third gear for the first 30km, and after that second for the last 20km. It was really, really hard. It is a very beautiful feeling for me to know that I win this fantastic championship. I don’t understand very well what’s happened yet - it's a strange feeling but it’s really beautiful. A lot of people help us during this year of driving. I think this win is a good way to say thank you to the people that trust us. I have to say many thanks also to Giovanni as he helped me a lot. The next one is Wales, one that I like a lot and I think there I can go flat out.

Q:
You needed special circumstances to be able to win the championship this weekend. Your rivals Veiby and Folb, you needed them to do badly and they did! When you found out yesterday that they were not doing well, you maybe knew that the championship was yours. How did that feel yesterday? 
ST:
We knew that Folb has to win and the same with Veiby. If we make seven points and Veiby doesn’t win then we are the champions, but I didn’t think about it because I wanted to come to the finish with a result that was the best that we can do. Not completely full attack. We managed a lot from the start because we know which is our target. I wanted to come to the finish so for this reason, it was a really hard rally because to celebrate one thing so important for us I didn’t want to finish with zero points if I retire.

Q:
You are the Junior WRC Championship co-driving champion for 2016. It’s been a great partnership between you and Simone, how are you feeling with a great result for you here?
GB:
I still have to realise this, but I am very, very happy for me and for Simone as we did a very great job during the season. For me it’s a special feeling because it’s strange as I was fighting to win the Juniors in 2001 with Loeb and 2002 with Solà to second place. Here now, after 15 years, I realise my dream to win the JWRC so I’m very, very happy and it's great. I have to thank Simone as he was driving very well all the season, not only with the right foot but with the head, it’s very important. I think we can have a good feeling for the future. Now we have to go to Wales, to Elfyn’s house to try to make a very good job, full attack. Now we just have to enjoy our victory.

Q:
It’s so important to enjoy and celebrate what you have achieved this year, as some drivers don’t get the chance to do that. 
GB:
Yes, it’s very good also to win with three rallies to go for the championship, in advance to everybody. Ogier has to wait but not us now. Let’s go to celebrate. It’s a good feeling.

Q:
Now you’ve won the JWRC, WRC 3 is the next target?
ST:
Yes, in Wales we can win it. We go there full attack to make 25 points and we will see how we do there. Our principal target for this year was the JWRC though.

 * Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA