FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT – Sébastien Ogier (FRA), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team – Thierry Neuville (BEL), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team – Pierre-Louis Loubet (FRA), Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid

Q:
Rally Italia Sardegna is celebrating its 20th anniversary edition, 2004 we saw it come into the WRC. You all have some pretty good memories over the years I would like your highlights, please. Kick starting with you Mr Ogier…
SO:
A lot of great memories. Obviously we are tempted to mention the wins for great memories. I also have good memories with the battle I lost with Thierry very closely some years ago, because on those days I knew that it was still satisfying that you were driving on the limit and yes, it was missing a little bit it was an achievement to keep the car on the road pushing like this and it was good fun driving the car, so a lot of good times. I have to say I don’t miss the Power Stage near Alghero. This one was extremely rough and somehow the Hyundai was always strong there, so I think we don’t miss that one. This year there are many challenges ahead of us, even much earlier than the Power stage, so it is going to be an interesting weekend.

Q:
Pierre-Louis, what’s your favourite memories so far?
P-LL:
I think winning WRC2 was very important for us at this time, because if I was not leading the championship after Sardinia my season was stopped so it was a big relief and very nice memories.

Q:
Thierry, the seven-tenths-of-a-second win that Sébastien just mentioned, is that going to be your highlight?
TN:
I said it at that time, since then it was the only time where I really felt proud of the achievement because obviously in such a battle against Sébastien. You never know who is going to win and have the upper hand. It was a bit of a tense situation and there was this issue with his timecard in the previous stage and there was this regroup and we had to wait. We knew there might be a penalty but we did not know what or how much risk we had to take but at the end, I mean, we had to go for it we did and it was very close, but it was a big relief at the end and I think we both enjoyed that, obviously everybody wants always to win but you can’t always win. For us it was a great memory and it will stay for a long time in our memories.

Q:
You have two wins to Sébastien Ogier’s four, and I am sure your target a third this weekend, but given the conditions we have out there, the rain, the mud, is it going to be one of the toughest challenges here in Sardinia that you’ve ever faced?
SO:
It looks more unpredictable than ever, that’s a fact. Just quickly I forgot to mention my win two years ago but at least this one I should mention. From first on the road wins are pretty rare with the level of competition. This year, road position is not even sure it will play a big role this weekend. We have to see, but with the weather expected, I think first of all is making the right tyre call and staying out of trouble on the long stages. So many parameters seems not really clear at the moment, the only thing that is clear is on our side, we feel ready, the car feels good, we did some descent steps on this surface to make the car progress. I am excited to start the rally, but it’s a bit like going to the unknown at the moment.

Q:
That thrills us all when you say things like that. What do you say, Pierre-Louis, we saw a great result from you last year. You are kind of targeting the podium even though, as Seb said, it’s into the unknown right now so what is the target this weekend?
TN:
Like Seb said, there are a lot of parameters this year. So difficult to give a prediction, so just doing my best try the same pace like in Portugal without hitting any rocks and I hope the result will be good.

Q:
Thierry, talk to us about the appointment of François-Xavier Demaison, which was the most recent news from the team that we have seen, as technical director. He has a wealth of experience within the WRC and most recently in Formula 1 as well. How important is this appointment?
TN:
We are going to find out. Sébastien knows him probably one hundred times better than I. I met him…
SO:
I would have preferred he joined my team than yours…
TN:
That’s a good sign! As you have already said, there is a new structure in Hyundai in the making and one of the positions we didn’t have in the team was a technical director. We got Christian Loriaux last year or two years ago, who joined the team as a technical advisor. He still didn’t have this lead of the project and was mainly focused on WRC and now with FX, he will be an additional help to Christian as well to get the necessary power to lead the WRC department and I am sure that FX, obviously with his experience in rallying, he will bring a lot of good things to the team. And I am looking forward to the collaboration, he has worked with some of the best drivers in the past and has a hell of an experience and I am sure this is going to benefit the team and benefit myself as well and if we match things properly together it should be fun.

Q:
Seb, we talked earlier about the Monte Lerno test and what a challenge that could be. You have done longer stages of course in the championship as drivers but this is going to be the first time now with the brand-new Rally1 Hybrid car that you would have done a stage of this length, on this terrain and in this heat. How is it going to be out there do you think?
SO:
Well, at least regarding the heat it might be a little cooler than we thought coming here. The one of 50 kilometres of course the car is going through hot conditions and for the brakes it’s important to have all the cooling system really on because otherwise you can get in trouble. But otherwise I am happy to see long stages coming back.  It has normally been a strong point for me, tyre management can start to play a role and obviously I like this. The only parameter which is a little more complicated is puncture management and this one is something you cannot really control. Of course trying to stay on the best line as possible without having too much impact , but in such rough conditions, we know we are going to face some rocks and impacts, so hopefully we can have a clean run, but of course these stages just by itself is one third of the rally so it’s going to be a crucial one.

Q:
It is going to be a crucial one. Pierre-Louis, you have seen it on the recce, what kind of condition was it in, was there a lot of muddy sections or was it not so bad?
PL-L:
It was not so bad in terms of the condition of the road, but for sure in 50 kilometres you have a bit of everything, everywhere, so you have some very wide parts, very nice with a lot of speed and some parts where it is very narrow and tricky with very bad rocks, so very important not to have any puncture there, because if you have a puncture in the middle of the stage you can’t continue but you have to stop and change the wheel, so that will be one of the most demanding stage of the year for sure so very important to go through.

Q:
What’s going to be the key to success on this stage Thierry. Does your approach change at all? Heading into a stage of that duration or not?
TN:
I don’t think the key to success is only in one stage. I think the key to success this weekend is to be constant, have a bit of luck as well with the weather, make the right tyre calls and survive because it’s going to be rough out there. We kick off tomorrow with a very bumpy stage already, there are some stages we know, there are a couple of new parts or, at least, opposite direction so quite a lot of new pacenotes. There are a lot of things that come together so the challenge is huge. For the long stage if you kick off properly after the first corner and have a good feeling it should be fine, but you always have to stay concentrated for such a long stage. I think it will be around 35 minutes of effort so it’s going to be hopefully fun.

Q:
Final question to you, Pierre-Louis Loubet, because you are an island man coming from Corsica which is not far away. So what’s going to happen with the weather this weekend. Have you got any indications for us? Any knowledge?
PLL:
Normally, in Corsica it’s always sunny, so I don’t know what has happened here exactly. In my hometown it’s a bit easier than here, so I’m just hoping it will be okay, but it looks like the weather is not going to be here with us this weekend.

Questions from the floor:

Tom Howard, Autosport/Motorsport.com (GBR)
Q:
You’ve mentioned survival. Is it very much like Kenya, does it remind you about Kenya, is it that rough?
SO:
Honestly, some sections do look a little bit like Kenya, I think, with lot of stones. Basically, there are some sections which are harder than a lot of section we’ll go through in Kenya, honestly. And, also, it’s hard to predict how the conditions are going to be in the second pass. As a whole, of course Kenya itself is one step further, but from my point of view we are still on the rough side of the Sardinia conditions that I have experienced here.
TN:
Like Seb said in some sections they look a bit like Kenya. Generally the challenge is that the mixed of conditions that we already had during the recce and we’re going to have during the rally that makes it tricky and some parts are going to be rough on the second pass, but some parts might stay in better conditions than we expect so it’s always a bit of a surprise.

Q:
It’s going to be your first time in Safari this year isn’t it so we can’t get any feedback?
P-LL:
Yeah.

Reiner Kuhn, Motorsport Aktutell (DEU)
Q:
We heard from the other two that they have new suspensions. How about Toyota? Do you have something new?
SO:
I don’t think so. Honestly, nothing really new. I think we’ve obviously been working on the set-up for this kind of rally because the car was not performing well last year, I wasn’t here, but the drivers were complaining a lot about grip and that was the focus. So I think suspension is constantly evolving so it’s not like a new pure technology but you constantly work on valving and trying to make it better. Often some new dampers coming in but it’s hard to say. For sure the team has progressed in these conditions but so has everybody so it will be interesting to compare.

Q:
After Mexico?
SO:
Not so much after Mexico I think. But Mexico like we know is very specific. As a whole the work has been done from the beginning of the season already in this direction.

Marco Giordo, Autosprint (ITA)
Q:
For tomorrow, speaking to all drivers, the most difficult stage is not the long one, but the first one, Tantariles. What do you think?
SO:
It’s the roughest stage, for sure. Luckily it’s only ten kilometres, because if you go 50 kilometres like this I am not sure anybody would survive, it’s definitely a challenging start of the rally.
TN:
Same for me, obviously it’s already a new stage, the first two kilometres are quite fine, but towards the end it gets quite more rough, a bit bumpy, couple of compressions, watersplashes, anything you don’t want could happen there so you have to careful.  You don’t want to lose bodywork parts on that stage when there are many more stages to come. It could affect the ca balance, the aerodynamic, whatever. It will be a fine line between going fast enough but not too fast.
P-LL:
Yeah, like Thierry said, hoping that nothing happens in this one, because after that you have some very important stages. So very tricky, at the end of stage and it can be very difficult. With the rain we saw that the gravel can be very, very slippery at the end of the recce, so it’s a very demanding stage.