Present:
1st – Sébastien Loeb, Citroën Total World Rally Team
1st – Daniel Elena, Citroën Total World Rally Team
2nd – Mikko Hirvonen, Citroën Total World Rally Team
2nd – Jarmo Lehtinen, Citroën Total World Rally Team
3rd – Mads Østberg, Adapta World Rally Team
3rd – Jonas Andersson, Adapta World Rally Team
Yves Matton, Team Principal, Citroën Total World Rally Team
Q: Seventy WRC wins now Sébastien and seven Rally Argentina victories in a row, it’s pretty impressive. How are you feeling after the event?
SL: For sure I feel very happy after the event. It’s a great victory for the team after what happened in Portugal, when we scored zero points. It was important to react, we’ve done really well with Mikko; we’ve done a very good rally, first and second. I feel really happy and here in Argentina it’s an exciting rally. There are very nice stages and a very good atmosphere. It was a very long rally and to be the first and the second is really great.
Q: Let’s talk about the event itself and let’s look back to Friday morning. We saw some mistakes from you which is unusual, three spins in the morning. Why did that happen? What was going on out there?
SL: I don’t know exactly, we tried a new set-up here, we changed a little bit the set-up and the car didn’t reacted exactly the way I wanted in some conditions and I was surprised. It was just a little mistake, just some little spins that happened, one different, I hit a stone, but for sure I normally never do three spins in two stages so we had to change some things in the settings and after that the confidence was back again.
Q: What kind of changes did you make to the set-up then?
SL: A bit in the diff, a bit in the balance of the car, and I was feeling better after.
Q: So you had a good battle with your team-mate Mikko Hirvonen and you were putting quite a lot of pressure on yourselves on that Saturday morning. Was that why team orders came into play Saturday afternoon?
SL: Yeah, we really pushed on Saturday morning, for sure we knew also what was the situation, that the team orders would arrive soon. We both were trying to be ahead and it was like that.
Q: How did you find conditions out there on the stages this weekend, we’ve got a totally different day to the one we had on Friday. Throughout the weekend, how did you find the conditions on the stages?
SL: Much better than the prediction was, because we expected fog and rain and maybe snow and finally today it is sunny so it was not so bad.
Q: How are you feeling about the Drivers’ Championship looking forward to Greece?
SL: I feel okay. After what we did in Portugal, it’s not bad to be in this situation now. I feel okay, but still Mikko and Petter are not so far behind. Anything can happen, and there’s a long way to go.
MO:How about me?
SL: And you too! You never know what can happen in the future. Maybe Mads…
Q: Daniel, congratulations, seventy WRC victories is an impressive total, all your totals are very impressive. How did you find this weekend in Argentina?
DE: Long! Very long. Lots of pages of pace notes. Three books completed. It was a nice race, a lot of changes of conditions. Very difficult though and too early on the Thursday and for me, I don’t agree to do super special stages at night. Okay, it’s important but you have to go to the stages and then back to the Service Park, from the Service Park to the stages and so on. For us it was two hours more every night to take sleep but, just that, too long.
Q: What was the most difficult aspect of the weekend apart from the length of the rally?
DE: The most difficult thing was to keep the concentration because of the long road sections and you have a lot of junctions and in Córdoba there is traffic, you have to be always 100 per cent concentrated because it’s difficult, but at the end it’s good.
Q: Second position overall Mikko. Two Power Stage points as well to you, how are you feeling about your weekend in Argentina?
MH: I think it was all really good, you know we get a great pace on Friday and Saturday morning and then after that we want to control our pace like we were supposed to. I think I made a step forward with the car and with my confidence in the car, so that was really good for the future.
Q: How difficult was it to control your pace when team orders came in, because we could see it was still very close between you both on the stages; How difficult was it to maintain position?
MH: I would say I’ve done it so many times, it’s not difficult at all.
Q: It didn’t seem as if you had any problems out there at all during this weekend, was that the case?
MH: Yeah, it was. You know, I have to say, the car was absolutely perfect during the whole weekend and as we can see from the results, this was a very very long rally, and we got the first and second places so there is no question we are just the best team out there at the moment. A very good job after Portugal for the whole team.
Q: Tell me about the 65 kilometre stage you had this morning; everyone is talking about it and even though the drivers said that probably the most difficult stage was on Friday, how did you find the 65 kilometre stage today?
MH: It was okay. You know it was so fast in places that it really doesn’t feel like 65 kilometres, it’s maybe 20 kilometres you go almost flat out and it was so fast that it is like it’s almost 30 kilometres or something like that. Okay, in the recce it was a little bit too fast in places, but when you go in the rally car with the proper pace, everything was absolutely fantastic.
Q: Was it frustrating not to be able to battle for a win when the times between you were so close?
MH: Yeah, maybe a bit, you always like to fight, but then again you have to think about the bigger picture. Like I said, I think Portugal was the first rally for a long long time where Citroën got no points. For sure I understand the team point of view as well, we need to get the maximum points for the team which we did, so that’s important and I am okay, I still feel good, like I said.
Q: Talk to me about the weekend from a co-driving perspective Jarmo, what did you find most difficult?
JL: During the recce the fog made it really really difficult. Saturday’s 40 kilometre stage we did it half way in the fog and it’s not so easy to make pace notes, and then seeing the same area in the clear daylight, that is not fantastic. But otherwise for me the long stage was enjoyable but the long road sections make the thing really really difficult. Like Friday, for example, you have two stages, then a long road section, then a service, then again a road section, and then a 20 kilometre stage, and then you concentrate again and it’s like a roller coaster. It’s really demanding and you are so tired at the end of the day, you can’t believe this and this is truly demanding.
Q: Were Mina Clavero and El Condor very rough when you went there for the second time?
JL: No, El Condor is okay. It’s much more a hard base but Mina Clavero is so sandy and soft, and then the second time you find so many rocks you haven’t seen before it’s difficult.
Q: Third position Mads. We were expecting Dani Sordo to be at the press conference, but unfortunately for him he retired on the final stage of the event. You had a very strong, solid event though. Now you must be delighted to walk away with third position.
MO: Yeah, of course I’m happy with the event we have done, but I’m also very sorry for Dani of course. It’s not very great for me to end up in that position in Portugal, where Mikko gets excluded when he got the first place. And now Dani had problems with the car and we go up to the podium. Still I think we have done what we came here to do. We decided before the event to get through the event and get as much experience as possible, without any fighting. Since Friday, I think it was just okay for us to go through the stages, correct the pace notes and prepare for next year. I’m quite happy with that.
Q: There was a lot of time in front and behind you. I guess it must have been frustrating. Was it difficult to keep concentration?
MO: Saturday was quite okay. The stages were very enjoyable, whereas today I think it was harder. Of course it’s very nice to see all the spectators on the last two stages. The long one was not so enjoyable even though the stage was not too bad, it was just not as fun as yesterday. I could just slow down when I wanted to and make sure we’d get to the end. So, no big challenge.
Q: It’s your second time in Argentina. How would you rate your performance here in terms of pace?
MO: I think it was okay. I mean, we managed to push a little bit on Friday. I was quite happy with the times we got, we were pushing hard. Then we went off the road and we didn’t get to push anymore because Sordo was already too far in front of us. So, basically, from then on I was not too happy with the pace but it was not too bad either. I think on Friday, when we pushed, we had some okay times. I think it’ll be a bit easier when we come back next year.
Q: You started your WRC campaign in Sweden. You’ve got three podiums already out of four events. Your season’s going well so far.
MO: Yes. It’s going quite well, actually. I’m very pleased with the season so far, even if some results were due to things that happened with someone else. But I think we cannot do anything about that, we can only focus on ourselves and I think we’ve done exactly what we wanted to do so far this year. I’m very pleased with our overall performance.
Q: Jonas, congratulations on your position. Same question that I did to Jarmo and Daniel: What did you find the most difficult aspects this year, what do you think were the best parts of Rally Argentina?
JA: It’s very similar to what the others said: long road sections, long days overall but of course it’s always nice to be in Argentina. It’s fantastic with all the spectators. From my point of view, it could be a bit shorter. I really enjoyed the long stage. Just keep rallies a bit shorter.
Q: Jonas, talk to me about the stages. What stage stood out for you this weekend? Which was the most difficult?
JA: The most difficult stage was maybe Mina Clavero the second time, because it’s very rough and there are rocks everywhere. Survival stages like that, I think it should be driven once.
Q: What did you guys think when you heard the news that Dani Sordo had retired on that final stage? What was the feeling for you guys in the car?
JA: We spoke with Dani before the Power Stage and he had the problem. We were hoping that he could fix the car. We felt really sorry for him.
Q: Portugal a couple of weeks ago, no points on the board. Argentina a few weeks later, maximum points for the same team. Does this make up for the disappointment in Portugal Yves?
YM: Yes, I hope, we’ll see tonight. For the moment, for sure yes.
Q: Talk to me about yesterday because we saw Sébastien and Mikko fighting on the stages yesterday morning. What were you thinking back then? Did you think, right, no more fighting, team orders are coming now, rather than a bit later on?
YM: For sure. After Portugal and no points, I had to make a decision like that. They were fighting in the morning. I think the speed was very high and we were speaking at midday together and we said, if we’re going like this, we’re not going to make it through without making mistakes. Then sometimes I take these decisions, some can be not happy with that but it’s very important for us to aim at both Championships and I know what we have to do.
Q: We saw you made that decision yesterday. Other decisions had to be made this weekend with regards to the tyre choice, of course, with the varying kind of conditions we had. How difficult was that as a team to work out? What were the conditions going to be and would you use your allocation of soft-compound tyres?
YM: I said at some point that we are very happy to have the choice [of tyres]. After we can say a lot about the number of tyres or something like that, but to have choice is very important. And we saw this weekend it’s not the first time, we saw also in Portugal, it’s very important to have these joker tyres. Also I think it makes some stories, and it’s very important for the World Rally Championship to be able to make stories.
FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
1st – Benito Guerra
1st – Borja Rozada
Q: We saw a win a few weeks ago in Rally Mexico, your first win in the PWRC, now followed by a victory in Argentina. How does it feel?
BG: It’s my second race of the year and my second victory. It’s very good for us and very good for the goal we have that we want to be production champions. This is perfect. Rally Argentina was very tough for us. It is not the perfect rally for Group N cars. We were taking care of the car all day since Friday and Saturday and today we were waiting for the other cars which were a little bit with problems and we pushed a little bit harder only to get advantage, and now we are in the first place. It’s very, very good. We have a victory of more than four minutes. This is perfect. The car was great. The Ralliart Italy Team made fantastic work.
Q: You said you had a strategy and that was to look after the car, to save it and it’s paid off, you’ve won the rally. How much were you not on the pace? What per cent would you say you were driving during the weekend to look after the car?
BG: I think we were driving nearly 70 per cent. We were using the hard compound tyres on Friday while the other drivers were using the soft ones; we were reserving the soft compound tyres for Sunday because we were waiting for a little bit of snow in El Cóndor and the other stages. That was not the case. On the long stage it was very muddy and we had to keep the car on the road, and with the soft tyres it was better than with the hard tyres. It was really nice, we were driving nearly 70 per cent in some stages and a little bit more in others, but all the time taking care of the car and avoiding big stones, and the big rocks and ditches that we have here in Rally Argentina.
Q: Talk to me about the length of the rally, it’s just over 500 kilometres in length. What did you think of the route?
BG: I think it’s very long, it’s been the longest rally I have ever raced and this rally was okay to check out our fitness inside the car. The weather was very good for us, not so hot in the car. Now the 66 kilometre stage, I thought it was a very long stage but it was the same time in the other stages. It was very fast at the beginning and at the end. So we didn’t notice it was a very long stage. So I think these stages are very psychological, you have to attack when you pass the 40 or 45 kilometre of the stage.
Q: Did you have any moments or problems out there this weekend?
BG: Fortunately everything was fine with the car, we were finding a little bit of problems with the brakes and we had to change the brakes three times in the rally. It’s very irregular and when you brake very hard it goes like vibrating. It was the only issue we had in the rally.
Q: The lead in the PWRC, this is it the best start of the season for you. Are you going to build on this now?
BG: This is the best beginning of the season. I think that’s the way you fight for the Championship. If you could fight, if you could go faster, if you have to reserve your car, you have to reserve your car. You have to try to get all the points you can from each event. We have the maximum points at this moment; I have only raced two rallies, and this is two victories. Now we have to think about the next rally. Greece, I think it’s going to be as tough as this one. I don’t know the strategy because this is my first time in the Rally of Greece. You should know that we are going to fight for the win in Greece.
Q: Congratulations for you, more points, you are in the lead in the PWRC. How do you feel the weekend went from the co-driver’s perspective?
BR: Sometimes it’s quite hard because during the stages we were quite slow, but our plan was to save the car as much as possible. We had to keep the patience during the three days, our mates had some problems. We just waited.
Q: You had a very different point of view from Nicolás [Fuchs]. He was pretty much flat out, you were very different. You got away with the win. So was it the best strategy?
BR: I think Nicolás has bad luck, he had some problems. I think his rhythm was too high for this rally. Sometimes you have to be a little bit clever and try to put the car in the Parc Fermé at the end of the rally.
Q: What would you say the biggest challenge of the weekend was, Borja?
BR: You always want to run much faster, but sometimes you will break the car, so that is the big challenge for us.
Q: Is the confidence running high for the rest of the season with two wins already?
BR: It’s the best way to start the season and we will try to do the same for the whole year.
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