Rally Finland Winner's Conference
Present:1st – Kris Meeke, Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team1st – Paul Nagle, Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team2nd – Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Motorsport2nd – Miikka Anttila, Volkswagen Motorsport3rd – Craig Breen, Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team3rd – Scott Martin, Abu Dhabi Total World Rally TeamYves Matton, Citroën Racing
Q:Kris, this must rank as the most incredible result of your rally career! Winning Rally Finland, what does that mean to you and to be the first Briton to do it?KM:It will take a few days and weeks for it to properly sink in, but you almost dream that someday you could do something special in the World Rally Championship. In terms of rally wins I don’t know how you can get much better than this because, yeah, the ultimate goal is obviously to try and be World Rally Champion but like I said, in terms of rally wins and to do it this way, to really make a difference on the most famous stage in the World Championship... Yeah, I think yesterday morning was… I didn’t realise what I’d really done until I’d seen the timing boards or I’d seen Colin Clark jumping at the finish line before I’d even seen the board. It was special and that was the point I knew the rally was in my hands and I could control it. Even heading to the road section from Ouninpohja yesterday morning, I was confident in my speed but not confident that I could do enough to keep Jari-Matti at bay, because last year when I did Ouninpohja when it was in the opposite direction I did the perfect stage – I thought I did nearly the perfect stage – and Jari took 6.8 seconds on me. So yeah, that motivated me on to say ‘well, I’m not going to let him do that again’. To be honest when I came over the finish line I knew it was a good stage, I thought if Jari beats me I’ll be disappointed, but I didn’t expect the margin to be that much. It’s pretty special.
Q:With the exception of the opening super special stage, you have led from start to finish. A truly dominant performance; it just clicked all weekend.KM:Yeah, from Mökkiperä, the first stage on Friday morning. Again, it’s a stage we’ve done a few times in that direction and I enjoy it, it’s a stage I know quite well so like I said in the pre-event press conference, in Finland you have to be on it from the first knee-jerk and at the first corner you have to be committed. The first corner had these posts on the inside; there’s a doubt in your mind what the line is for it because you’re so used to being able to take the cut and I committed to it and away we went. I have to say the car worked beautifully this weekend. When it’s just like that, you have to enjoy the moment and do the times and everything came together over the weekend.
Q:You mentioned the car, a faultless performance from you and the DS3 WRC as well; has the car had some development work since last year or during this season?KM:The biggest complement I’ve had this weekend is probably someone’s comment that there’s some 2017 parts on the DS3. To be honest we had a pre-event test on Sunday where we done 150 kilometres and it’s identical spec to last year. We tried different things on the test and we arrived back at the same thing. The rally was different this year. I had another year under my belt, we’ve seen in Monte this year and Sweden and Portugal that my speed was good, my confidence was high and when you come to a rally where confidence is key, I think that made the difference. But the car’s been exceptional. We know the DS3 worked very well here, especially on the wide roads. That gave me the confidence and I was able to do the times. For sure we can take information from this to continue to develop the new car because we know what works in Finland and we know where we have to improve for other rallies, but the DS3 is still a very good rally car.
Q:Paul, this is a tough challenge for co-drivers too but you and Kris have just gelled this weekend; how has it been on your side of the car?PN:It’s been pretty lively in places all weekend but as Kris said, yesterday morning on Ouninpohja was something that will probably go down as the greatest stage of our rally careers. I actually watched it in bed last night and after six or seven seconds I switched off. I was kind of half scared, I thought I wouldn’t sleep. It’s been a fantastic weekend. I think we started out on the right foot and all weekend there was no looking back. Yesterday evening, like we did in Portugal, we consolidated our position and today was a good steady Sunday drive through the stages with no big dramas.
Q:A great rally for you Jari-Matti, but it just seemed impossible to match Kris’ pace. How are you feeling at the end of your home rally?J-ML:Overall of course I’m a bit disappointed. I’ve won this rally the last two years but I couldn’t do it this year. Somehow I didn’t have the same fighting spirit that I have had in the last two years. In the beginning on Friday I had it but then I made a mistake quite early on and I lost 15 seconds. I tried and tried but then I think things changed on Friday evening when Sébastien Ogier went off. It put me in a bit of a different position. After that it was difficult to find that last bit for the driving, I was maybe a bit too much on the safe side. Kris and Paul they did a superb drive, they really, really deserve it.
Q:You said Sebastien went off and things changed. The team said you’ve basically got to get to the finish, get the second place and as many points as possible?J-ML:Yes, because the situation is that Citroën is not committed in the World Rally Championship and in that situation, when I climbed up to second position I was actually getting the first manufacturer points and the team really needs these points. Also, in the drivers’ championship I was calculating that now we can also catch Ogier so I can’t afford to do a mistake. Having this in my head was maybe making me a little bit too much on the safe side on Saturday and then also on Sunday. On Saturday morning after the first time on Ouninpohja we realised there was no chance anymore to catch Kris.
Q:And what did you think of this year’s route; a tough new challenge?J-ML:It’s been a nice rally. I mean the stages are great, great stages. I think everybody has enjoyed it. It’s just the long days have been very, very long. Quite short nights between Thursday/Friday and Friday/Saturday. So it’s been quite hard but in a way otherwise it’s been a really, really good rally.
Q:And what of the fans Jari-Matti, tremendous support for all the drivers as usual?J-ML:What I still admire here is the Finnish fans, how supportive they are. They can still enjoy the rally. Even me and Miikka in the second position still we have got a lot of support. I think Finnish fans are really nice in this way that they are still supportive for who is the winner. The Finns can also show respect for other drivers than Finns.
Q:Miikka, how was the event for you with so many new stages? It’s a big job and this is probably one of the toughest events on the calendar too.MA:Yeah, the Friday was almost a repeat of last year’s Saturday but then the new stages - I call them new stages because we need to write new notes – Ouninpohja in this direction and also Päijälä in this direction. It is good fun and challenging. Now when I think back, I would say Jari-Matti and myself, we have done almost all the known rally stages in all directions, so now we have a good collection of pace notes at home. I would say that the rally itself, it was very well organised once again, like all the traffic controls and everything. The only point, which Jari-Matti mentioned, was that there was not enough time to prepare yourself for the next days on Thursday and Friday. Those nights, they were a bit too short for this kind of sport.
Q:Craig, this is a sensational result for you; try and sum up what it means to you?CB:I can’t. I can’t. I never envisaged this being a reality so soon. Especially here, probably, or it is, the most difficult rally on the calendar. This was something that, I wouldn’t say it was planned, but it was hoped for a long way down the line. For it to happen so early, for it to happen so calmly and naturally, I’m absolutely ecstatic about it. To get up on the podium with these two guys, I was watching these guys on the TV only a couple of years ago. It was my dream some day to do it but to do it this early, it’s just unbelievable.
Q:A first stage win at WRC level, and your first WRC podium; what’s it like to do it in Finland of all places?CB:It sounds bizarre even when you say it. Even coming back into the road section, coming to the end of the stage, seeing all the Irish flags, you feel like the third person. You really do feel that this isn’t happening, it can’t be for real. You set goals but it’s amazing how the goalposts change as the weekend goes on and even when we came to the first run on the shakedown, we came to the end and I said ‘jeez, that was terrible, that was absolutely shocking’ and then ‘oh, we’re not too far away’ and next one ‘oh, we’re getting a little bit closer’. It just went like that and it just felt so natural to push when I needed to, especially this afternoon. It’s been the most enjoyable, fantastic weekend of rallying I’ve ever had.
Q:After today, what’s next on the bucket list?CB:Again, the goalposts change. Of course the next goal after a podium is a win. How realistic is that? I don’t know. Of course here we had a bit of an advantage on the first couple of days with our road position which we used to quite good effect, but even on the second pass on some stages we still showed some good speed. So I have to take that confidence into the next events and see what we can do. Of course, we’ve ticked this one, the next one is to win a rally, but let’s learn to walk before we can run.
Q:Scott, it’s taken you quite a few rallies to get yourself on the WRC podium; you must be equally delighted and proud of your achievement with Craig?SM:You’re making me sound old now! Yes, it beats my best result ever in the World Championship. And like Craig said, to be on the podium with these guys is just an amazing feeling. I think it’s the step in the direction we both want to go, and we just want it even more now, and we know what’s available, what’s possible, so hopefully we can continue to go in the right direction.
Q:Yves, what a fantastic result for the DS3 WRC and your two crews, did you ever think you could take a one-three on Rally Finland?YM:No, for sure, before the start of the rally, never. We knew that Kris has done very well in the past here and that his potential was very high. We know that Craig had also done a very good rally in Poland and I was confident he could be fast here in Finland, but to be fast and efficient is quite a bit more difficult. He showed that he was able to do it this weekend and it was a perfect weekend for us. For sure our car is not the newest one and all the team and engineers, with only one testing day for the rally, did a really, really good job.
Q:We know Kris is in the team’s line up for 2017, but what does the future hold for Craig? Has this result strengthened his chances for next year?YM:We will have to think hard about this. He showed me in only three rallies that his potential is really high. But he still has some rallies to do this year and okay we start the time to think about drivers for next year, but I think it’s more between me and our drivers.
FIA WRC 2 CHAMPIONSHIP
Present:1st - Esapekka Lappi, Škoda Motorsport1st - Janne Ferm, Škoda Motorsport
Q:Esapekka, congratulations. A great run on your home event and a really consistent performance leading from start to finish. How was the event from your perspective?EL:You can guess that it was really good. The predication was that it will be a much tougher and bigger fight but actually there was no fight. I was a bit surprised on Friday that the guys couldn’t keep up the speed that we had. Then yesterday and today was all about controlling the race.
Q:Finland has probably had the strongest WRC 2 entry so far this season, why do you think it was so easy?EL:I don’t know. I cannot explain because as I told you I was surprised, but I guess when everything is a bit relaxed then you feel really confident all the time. In front of a home crowd somehow the feeling is just really, really nice all the time and then the times are coming by themself and you don’t need to push so much. It was clean driving but I wasn’t expecting to be that fast, if we for example compare Poland which was a really tight fight.
Q:This has moved you up the Championship leaderboard and when you consider the points-scoring rounds remaining for you and your rivals, how are you now feeling about your chances this season?EL:Quite bad. I think this other Finnish guy has quite a strong list of results at the moment. After Poland when we didn’t win the rally in the end I forgot the championship already because it’s not looking so good. Okay, now we have a victory, but it is not enough. I have not given up but I’m not thinking about it; I just go race-by-race and try to do as good results as we can.
Q:Janne, the win in the Autoglymrally a couple of weeks ago set you up well for Rally Finland, the confidence is obviously up now; what is it like co-driving in these high-speed stages?JF:Fun! This is the home soil so co-driving over here, yes, for the incomers it can be a little more challenging but if I go to Corsica I find it more challenging. Here you just squeeze yourself to the seat and enjoy the ride. And the back pain is still there on Wednesday after the rally!
Q:What is like also having the fans cheering you along?JF:That’s amazing, and like ‘EP’ pointed out in the podium ceremony, this year the fans were supporting us extremely well which was surprisingly good to see. The atmosphere during the weekend was phenomenal. That’s probably one of the reasons why we had the extra boost on Friday; it helped us a lot.
FIA JUNIOR WRC / WRC 3 CHAMPIONSHIP
Present:1st - Ole Christian Veiby, Printsport1st - Stig Rune Skjærmoen, Printsport
Q:Congratulations Ole Christian, a great rally for you; your second Junior WRC victory and your first win of this season. How are you feeling?OCV:It feels really really, really amazing. To win in Finland it’s quite special. My team Printsport, they’re based just 30 kilometres from here and all the guys wanted me to win this rally. It feels really, really special and it’s good to give something back to them, so it feels really great right now.
Q:You’ve had some problems in the first two rounds of the Championship but you’ve been strong from the outset and won nearly half of the stages. Any dramas at all?OCV:We had some problems in the first two rounds, but now we start to take some points on [Simone] Tempestini. I feel that this is now the time to take back the lead. Good way to start catching up some points. On this rally, no problems at all, the car was working perfectly and the team has done a great job. My co-driver had some small talking issues, his throat was not the best, but we managed quite well and had a really, really nice fight with Tempestini for the whole rally, so a very, very perfect rally.
Q:And now second in the Championship too; how are you feeling about the events ahead and your chances against leader Tempestini?OCV:Of course we had to win this rally to have a chance. We did what we could do. He also did a great rally, second place. Still we catch some points on him but now we have to hope for a good rally in Germany, then everything is possible. We never give up, now it’s time to come back.
Q:Stig Rune, what did you and Ole Christian do to prepare for this event that has seen it all go so well?SRS:We’ve done a lot of work, we’ve also done some rallies here in Finland for preparations. We did the Autoglymrally and got a good result there as well. We’re working hard all the time to get the best result.
