Friday September 9

Meet the team principals

Richard Millener (M-Sport Ford)
Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota Gazoo Racing)
Julien Moncet (Hyundai Motorsport)

Q:

It’s an M-Sport-Ford one-two with Sébastien Loeb and Pierre-Loui Loubet. How does that feel?

RM:

It’s an incredible day. We’ve bene through some fairly tough weeks, but we all knew what we were capable of – know how good the team and the car and the drivers are. There’s a long way to go, it’s a long rally still. But it’s been a great day.

Q:

Dream day for Pierre-Louis Loubet, leading the rally and winning stages…

RM:

We were joking about it in the office. We could see the cars were getting quicker and we thought he could be on for a stage win. Chris Williams (technical director) said: “He could win the stage and lead the rally here…”

We were a bit dismissive and said no chance, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But he did it! He’s a great guy and congratulations to him he’s shown his potential for the future.

Q:

Was it ever in doubt that Séb would deliver?

RM:

He’s an incredible guy everybody knows that. Speaking to him after the stage where he dropped the time, he said he hadn’t enjoyed the conditions. He said he had to go 100% and take the risks, otherwise it didn’t feel right. He did that. This is great for everybody, but like I said, it’s a long way to go. 

Q:

Jari-Matti, this has been a tough day – but you do have Esapekka Lappi on the podium in third place…

J-ML:

First I want to say it’s nice to be here in Greece where I have a lot of fans, so thank you. We are still in touch with the fight for the win, EP did a good job he calibrated his speed and he won a stage, I think he has everything he needs to fight for the victory. Sébastien Loeb is strong and the new guy also! Loubet is there as well, but everything is still possible.

Q:

It was tough for Kalle opening the road?

J-ML:

Opening the road is tough when you know that you’re going to be doing that sometimes you can lose motivation to do the best performance when you know you can’t be on the podium. It’s tough, even with Elfyn in third [on the road] we have suffered a lot with the sweeping.

Q:

Tough day tomorrow…

J-ML:

Today was the roughest of the rally, we have seen Breen had one puncture. But the competition is getting tighter and the fight for positions will be tough tomorrow. You have to take some risks if you want to win, I’m sure we’ll see some drama here tomorrow.

Q:

It’s not going to be easy, but there’s still a chance we could see Kalle crowned world champion here?

J-ML

OK, he’s still there. We have to see how Ott is doing. The rally is not over until the last meter of the last stage.

Q:

Julien, tell us about Ott?

JM:

Firstly, I am very happy to see Rich in the middle seat they deserve it – we have been in this position at the start of the season, so I know how it feels and I am happy for him. It’s also good for the competition and I’m very happy to see so many fans in the sevrice park.

The target today was to bring the three cars to the finish. We manage that and achieve our target. We have a small hybrid issue with Ott’s car, but it’s good to see all Rally1 cars making it through. For Ott, it’s difficult to say, apart from the hybrid, he was second only to Kalle on the road, so the dust and the cleaning were there for him. He can be pretty satisfied with his performance. The start order changes tomorrow and it might change a lot…

Q:

Plan for tomorrow?

JM:

To win! For sure we know coming to Greece would be a different story. We have to be satisfied today, it was a working day, nothing bad, but nothing really good. But there is a long way to go. Thierry did a strong performance and not forgetting Dani Sordo, he is lacking bit of competition time, but he’s still in the game.

Drivers

Sébastien Loeb (M-Sport Ford)

Pierre-Louis Loubet (M-Sport Ford)

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota Gazoo Racing)

Q:

Great day today, Séb…

SL:

It has been a good day, really a good day. In the morning the three first fastest times, but then in the next one I made a mistake and lost some confidence. It was tricky narrow and I wasn’t really comfortable, but the last one was another wide one – this was a stage I did in the past. So I say to myself: “OK, I need to change my state of mind and be more aggressive…” Finally it worked and we took the lead again. I am very happy.

Q:

You have another Frenchman close behind – great day for Pierre-Louis?

SL:

For sure, but we have really a good battle with EP also. It was really tight, even the other drivers who are not here on the podium are pushing hard. We didn’t expect to have Pierre-Louis leading the rally, it’s really impressive. He found an incredible feeling – that’s really good for him

Q:

It’s good for you to come back here, 10 years on from the last time and be with all these fans?

SL:

It’s amazing to be here again. Yesterday night in the stadium, it was just amazing. There were a lot of supporters and a lot of people that enjoy motorsport and that’s really nice to see that. They support us, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Q:

Strategy for tomorrow?

SL:

I think it will be difficult for sure. We are leading only with one second and there are two long days and three new stages I think for me tomorrow. Long day tomorrow. It will not be easy, but I will try to find the rhythm again and fight for it – but I think we are five drivers really close and the others behind are not so far.

Q:

Pierre-Louis, huge congratulations on today…

P-LL:

We knew some worse days! It was very enjoyable today, the car felt very well. In the completely new stages we made very good notes and we were able to push and I’m very happy with the two best times. We were very close in Portugal and Sardinia before, so it’s good to do this. 

Q:

How does it feel to sit next to your hero, second place to Séb Loeb?

P-LL

It’s a bit strange I was watching him, aged three or four with my father. He’s a bit older than me – it’s fantastic. He’s a legend to compete against him is fantastic.

Q:

Plan for rest of rally?

P-LL:

I will try to do my best and focus on my side. I don’t look around I just drive my best. It’s possible to be fast and better, I think.

Q:

Esapekka, how was your day?

EL:

I think we started a bit slowly in the morning and we’ve been improving step-by-step from there. The last stage wasn’t the best, but it’s been very consistent. We tried to use the advantage of the road position – like all of us here. 

Q:

Starting slowly, have you tried some coffee?

EL:

I actually stopped doing that.

Q:

Maybe that’s where you’ve gone wrong…

EL:

Maybe that’s something I need to consider…

Q:

Long day tomorrow?

It’s going to be a big challenge and, like we saw today, Séb has done it 40 years ago (!) and the other guys last year – so it’s not easy to match the others. It will be tough when the start positions are more equal, but we will try our best.

Q:

And what about the atmosphere in the stadium last night?

EL:

I was so nervous with the legend on the legendary stadium. To be fair I will remember the moment  -not the one where I hit the bank! The moment in the stadium with the people and driving against him (Loeb). It was one of the coolest things I have done in rallying.

 For high quality photos click here