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MEET THE CREWS - SATURDAY 10/09

Saturday September 10
Meet the team principals

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


Q:

Julien, tell us about the drama out there today.

JM:

It was a lot of drama. I was quite satisfied with our results from yesterday and we came to today with a good road position and the chance of a good result, but definitely I was not expecting to be first, second and third. There was a lot of dramas today but somehow our strength has been our reliability, which has sometimes been a weakness in the past. We ourselves had some issues, but we managed to sort these out to take the actions to go through – and at the end of the day we are first, second and third. It’s very encouraging. I would like to stay on this chair tomorrow. Yesterday was an M-Sport day today is aHyundai day. I hope it will stay like that tomorrow.

Q:

If Ott is still second, will you have a tough choice tomorrow?

JM:

No, no there is no tough call. The main target is to secure the triple podium, this has never happened in the history of Hyundai Motorsport it would be a great achievement for the brand for the team, so they should be the number one target for tomorrow. The rest we will see.

Q:

Dani’s third but Elfyn is closing. Concerned about that?

JM:

As I say the one, two, three is a main target. There is still a fight on tomorrow, the gap is not big enough, not as much as I would like. We will push to avoid and to make the podium – it’s part of the game. Dani did a good day, he’s a very experienced driver, very reliable and he is able to support the team and support the two guys in front. The target for him is first to finish and we will be more than happy if he can finish third.

Q:

Jari-Matti, where do we start? What a day! Let’s start with Kalle. Tell us about his day?

J-ML:

As a driver I have experienced some very difficult days, but today was perhaps the most difficult day as a team principal. It wasn’t the best day in the office, unfortunately Kalle had some issues: there was a small mistake. He ran wide and hit a tree and the branches attached to the rear spoiler and pulled the whole tailgate out, at the same time the rear suspension was a little bit damaged and he lost the rear brake disc, so he lost the brakes. He fixed the brakes and managed to continue in the next stage the broken suspension. He got to service and we managed to fix the car with a great job from the team and thanks for the mechanics, but, of course, Kalle lost so much time he was out for a points.

Q:

Winning the championship will be a tough job on this event?

J-ML:

Yes, unfortunately he has now had two bad rallies in a row. As I said in Belgium, every champion has some difficult moments in a season – there will be some zeros and everybody will have at least one zero. Normally it’s two bad rallies [in a season], but what is not nice is that they came in a row. It would be nicer if they came one bad rally at the beginning of the season and one at the end. After this rally he still has the championship lead whatever the situation is. He doesn’t need to win the rallies by the end of the year, but he can’t score zeros after this one anymore.

Q:

And a fuel problem for Esapekka?

J-ML:

Yes. You saw Esapekka pulling this cable on the left side. This is like the FIA backup valve, just for emergency cases to make sure the fuel doesn’t come out in these situations. It wasn’t a problem, it was a fuel supply issue. On this car we don’t know where and why the engine was not getting fuel, but that was the reason he had to retire.

Q:

Elfyn is fourth and close to Dani. What’s the plan for him?

J-ML:

I know that Julien [Moncet] is having a very exciting situation – it’s very rare to have a one, two, three. Sordo is 10 seconds ahead of Elfyn… as we have had a bit difficult rally we need to fight for that podium. We would be very happy to see Elfyn on the podium, so we have to go out there and fight for it tomorrow.

Q:

Rich, dream day yesterday, changed quite early today?

RM:

Yeah, no dream day today unfortunately. Seb set an incredible time in the first one and that settled everybody and reassured us we were in for a great day. The first we knew about any issue was the reports from live TV. It turns out the alternator belt had come off and there was some damage to the alternator itself. And try as hard as he could to fix it – and he’s a very good mechanic – it just wasn’t possible. That put an end to the dream that was going on up until then. It’s incredibly sad for everybody here, it’s just a shame that we couldn’t deliver a good result for the team.

Q:

Will we see Séb tomorrow?

RM:

Unfortunately not.

Q:

Why?

RM:

There’s a short period of time between here and New Zealand, he would be opening the road and it would be risking the potential for more work for the team. He’s very much enjoyed the rally, but it’s difficult when you’re not fighting for a lead and it would be tough to come back for three short stages. So we made the decision to retire Séb.

Q:

But you still have Pierre-Loubet in the fight.

RM:

Yeah, Pierre has had an incident-packed day, like pretty much all of our drivers. Talking to his co-driver it seems [his puncture] was maybe self-inflicted, but it’s all part of the learning process. There was a small off while he was having some technical issues, which everybody’s been having today, but he still there. We woke up first and second and we’re going to bed fifth and sixth.

There’s going to be a fight at the front. For sure, Tänak will want to fight Thierry and Elfyn is pushing as well for Dani, so if anything does happen we can inherit a position – but, unfortunately, in terms of taking positions on pace our weekend is done.

Drivers

Thierry Neuviulle (Hyundai Motorsport)

Ott Tänak (Hyundai Motorsport)

Dani Sordo (Hyundai Motorsport)

Q:

Thierry, you’re in the lead. How are you feeling?

TN:

I am feeling a bit tired for sure. It was a hot and long day out there, like yesterday. I’m satisfied with the day, we had a good rhythm all day long and a comfortable drive to be honest. I feel good in the car and that’s the key thing on rallies like this, with challenging stages – and when the characteristic of the stage is constantly changing. And there was some dust and some heat, but if you are comfortable in the car then everything feels a bit more easy.

Q:

How worrying was the voltage issue in the car?

TN:

I mean, I am used to that kind of problem, it happened to me twice already this year. But it was a real problem at that time and when I saw the alarm, I was pretty sure the alternator belt was gone. But somehow it was not a big issue, more of a safety thing to keep everything working. Sure everything was hot and the car was suffering a bit, but all three of us were able to carry on.

Q:

Interesting position, you lead, but the driver behind you is fighting for the championship…

TN:

Me too, no?

Q:

You still in with a mathematical chance?

TN:

Yeah sure.

Q:

You told me in Ypres it was over…

TN:

No, I think for sure the championship is over, but Kalle has a very easy game until the end of the season. I don’t think anybody can make in big trouble for him. The rally is not over: tomorrow is a long day and anything can happen and it’s far too early to talk about such strategies.

Q:

So you’re not going to help him out then?

TN:

I didn’t say no, but I didn’t yes. That’s already a good start.

Q:

Room for negotiation, Ott?

OT:

Every negotiation with Thierry sounds very expensive!

Q:

Ott, brilliant time on the first stage, how do you feel about your day?

OT:

In the end I’m happy, like we can see the team has done an incredible job. Myself, I struggled a little bit this morning: we had a bit of an issue, but at lunchtime we managed to fix it and this afternoon was a good run again [setting] the same time as everybody else. Some of the other cars have had troubles putting them on the side of the road, but we’ve been able to keep going and now we’re in the top three, so fair play.

Q:

How worried about the issue this afternoon?

OT:

We knew quite soon that it was temperature-related and we were soon cooking in the car. It was pretty demanding. It was hot and the stages here are so slow, so inside the car it does get pretty warm. It’s been challenging and you can understand why the car is cooking.

Q:

Good to be back in Greece and to have so many fans out here supporting you guys?

OT:

Yeah, I mean again, fairplay from the organiser. The first day in the stadium made us feel a little bit like rockstars – it was great to have so many people in the same place. Other than that, the stages here, they are demanding, they are tough. I like that you can see a lot of people here and we have big support for the sport and it’s a rally that needs to belong to the calendar. This rally needs to be here every year, it’s an iconic event.

Q:

Dani, how do you feel?

DS:

Like everybody, really tired: it was really demanding in the car, really, really hot, but it was good. I lost a little bit of time in the last stage with Elfyn – I have an issue with the battery in the car and the tires. I didn’t know how much I could push on the last one. But it’s okay, tomorrow I will try to do my best to keep Elfyn back.

Q:

Julien wants a first one, two, three for Hyundai tomorrow…

DS:

Of course I will try to do my best, like always.

Q:

How tough was the long 33 kilometre stage?

DS:

The long stage was really demanding and really hot in the car. It was like it was never ending. Then sometimes we don’t have a lot of time between the stages. It was difficult.

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