Tiphanie Isnard, how do you stay motivated when you only have one car left in the running for victory and it’s not in the lead?
Firstly, always remembering that this is our first Dakar. It’s a brand new car, the team is also new in its constitution even if we all have experience in rally raid. No manufacturer has won its first Dakar. We are happy to be on the rest day and to still be able to claim victory. We know that if we lost a second car (that of Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin. Editor’s note), it is not because of performance and we know the reasons. The performance is there, the reliability too since we did not stop because of an engine or mechanical problem. There are a lot of positives.
Isn’t it worrying that Nasser Al-Attiyah can only count on one car at his service (that of Cristina Gutiérrez), unlike Toyota?
We are of course in a system that is less serene. The luck factor diminishes in these conditions, but for all that, we are united and united. This is priceless.
Do you have any other comments to make on the FIA’s decision not to let Sébastien Loeb leave during the 4th stage?
The feedback is that we have been able to open discussions with the FIA and we can start to work on the substance, on how to approach this kind of subject and get it to improve without sacrificing safety. We were also able to open the subject around a table with Ford. The objective was to sit around a table, to work together to stop being so firm in decisions without being able to discuss or analyze factual and technical data. What happened is not in anyone’s interest, neither the promoters, nor the FIA, nor the manufacturers. We have technical developments to make, the FIA has regulatory developments to apply in order to be less firm and rapid on this type of decision without allowing us to provide technical proof that we are still able to perform in complete safety.
Can we assume that a car damaged in this way could return to the competition one or two days later, out of classification?
-I think she could even resume racing the next day, as long as we are given the opportunity to repair elements that have been deformed. Again, it wasn’t cracked or broken, just warped. There are many factors to take into account, the level of deformation must be documented so that everyone has latitude. It’s too strict at the moment: it’s distorted, so it’s a flaw. What does distorted mean? A lot, not a lot? All these little notions must be explored in depth. We all have the same desire not to take any risk for the health of our crews.
How to approach this second week of the Dakar?
The spirit of the Dakar is to go step by step, kilometer by kilometer. For everyone, the rest day was already a first objective. It is dangerous to set a goal based on twelve steps when the first five were already complicated.
Comments collected by Medhi Casaurang-Vergez, at the Dakar.
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