As after every weekend this year, the Frenchman came back with us on his race and more generally on his season. At the end of the interview, we also discussed recent WRC news.
New podium for you, your first on asphalt, a good way to end your season even if your race was rather irregular.
“The pace improved steadily over the weekend, as it has often done this season. We must not neglect this podium because we had a problem on asphalt in 2022.
We must also remember the context for Japan. This was the rally to come full circle. Last year I only did 10 km and we said hello to the river and to Dani (Sordo). It seems typical of Japan with Tänak and Kovalainen doing the same this year! We had rain the day before departure, and the conditions were not easy on the first day.
From the shakedown, I felt that the car was a little inside with a lot of understeer. After that, we improved the car a lot and we made the scratch in the first special with the help of the neon lights under the car (laughs)!
For the next morning, we changed a lot of things on the setup to adapt to the slippery conditions. We still had understeer and some brake problems. Nothing was going well and we picked up a second per kilometer compared to the best.
After that, we gradually changed things and things were always going in the right direction. From Saturday morning onwards, the settings were perfect and we barely touched the car’s configuration until the finish. It was nice to fight with Taka and Seb who were gradually recovering after their puncture.”
You ultimately had a lot of factors that prevented you from being more in contact with the best.
“That’s it. Unfortunately, we are still paying for our lack of preparation and we struggled on the first day, as is too often this year on many rallies. With this lack of testing, we sacrificed Friday again to do almost a day of testing.
On this rally, I also had a significant handicap in experience. The other drivers had already driven in the last two years and I discovered many special stages. And even though my grades were very good, I obviously had difficulty being close to them during the first passes.
In Central Europe, we had some problems with the shock absorbers, and so we decided to put new shock absorbers tested for testing a few months before. We didn’t have much to lose by doing this. I didn’t have the right feeling straight away and I had to completely revise the setup. In the end, it’s super positive.”
You were able to witness the fight for the two world champion titles. How did you experience this?
“It was great to follow the two championships like that, it was new for me to experience it from the inside. Plus, we had a role to play and it was super interesting to follow. It was magical to see the two teams together at the Power Stage. For my part, I didn’t want to interfere too much in the last special. We did not improve our time on the second pass (+2s), unlike the others, because I preferred to let them decide between themselves and the best would simply win.”
A few words perhaps about Thierry Neuville’s title?
“Congratulations to him of course. He made only one mistake this year in Sardinia, it’s remarkable. He had a very good season. It took 13 seasons to get there. He never gave up and that shows a great mentality, and also the difficulty of winning a title. It’s also the first drivers’ title for Hyundai, and it’s good for the sport. It wasn’t easy this year with the partial drivers, and despite that, they scored big points in every round.”
Your 2024 season is therefore over with a 5th place in the drivers’ championship and notably 5 podiums. What is your assessment?
“I am very happy with my season. We made 5 podiums with 2 others which seemed very playable without our mechanical problems (Sardinia and Chile with alternator problems). We managed to perform well on all types of terrain, with podium finishes on each surface.
We practically played spoilsport on all the rallies of the year. Even when we were in a bit of difficulty, we were able to bring home big points like in Kenya by playing tactics.
Some are talking about a surprising progression between 2022 and 2024, but following our 2023 season in WRC2, it is quite logical in the end. Facing the Skoda and Citroën, we were able to show our speed by also being reliable with the Ford. In 2022, the speed was there, but we couldn’t maintain it over an entire weekend.”
You have had quite a few problems this year with your Ford, which rallies have you been spared?
“The Monte-Carlo, except the shakedown. Otherwise Kenya, we knew we could be in difficulty, so we held on. And then all the less stressful rallies of the year like Poland, Latvia and Finland. For the rest, we had a lot of anti-roll bar breakages and alternator problems.”
While waiting for your news for 2025, you will be riding at Monza next week. What is the program?
“First of all, I won’t be at Toyota, I wasn’t really interested in having a partial program. There are two manufacturers left with a full schedule.
In the meantime, I will be behind the wheel of the Ford Puma Rally1 at Monza next week. Pirelli asked the team, as well as me, to come to mark the end of the collaboration between them and the WRC. I am not going to complete the full rally, or even the reconnaissance. I’ll just take a few passengers with me. From what I understand, there will be a Rally1 car in each team.”
In 2025, the promoter and the FIA decided to eliminate hybridization on Rally1s. What is your opinion on this?
“I find it really a shame not to go through this approval period with the hybrid, that is to say until the end of 2026. At the beginning, we had to work a lot to implement this new regulation. At the start of the 2025 season, the hybrid should be removed, the manufacturers did not agree, and ultimately, we are going to remove it, it’s rather difficult to follow! For spectators, it won’t change much with similar noises.
In terms of speed, it will be more or less the same, it will probably depend on the terrain. With 80 kg, the car will be less clumsy. Weight is always the enemy in this sport, 80 kg is the weight of 4 spare wheels, it’s really huge. The flange will deprive us of around 20/30 hp. The total loss with the absence of hybrid will therefore be around 120/130 hp. Removing weight is cool, lowering the power is less fun! For the tires, we will all have the same ones, so there aren’t too many questions on that at the moment.
To prepare for 2025 and these changes, it would obviously be ideal to do a preparation rally before Monte-Carlo, in addition to testing for this event.
Does M-Sport have a head start on the competition thanks to Sesks’ two participations without a hybrid?
“Apart from removing some hoses, I don’t really think so. Sesks had the same weight on his car as us and the ballast was located in the same place. Hyundai has driven without a hybrid several times, but normally not with the new flange.”
Before Japan, rumors about the return of qualifying circulated. What do you know?
“It is in discussions between the drivers, the teams and the FIA. I see a lot of negative points and also some positives. Negative firstly because the current system makes it possible to maintain suspense for a very long time in the championship. With qualifying, the risk is to have a championship already finished with several rallies remaining, and that would be the worst thing that could happen to this discipline. This year’s championship was rather well done with two asphalt events to end the season, which was an advantage for the leaders. Maybe if there had been two gravel rallies to finish, my speech would be different. We’ll see next year with Saudi Arabia.
On the plus side, it would make Thursday a lot more interesting than the current shakedown. That’s good, but in other motor sports like F1, Friday practice isn’t necessarily very interesting either. As a driver, it would obviously be nice to fight for a qualification. But if it allows a driver to be crowned several months before the end of the season, it’s not good.”
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