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News and quotes from the ceremonial start in Prague

The Central European Rally is underway! Czech President Petr Pavel sent the world's best rally drivers on their way after the many visitors had enjoyed a packed programme of autograph sessions, interviews and more at Hradčany Castle. The first to cross the starting ramp were two WRC2 teams representing the host nations: The Czechs Filip Mares / Radovan Bucher (Toyota GR Yaris) and the reigning German rally champions Marijan Griebel / Tobias Braun (Skoda Fabia RS) were the first to start, and they were pleased about two things: that it is now starting on the one hand and that the difficult Czech tracks would not become a slide in the prevailing dry weather conditions. Here are the statements of selected drivers...


Cyril Abiteboul (FRA), Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Principal

“It certainly feels good (to lead the championship), it’s a rally that we like, it’s a rally that we won last year but things should never be taken for granted in general, in life, and probably more so in motorsport and even more so in rally. We know that things can change very, very quickly from one corner to the next and one stage to the next from one rally to the next so let’s keep on doing what we have been doing: be pragmatic, be focused be spot-on in terms of execution and let’s see what we can do. It feels good but it also feels that we can waste it very quickly so we need to stay extremely calm about what’s at stake. It’s a great opportunity to be bringing rally to different type of audience, to different nationalities, it’s also a reminder of this place and the history that took place in this area of the world. It’s great to be creating bonds through sport between cultures, between nations. I believe it is definitely a direction to take for rally. The one thing that we are not really fit for the exercise – we tend to be quite fat organisations, we have lots of people, it depends between which team but we have close to 100 people as far as we are concerned that are involved in a WRC event so moving 100 people between countries is a big challenge. Thinking ahead I think for the future of the WRC we need to be lighter so that addressing this type of change is easier than it is now.”

 

Jari Matti Latvala (FIN), Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team principal

“I would say the nice thing in the WRC Is the family spirit that we have. We can be here and discuss and joke and then when our drivers are competing they do it on the stage and that’s a nice feeling. For sure we want to fight. In Chile we managed to bounce back, we had two difficult events before that and now we try to keep it open and actually I hope for the championship that all the titles would only be secured at the last round of the season. For the people, for the sport and all the persons involved it is very exciting. If the championship is decided already three or four rounds before the end you ill always lose a bit of interest for it but now we even keep the interest on and it’s good for everybody. It’s good for the drivers, the spectators and for everybody watching it back home on TVs it’s great for everybody. For sure this rally is quite a challenge on the logistics but being a fan of rallying, and I have seen the faces of rallying over the last 20 years. It used to be like this 20 years ago – we went different places with the remote services. I know not necessarily everybody is in favour of the remote services but there is also a good side of it because you can bring some exciting stages for the drivers. You are more limited when you are always in the same place. And also you can have new fans and bring more opportunity for new fans. In that sense I am also in very much favour of these kinds of events although for sure it is for the organisers a challenge but they have managed to do it really well.”

 

Rich Millener (GBR), M-Sport Ford World Rally Team principal

“I’d love to be a bit more involved (in the title battle) than we are but it’s easier for me to watch because our strategy is very different: we just come to every rally to do the best we can. These two guys nave got some more pressure on the championships. I think Thierry’s in a very strong position, he’s had a very strong year and driven very well and I’m pretty sure he’s going to do what he needs to do, which will be fantastic to see, but this rally provides lots of opportunities and excitement. It’s a good opportunity for us again, we’ve had a good test coming here, so we’re looking forward to seeing ho the weekend pans out. Today and tomorrow’s a bit different for the crews, there will be a bit more pressure on them to get through with no problems so it’s going to be an interesting weekend. It definitely adds some complications but this is what people have said they want rally to be. A little bit more flexible and a little bit more opportunity to go to different places and see new crowds so we can’t allow the excuse of logistical issues or complications get in the way of what we want for the sport. It’s nice to see different parts of the country – different parts of different countries – and take the sport to three countries in three days is something we should be really proud of. I think it’s a great plan, a few things to tweak again before next year but well done to the organisers for such a difficult job in coordinating three completely different ASNs to get this championship round together so well done to them all.”

 

#11 Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid

“Overall at the moment I am still quite calm to be honest and somehow excited to kick off the rally. The waiting between the last rallies now always feels very long and I honestly want to go ahead as fast as possible and being back on Tarmac is always nice. I enjoy that surface and always feel comfortable so I’m pretty happy to be here. I think it’s a great event which is ahead of us in terms of characteristics, in terms of difficulties and overall the profile of the rally in three different countries makes it very exciting. We will see last year it was a very popular event, lots of spectators, so that’s what we are looking forward this weekend. It’s always great to have that kind of support, to see our Belgian supporters are behind us and cheering for us and somehow vibrating with us as well so that’s cool. For sure it won’t be an easy job, that’s why I try to stay focused throughout the weekend, have a bit of fun as well, that’s important, and don’t panic.”

 

#17 Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Vincent Landais (FRA), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“The WRC championship is the highest point in the sport that you can reach in the sport so of course it’s emotionally a little bit more difficult to handle. For my side there was actually quite a big lead (in the points) in my first year so it helped to be more relaxed. Thierry also has quite a decent lead now so I think it’s helped as well but still you have to finish the job: it’s never over until it’s over. So for sure I can remember this special time to live, you have to enjoy every second because it’s great for sure but sometimes it’s actually the ‘okay that’s it then… what’s next?’ On my side happy to be here in the nice weather.”

 

#21 Yohan Rossel (FRA) / Florian Barral (FRA), Citroën C3 Rally2

“Just to be safe has to be the beginning I think, not to do the same mistake to last year when I push on the limit every stage and I am off the road after three or four stages. For sure the car works very well on Tarmac. It’s still a long time to crash already but the test was good, the recce also. If it stays like that for the weather I think it will be very challenging because the gap between the other drivers will be very close. Just happy to be here, very challenging, we start this afternoon and finish Sunday so it’s like a little Monte.”

 

#22 Nikolay Gryazin (BUL) / Konstantin Aleksandrov (BUL), Citroën C3 Rally2

“I would like to have success again. We will try to do our best. The feeling was good on the shakedown and I’m quite feeling nice with this car. If everything went well we don’t do any mistakes, keep the flow and just push it should come. We will just do our jobs and see afterwards. The biggest change from last year is the anti-cuts. Last year even if it was dry It was still super slippery because each corner was muddy because of the cuts. This year each corner we have anti cuts. From one side it’s good because there is not big difference (in the surface) from first car to car number 10 for example. So it’s going to be much cleaner and it’s also nice for us because when you drive on the full dry (surface) you can really rely on the pace notes, just keep the flow, and not afraid to do. Because last year I made a small mistake on the final day, just at 20 km/h, and was stuck in a ditch. So it was completely a sad situation but this year I think it will be not like this, it will be just full clean. I was trying to make noisy sounds in the hotel last night to not make (Rossel) sleep!”

 

#30 Filip Mareš (CZE) / Ravovan Bucha (CZE), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2

“It’s truly a really special moment for me to be here in WRC and to sit on this chair in Prague on our home event is special and I am really happy and really let’s say I would like to thank all my sponsors and all the sponsors who make all this possible. It’s like our real premier in WRC. Honestly I don’t know the stages, just a few parts of the second-longest stage of the Friday I know from a local rally in Czech Republic. The rest is completely new for me, I didn’t do a recce last year, but I know the country, I know the profile of the stages, it’s really familiar to me so I would like to be fast in there but it’s WRC and there are fast drivers and fast teams, so we will try our best and just see where we are.”

 

#31 Marijan Griebel (DEU) / Tobias Braun (DEU), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

“It’s five years ago when I did my last WRC2 race and I’m really happy to be here. We’re really looking forward and trying to enjoy as much as possible. For sure we were putting our most intensive point on the German championship, which I have won four times now, but I have great partners and big help to come here and I want to show even at a bigger age we can do well here.”

 

#40 Filip Kohn (CZE) / Ross Whittock (GBR), Ford Fiesta WRC3

“Thank you everyone for coming here, it’s a pleasure always. Last year was amazing, we won it, this year is a new team, M-Sport Poland, and I’m looking forward to push on. It’s looking a lot cleaner and I just want to be in the car already. It’s amazing that people around here are really into rally so always the stages are really full of people with flags and everything so I hope they will be pushing us drivers to do flat out.”

 

#46 Lysia Baudet (BEL) / Léa Sam-Caw-Freve (FRA), Ford Fiesta Rally3 Beyond Rally

“It was a very tough selection, it was very intense few days of driving on Tarmac, on gravel, also physical tests, mechanical tests and interviews. I think I can say that we learned a lot and we enjoyed it. It was very interesting (to test before the rally). We did a lot of different setup with M-Sport and now we are really confident to start. I leant to drive a regular car at eight years old and I always felt like I was at home behind the steering wheel but I never expect that I become a racing driver so I’m very grateful to be here thanks to the selection to this programme and also to the Belgian federation so I’m very grateful.”

 

#48 Claire Schönborn (DEU) / Jara Hain (DEU), Ford Fiesta Rally3 Beyond Rally

“For me it was the toughest one because I didn’t drove on gravel before. I started in hill climb racing and this will be my third rally overall so the gravel part was for me the toughest one. Testing went quite good, we had a lot of different conditions – we had dry, wet and really slippery so we had a lot of setup changes done and I feel really good now before the start of the rally. I think there are transferable skills from hill climb racing. In hill climb you also have not much training so it’s really good for picking up the pace really quickly and there are also no room for big mistakes like in rally. I competed in the Herbst Rally in Austria last week and I think it was really good preparation, we had a lot of really different conditions – really wet, foggy and also dry – so we gained a lot of good experience in the car.”

 

#47 Suvi Jyrkiäinen (FIN) / Antti Linnaketo (FIN), Ford Fiesta Rally3 Beyond Rally

“It was amazing days in Poland and we learned a lot and enjoyed a lot and now I’m trying to enjoy this event as well – even if it will be my first Tarmac rally. It will be a challenge but hopefully it will go alright. It was really nice, it was my first time (testing) on a proper Tarmac stage so it was really good to have that. I spoke to Jari-Matti Latvala and Sami Pajari a little bit about Tarmac driving and got some tips and I hope I will remember them this weekend. Both my parents have competed and for sure they have been inspiration and motorsport has always been there since I was really small we have been going watching rallies and all that stuff so it was quite natural that I should try it for myself.”

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