Pons insists though that the added pressure isn’t a problem: “Seb is irreplaceable and I hope that he will back with us soon - he taught Dani and me a lot this year. The owner of the number one is him, the world champion for whom I have an enormous respect. The fact I will be driving the number one Xsara is only due to regulation purposes. I feel no pressure though. I will start exactly like in Cyprus or Turkey,” he maintained. “As I said I’ve learned a lot this season and I hope I won’t repeat my old mistakes. I will drive very focused, but I also hoping to enjoy it at the same time. My aim is to deserve the trust of [Kronos boss] Marc van Dalen and [
Citroen sport boss] Guy Frequelin. I hope to bring the maximum number of points to the team and for them to feel proud of me too.”
In contrast though, Sordo reckons he is feeling the burden of expectations: “For Australia it’s true that I will feel some pressure. Everybody keeps on warning me about the Australian terrain characteristics and its difficulty. They say it’s one of the toughest challenges of the championship. I’m planning to drive as usual, which is do the best I can, choose a steady pace, especially for the start, the time for me to understand the terrain. After that I will try to pick up some points for the team. For me being a beginner there, it’s hard to say more than this.”
BP Ford WRT:
[Marcus Gronholm, car #3 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #4.]
Marcus Gronholm needs to take the maximum points this weekend if he is to keep alive any hopes of taking the drivers’ title. Although he will have to run first on the road on Friday and will lose time sweeping away the loose gravel, he is refusing to be downbeat.
"Australia is a special rally for me and one that I really like.
Sebastien Loeb will still be injured so I will be first on the road on Friday. But I have previously set good times on those roads from the front. I prefer to think about that rather than talk about the difficulties. It's all to do with the mind - look at the positives and not the negatives," he said.
