“By definition, you're never on the right tyres because you're always having to make compromises, and that is clearly more of a concern for me here than on any other rally. Getting to know both the C4 WRC in rally conditions and the new route at the same time is another source of concern.”
"That said, without wishing to sound too presumptuous, we will do our best to win."
BP Ford WRT:
[Marcus Gronholm, car #3 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #4.]
BP Ford team leader, Marcus Gronholm has said that he won’t be going for broke this weekend. Gronholm heads to the event eager to ensure he gets off the mark and while he would dearly love to win, to repeat his debut victory with the M-Sport-run outfit from 2006, he is more than aware that he will need to be consistent this year, if he is to beat Citroen’s
Sebastien Loeb and claim his third world title.
"You can never drive flat out in Monte Carlo because road conditions are so unpredictable. I want to win but I'm not going to go crazy for victory,” he confirmed. “It's much better to finish second or third than risk everything pushing for a win in changing conditions.”
This will be the Finn’s seventh Monte, but with the move away from Monaco the roads will be new to all of the drivers’, and while Marcus has some experience of them from back in 1991, he doesn’t think that will be of much help.
"I drove some of these roads in 1991 as an ice crew driver but I can't remember a thing about them," he explained. "It will be dark on the first leg and that will be difficult, especially on stages I don't know. Then on Friday there is a 46km stage in the morning to wake me up – one of the longest in the championship. It won't be easy.”
Gronholm’s team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen also knows that it will be tough. Mikko finished seventh on the event last year, his best finish to date on the Monte and he is not underestimating the task, predicting that good pace notes and good tyre choices will crucial to getting a good result.
