“It’s quite exciting heading to Germany and Finland within one week. Both Marcus [Gronholm] and I will try to win in our rivals’ backyard, but as we start with Germany, I will focus on that target first, which is winning at ‘home’. I am extremely cautious though,” he noted. “Marcus has often been competitive there. I won by less than four seconds in 2003 and we’ve seen his car performs well since the start of the year.
“The duel will be tight and it might happen that other drivers share the battle as well. The weather could also play an important role and if everyone thinks I’m the favourite, I know nothing is done. But I am convinced the Kronos team, the Xsara, Daniel [Elena - my co-driver] and myself are ready for the fight.”
Loeb will again be partnered by Xavier Pons and
Daniel Sordo, however in a change to the situation in the first half of the season, the latter will now drive the number two car and be nominated to score manufacturers’ points.
“[Kronos team boss] Marc Van Dalen told me the news that I would drive the #2 car in Germany and Finland just before I went away on holidays for a few days. I was a bit surprised but above all extremely happy,” said the 2005 Junior champion. “Can you imagine how lucky I am? In my very first year in a WRC, I stand third in the drivers’ rankings and now on top of that, I am nominated to score manufacturers’ points with the number 2 on the door of my Xsara. Fantastic, don’t you think?”
As for if it will increase the pressure on him, Dani reckons it won’t make that much difference: “To be honest, I don’t feel more pressure than before. You know, in the first part of the season, I was fully aware of the fact that Kronos only had one chassis for me and that I couldn’t damage the car if I wanted to continue and honour my partners. Now being nominated is surely more responsibility but not really more pressure. I need to work for the team on the coming rounds and do my best to score the biggest number of points. And I can tell you I can’t wait!”
