Q:
Stéphane, what were your thoughts on the rally in general?
Stephane Prevot:
Very good. It was not an easy rally. The stages were quite difficult. The organisation was fine, the marshals worked well. It was a very good event. It was not easy for sure.
Q:
It was almost a Ford 1-2 Malcolm, until Jari-Matti (Latvala) developed problems. It was a massive effort by him to complete the group of stages and get back to service; what happened?
Malcolm Wilson:
The first stage this morning was fantastic. We got back to first and second. Then, at some point he hit some rocks and damaged the car and the rear suspension. It was still intact at the end of the stage, but then it broke after being badly bent in the next one. He managed to affect emergency repairs. I talked to him on the ‘phone and the repairs had failed. It meant that he had to go through the long stage with the wheel at 45 degrees. He did a great job to get the car through to service. The team did a great job. We changed the transmission, the rear diff and the rear suspension with time to spare and he set out for the final few stages. The goal was to push as hard as possible and help by getting some points.
Q:
With the tactics that were brought into play on Saturday evening, it made things very interesting. Will we see that come into play more often during the year?
MW:
I think so. We reversed seeding for the last few years. When the decision was taken to reverse the running order system we got the tactics back. This was the first time that this has happened. On difficult loose surface events, like Turkey and the Acropolis, it might happen again.
Questions from the floor.
Q: Martin Holmes (Martin Holmes Rallying (UK)).
What are the drivers' thoughts on the place where Seb (Loeb) and Conrad (Rautenbach) had their accident?
MH:
We saw the place in the recce and knew it would be a narrow section. We will never know what may have happened. It was unfortunate. I hope it does not happen again.
Q: Hiba Sabbagh (Al Rai newspaper (HKJ)).
How do these stages compare to others on the WRC?
