61. CORSICA Linea Tour de Corse 2018
5. 4. – 8. 4. 2018, Bastia - Ajaccio • asphalt 334.02 km • total distance including road sections - 1119.68 km • Other years • Other years
Info
SS12
"It has been a good weekend, I am very pleased with the performance we had on Friday and it is very good news that the car has progressed - it was faster than last year."
"To be honest I can't complain too much. I know for a long time that Corsica is one of my weakest events, I never could push the maximum I was just consistent all the time. A good weekend overall."
"We are disappointed because we didn't have the pace. At the end it wasn't too bad, we need to work a little bit more for the next asphalt rally."
"Phil's been incredible, this is one of the hardest rallies to do notes on. I can't thank him enough."
"Disappointing weekend all round, we just didn't have the feeling."
"Okay we have had really positive things yesterday, was really perfect. We found the perfect setup for the car. Today the speed has been good aswell, made a small mistake. I take full responsibility for that."
"I went flat out, Sebastien has probably faster throughout the rally in Corsica for the last 15 years. So to be a few tenths behind isn't bad."
"I know I was in a good rhythm, I am disappointed about the mistake but I am just forgetting about that and just enjoying the drive."
"We are finally happy, the car was working perfectly."
"Thanks to all the team, we are very happy with the result - it is fantastic for us. For all the team, this was perfect."
"I am enjoying the stages."
SS11
"This stage is rather long! We have quite a huge gap behind us, I was avoiding all the stones, all the gaps, I wanted to get the car to the end of the stage."
"Yeah it was okay, it was very long with a lot of the corners looking the same. We drove without taking risks and now I'm here."
"That was probably the best 55k of note calling I've ever heard. We had to keep pushing, we're trying to take Kopecky for a point but we want to save the tyres for the Power Stage as well."
"Job done so far, if we can grab some points then that's good. A few points I hope on the Power Stage."
"Not really (maximum). I was really clean, could not push to maximum with a bit more understeer than yesterday. We had to be clean and that's what we did."
"I made a mistake in the same place as Lappi and since then I have vibrations."
"I lost the rear at one corner on cold tyres and hit the kerb. My mistake fully."
"We made some changes to the car but it's still the same unfortunately."
"I lifted a little bit in the middle of the stage, I wanted to look after the tyres."
changing puncture
SS10
Off Road → Rally2
"It was stuck in first gear, it broke inside the gearbox."
"We hope to fight for second place, it was a good day for us except for this morning when we did two mistakes. But I'm happy with the car and happy with everything."
stuck gearbox
"Today was a perfect day except for the first stage where I was really cautious."
"It was a good day for me! I try to push and the feeling was good. This stage was complicated, I don't know why, it was hard to do the times of the Toyota."
"It's been good, of course I didn't take a risk on this last stage - it is the dirtiest of the day. The gap is good but tomorrow has a long stage."
"I have nothing to say! I try, I try, I try! If we continue like this we will also be off the road."
"The feeling is a lot better this time through, at least it keeps things interesting for tomorrow!"
"Yeah we did a good run, but obviously Lappi has been flying all afternoon and has been doing a great job. "
"It is nice to be in the fight, quite clearly it is easy to do a mistake. Especially on this stage as there is so much gravel."
off road
"Now it is limited to what we can do set-up wise, we tried to go stiffer and it seems to turn in better but it isn't where we want it to be yet."
SS9
"We are driving trying to fight with the others, but it's good and I am pushing."
"You know that anything can always happen, I don't take the extra risk and I can feel like I am still in control. If someone says they are 100% in control they're lying."
"I have nothing to say."
"I'm trying everything out there, I'm absolutely on the limit for it and I'm on last year's set-up, that feels better."
"Lappi is doing a really good job to put the pressure on all of us in the battle for second."
"It's going well, I'm able to keep it clean and tidy and carry speed through the corners."
"The last stage was better, I struggled a bit towards the end of this one. It was a completely different stage."
"I have a completely different set up on the car and that has given me a lot of understeer."
SS8
Mechanical problems → Rally2
Mechanical problems → Rally2
"We changed some things in the car, but if we push we lose all the grip and the lines."
"No issues, just a lot of GPS alerts in the car telling us to stop. When we get that type of alert on the dash we have to stop. I think there was a problem with the dash."
"We did some changes in the service, the car was fantastic to drive. I pushed a little bit too much, braked a little too late and hit a tree on the rear end."
stopped
"Yeah the plan is to keep it clean and smooth, it is never as easy to do as it to say, but I'm trying to enjoy it!"
"I thought the car was better with the changed settings."
stopped, continue
"Not really capable of pushing hard, but generally it was clean."
"We will see, it is a pretty good time. I tried my best definitely. We overheated the tyre a bit. We also made suspension and diff changes."
"We made some minor changes in the car and it gave me a lot more confidence in what the car is doing."
"We've altered the set-up a bit, we did that in service and now the car feels better - it is a lot more confident on the road."
"It was definitely warmer outside, not struggling so much with the understeer as I was this morning. We made some set-up changes, we'll see for sure at the next stage I guess."
continue
stopped (off road)
stopped (engine)
SS7
Gearbox problems → Rally2
Mechanical problems → Rally2
"Today the first two stages are new to everyone, SS5 was very nice - I was probably a bit too cautious. In this stage you need to keep an eye out for gravel going into the corner."
"I'm having fun in the car today, a bit frustrating because of yesterday. I took this stage a bit easy, I wasn't trusting it 100% because I know there is gravel at points."
"I'm driving not at 100% today, I'm trying to be clean and very smooth today. The dirt on this stage means I'm not going to take too many risks!"
"I had a very good stage, I can be happy with the times compared to my team-mate."
"Little slide at the beginning but other than that I felt the rhythm was okay, but the last two stages were awful. We need to get back to service and see what the issue is."
"It is a bit safer to go faster on this stage, the changes we did to the car yesterday were good. We made a few mistakes which hampered us in the opening stages, tomorrow we'll get rid of those mistakes."
"The secret is just the work yesterday, I wasn't happy at all. Together with the team we tried a few things and I think we found it. Quite happy on the stage but I know this is not enough, I wasn't confident enough to push for the fastest time, it's okay."
"For sure we can do more, the feeling isn't 100% but disappointed to lose that much time. Nothing really wrong, just small hesitations here and there add up to a lot."
"I push all weekend, but times are not so good. This stage has some tricky places with the gravel, at the start we didn't take much risk."
"Basically we didn't do so much in the morning and SS1 was okay, SS2 I struggled with braking so I changed the balance and I feel much more confident now."
"Yeah some places there was gravel, other than that it is a nice stage - very narrow. I tried to find a nice rhythm but it is not easy."
"It is good being first on the road, I am putting my tyre mark on the ground. The stages are amazing, I'm trying to do my best!"
SS6
Driver ill
“SS5 wasn’t good but SS6 felt a lot better but it still was a poor time even though I enjoyed the stage”.
"Yeah it is better than yesterday, we found a solution to the brake problem from yesterday."
"Good time, after yesterday now is just to have fun in the car. It is frustrating but it is like this. I just try to enjoy it."
"Yeah I tried to confirm the pacenotes, it is never super easy to go flat out on new stages. It is sacred driving here."
"To be honest there is not much more I can do, I was moving all over the place - struggling with the handling. This car is not made for conditions like these."
"I touched a kerb at the beginning and I thought I had a puncture, after that it wasn't so bad though."
"We had no issues, it was working okay."
"To be honest it is 10 times better than yesterday, we did a lot of work. It is nice to see that it paid off."
"I didn't have a great stage there to be honest. Just far too hesitant. That's just how it is."
"It is more normal road, wider, I try to push like hell but it is not easy - we don't have a good balance in the car."
"I have understeer in the car, this stage is the worst for the car."
"Completely dry, very good."
SS5
Mechanical problems → Rally2
accident on 27,8 km
"I think I lose some time at the end of the stage, but the car is better than yesterday and we try to continue like this."
"I found some really nice rhythm and I just kept on going."
"Yes it was a good start, the car is working well but the stage is tricky."
"Ok, yep. No problems at all, it was alright. I knew I could be fast, just yesterday I made a stupid mistake."
accident on 5,7 km
"Yeah it was good, I think everyone feels this stage is a tricky one. It wasn't full attack like yesterday but I still got through."
"To be honest my pacenotes weren't too optimistic, I went wide a few times at the start and I had to push a little less for the rest of the stage."
"Yeah it was a wake up call! You have to be on your money, I lost a bit of rhythm in the middle but picked it back up again."
"Yeah I had a problem, every time I touched the handbrake it stalled me. Notes could be better as well."
"It went quite well. At points I thought the tyre was too hot but I think it was just the surface, it seemed to get better when the surface changed."
"Yeah the first half of the stage seemed good, the second half was narrower. Just stalled coming out of a hairpin, I used the handbrake and then the car stalled."
"It is not easy, the car is behaving itself now but the notes could have been better. The rear of the car is behaving now."
"It is so narrow and so fast, I have a lot of information in pacenotes but sometimes I was backing off because I didn't have them all in my head - there was a bit too much information in there for me."
"It was good, very nice stage. I don't know if I'm fast or not. Very clean stage so far, a few corners are damp but not too bad."
SS4
"The conditions in the afternoon were better, we are still looking to find the perfect balance in the car."
"We hope all the stages could be like this! The set-up is really good on this stage."
"It is my first asphalt event with the car but we have a good feeling in the car and we are playing with a couple of things."
"We try a little bit at least to drive faster! We have done some changes and they seem to be working."
"First on the road was making a difference, it was drier on the second pass and the grip seems to be better. I'm happy with my day, it would be nice to be faster but I have to be content with it."
"The changes I made improved the feeling in the car, but it should be better tomorrow."
"I tried to push very hard, I was really pushing on that stage. We have to accept that we can't beat them but we have to stay positive and keep the guys behind, behind!"
"It has been a really good day for sure, whatever happens in this one we won't be losing much time."
SS3
Accident → Rally2
Engine support broken → Rally2
off the road
"Again I had a spin, I think there is also strange in the tight corners it feels like the rear diff is not dragging on both wheels in the rear."
"Much better this afternoon, stage is much drier. I'm trying to push a lot more now so we will see what the Citroen's are doing behind."
"It's not enough, it is difficult for me this stage to play with the car. I think there is something wrong with me because the car is very good."
"Struggled a bit more, feeling was good at the beginning but the car started moving around a bit."
"Still happy with the stage, but the times are not so good. I try to do my best but it was difficult."
"It's better than in the morning definitely. The road surface is getting warmer and the grip is getting better - the car is improving."
"More stability in the car but we sacrificed a lot in the balance when turning in."
"I had a lot better feel with the car, but in braking and acceleration it could be improved."
"Couldn't do much more to be honest, good set-up and good stage but my intercom is still playing up."
"No issues, but I can't drive this car harder at the moment, I try and push but I just have understeer."
"I lose 10 seconds, it is less than this morning."
"The road is not too bad, we like to push like this morning - I am at the same level of attack. Some corners are clean, some are dirty but it is still fun to drive."
SS2
"Yeah the first stage was good but it was very tricky, on this stage there was some running water on the road which was not on the recce."
"I'm really happy, the set-up was really good and I had a good feeling on that stage."
"I think it's been okay, we've done what we've needed to do. We had to slow down quite a lot [because of Loeb] but not too much."
"The car was a bit better here, we need to do something with the car - I was not completely happy. It's quite an okay time."
off the road
"No this wasn't enough of an improvement. The car turns really well on the corners but I'm struggling to get the confidence on the braking."
"My intercom was dipping in and out in my right ear which was quite annoying."
"I went off one time in a left-hander, we went in a ditch so I had to get back out again. Then we felt a vibration in the car."
"Different conditions. The first section is very aggressive with the cuts, I didn’t want to take risks there. For sure you can be faster but I think it's risky for punctures"
"I am not happy, the car isn't working as it should. We have to work on the settings. It's a tough start but we have to keep going."
SS1
Driver ill → Rally2
Mechanical problems → Rally2
Mechanical problems after an accident → Rally2
Mechanical problems → Rally2
Mechanical problems → Rally2
off the road
were off
"Perfect for the stage in the car, I am very happy to be here and then I'll be very happy at the finish line. I didn't have issues with the brakes, but if you don't have brakes you go faster!"
"It is not the start that I want, lost the brakes after 15km."
off the road
"Nice stage, my driving is not very good. I have to find something with my driving, it is not easy for me to get the grip. Struggling a little bit with understeer."
"It went as well as we could have hoped I think. Rhythm was good, the road was narrow and difficult, and a lot of dirt has been dragged on."
"There was a lot of gravel on the road, I tried to go faster but it was difficult to know if I was in the rhythm or not."
"It is quite dirty in places, but it is not so bad."
"I'm happy to be honest, I started with a rhythm and I was pretty relaxed. The time compared to the others, what can I do? I'm happy compared to them."
stopped
"There is some water at that start which shot my brakes, it took me a time to get them back up to temperature."
"Not good, our car is very good when it is dry condition, I'm struggling in the water. After I go through the water it feels like I'm losing the rear. I'm trying to improve my driving."
"I had a spin at the beginning and lost a bit the rhythm after that. Happier with the car."
"I did the maximum I could, I had no brake bias at the start of the stage."
"It was good, I did my best. There's a lot of standing water on the inside of corners that's being pulled out and onto the stage. I'm happy with my time."
"I struggled a lot, I nearly span a few times. But I try my best."
Spin on first hairpin