48. Cyprus Rally 2019
ERC #7 • MERC #4 • ERC2 #7 • MERC2 #4 • ERC3 #7 • MERC Junior #4 • MERC3 #4 • ERC Ladies #7 • Cyprus #5
27. 9. – 29. 9. 2019, Nicosia • Cyprus Automobile Association • gravel 199.76 km • Other years
Each day counted as separate for Cypriot Championship
Info
SS12
I can't believe we are in the finish. The stages are incredible, now I see how hard it can be. I'm happy we made it. Thanks to Sainteloc for the possibility to drive this car.
It was only about surviving. Many thanks to my codriver, to my family who supports me. It was tough weekend, but it's special day, it's a dream. We are very very happy.
I'm absolutely tired, last three stages we had broken differential, I just wanted to get to the finish. It was sliding a lot.
It's great to finish the rally, it was very difficult for me. IN the second stage of this loop we had a puncture, now I just wanted to finish.
We had some difficulties yesterday, we just wanted to survive, that was the strategy. I'm really glad to be in the finish of such tough rally.
"Lot of experience, most of them came on last three stages. On the first one the gearbox broke down and we finished the rally with only 1st and 2nd gear, But Ford is strong."
It's amazing, I think it was one of the most difficult rallies I have ever done. Lot of corners. We are really happy, thanks to Peugeot Sport for supporting us coming here.
"It was crazy, but we are here, we learned a lot. It was so hard, but we are happy."
"We are glad that we finished the rally after all the problems we had. It was tough rally, but we finished the Cypriot championship in good position."
"We learned a lot, in the first leg we were fast, but then we got a puncture and today technical problems."
"We are quite happy, we managed to achieve our goal. Our strategy was to win the ERC2 and be second in Cyprus championship."
"This special stage is neverending, we are really happy to finish this rally in one piece."
"First day was really tough test of us and the whole team, but everyone really pushed. Today we had so much fun, incredible rally."
I'm really happy to win here, this is one of our favourite rallies. I'm happy for the performance, thanks for my team, my co-driver. The ERC is amazing, many great drivers here.
Very happy, very happy. We didn't repeat last year succuess, but it's deserved.
It's been unbeliavably difficult rally. Our strategy was to be steady and it paid off. Thanks to Michelin for great tyres and to everyone who made it possible for us to be here.
We are little bit sad, but not so much. We are here, that's important. We are waiting from the beginning of the season for our race in Hungary.
I can't open the throttle, if I push it the engine breaks up. But OK, our only goal was to keep the position and reach the finish. I think we did good job during the weekend, it was our first time here, very demanding conditions.
"We really enjoyed it. It was hard, twisty, but I enjoyed this challenge."
I'm really happy, I lost some time in the last stage, but I'm excited, we had a clean run. Big relief now, I'm really happy with finishing this.
We finished the rally, that's the most important. Sometimes it's not your day, like today. This was the last stage of the season, we will see what will be next year.
"The experience is impressive. Good for me, I learned a lot."
SS11
"This stage is neverending, right-left-right-left, but we had good fun."
Everything OK, we didn't push in this stage. The tyres are worn, but I'm happy, we just want to finish in good speed.
"We pushed a bit, now we cruise to the finish."
"We are relaxed, we just need to get through now."
We are here, I'm really happy. We have safe tyre choice. It was really slippery, the rear of the car was sliding, but we had no puncture.
Not good, it's really bad. Not only the throttle problem, also the intercom started breaking up.
"Great fun, we really enjoyed last of stages. Quite happy with that, the car is perfect."
SS10
Stopped in the stage, but continued
"We had a problem with engine, we had to switch off the ALS. I hope we can finish."
"The stage was really good, but there were many rocks and ruts, we took it easy."
"Roads are rough now, we pushed a bit, I think it was good."
We try. It's really rough there, let's see what we can do.
"The team was again professional, thanks for their good job. We chose safe tyre choice, we just want to finish the rally."
The car is not working, we have some electrical issue. We have no power at throttle, I'm not sure if we are able to continue, I have to check.
I did enjoy it, I had a good stage, no drama. But it's really hard for tyres, it's rougher than I expected.
Good, but it's really rough there, we have to be smart. Let's wait for the others, then we choose the strategy.
It's getting rough, lot of bumps, sometimes you can go off the road easily.
"Very nice, little more rocks, but the road is quite clean."
SS9
I'm very tired, all the stage on the first gear. But we never give up. We need to finish.
It's great fun, great feeling, I really enjoy the stages. I hope it will be the same in the next loop.
"The car is working perfect. In the stage there is a lot of ricks so we drove carefully. We will see in the next loop."
Everything is OK, the car OK, it's only too soft, we improve it for the next loop.
"Water temperature problem in whole stage, we can do it to the service."
"This stage could be better, many rocks. We tried to keep our pace."
"Twisty, slippery and bumpy. Everytime we finish the stage we should celebrate. Oh my God, how can they drive so fast? They are my heroes."
We try to push, I think we had a really good time. I'm happy, the rally is going very well. But the second loop will be hard, we have to be careful.
It's quite slippery for us, the tyres don't work so good. Good experiecne for us but at this moment we can't do anything.
We are pushing bit more today. We ran of tyres in this one. If you are used to avoid rocks it's no problem to go with only one spare.
I lost so much time in the dust. I tried my best. I drove in it maybe half of the stage, it's megatime.
We have a technical problem, we don't have the 4WD. We lose lot of time, I hope the team will be able to repair the car.
"I had an issue on this one, I had a spin and got stuck between the fall and the bank, we lost quite a lot of time. But the car is good."
"I remember how tough this rally always was. Now it was really tricky. The tyres are done now, luckily no punctures."
We are very happy, we run without any problems. It was very slippery, we were struggling with the grip. It's tricky, you have to by precise, the corners are really tight, there is no room for error.
"Very difficult, hard to start second on the road. There is no clean line, just spinning the wheels all the time. We have medium compound, we run the whole rally with it."
"Very good. We enjoy the little the stages, the previous was very long. This one was very slippery, sometimes I was close to fall down."
SS8
Puncture
"The first one was easier, this one was quite tricky. We are losing power."
"I cought the car ahead twice. The car is OK, but we want to push more."
"We have air in brakes, it is not possible to drive, but we are here."
"We had a spin and had to reverse. We have a problem with water temperature."
"Very careful, we want to continue like this."
"This special stage never ends, one curve after another."
"Very tough, but supercool stage. But we lost the brakes in the middle of the stage."
"This is really tricky stage. We had a good speed."
"We had not a good grip. Nothing fantastic, but we are on the mission."
"Long stage, but we enjoyed it. We drive on 90%."
"Very difficult stage, I lost in the last part. But not too bad."
"We went straight of the road and maybe damaged the driveshaft."
"Unforgettable experience, amazing stage. We stay out of problems. At the beginning we were out of grip."
"So far this has been the most demanding stage of the rally. You have to concentrate hard all the way through."
"It was a good stage, but we are losing the tyres, really tricky. Low grip, you have to think of tight corners few corners ahead."
"Very narrow and slippery, there is no room for slides, you have to stay in the line."
More rough than the first one today, long stage, I'm tired.
SS7
Stopped
Stopped in the stage, but continued
"Not bad."
"It was good, the problem is the engine, but OK."
It's slippy like yesterday but more bumpy so you often loose the grip. The level of concentration is almost causing a headache.
"The car is finally working, we can push now."
Very very good run, I'm happy for this performance. I tried to push and I enjoyed it. The car and tyres worked really well.
"Very hard actually, the grip is low, we drove really slow."
It's good. We will push today, yesterday we were looking at the championship but now we can push more.
"Cauitious again. We changed the car, we had to get used to that. We will push on the next two."
"Everything OK, but I have some mistakes in pacenotes, in some places too optimistic."
So twisty roads, good wake up call. I think we did a good job, we adjusted the setup. It will be difficult day, let's wait what Chris will do. We want to be competetive.
"We are having fun, it was twisty again, the car was sliding a lot, we had no grip. "
We chose little softer tyres and I hope it was a good choice. It was slippery, we open the road, but I'm happy.
Very slippy, but it's OK. We lost the grip in the middle of the stage, we couldn't push.
Very slippery obviously, but good speed, we feel very good. Stages are very nice, there is not many rocks, but it's tricky.
SS6
"Learning day, we have been working on the car, good day, we go step by step."
"It was very hard day, but we survived, I have smile now."
"The second half of the day was better, we had better pace. The car is perfect, looking forward for tomorrow."
"It was demanging, but it feels OK, this stage was funny, lot of spectators. Looking forward for tomorrow."
It was a difficult day, stages are really hard. I'm happy to be here. Tomorrow I will try to run clean without mistakes.
We tried to repair the leak and we are here, it's the most important. Really tough day, but tomorrow it will be hard also.
"I enjoyed this stage really much."
It was really difficult, it's good we finished today. I hope tomorrow it will be the same.
I'm very tired, but all good.
"Not very happy, it could be better."
Good fun, I'm superhappy to finish today in such position, good for us.
"We are positive and try to learn from the situation."
"Really good day, we are quite happy. The Michelin tyres were fantastic, we had no punctuer, our Polo was also good. But tomorrow is another long day."
"Quite OK, we just tried to stay out of the curbes."
"Everything was OK. This stage was absolutely perfect for us, many people in the streets, congratulations to the organizers."
"We are happy, we had some mistakes with the tyre choice, but we are happy."
It's been amazing day, I'm so grateful to be here. I was cautious on the tyres and the car, tomorrow we can push more. I know I can go much quicker.
It's really nice, I did few super special stages but this one was really drivable.
"I think tomorrow it will be a good fight. Nice to be finish of this day, we have some knowledge of this rally now."
"Really happy, I enjoyed all the day. Nice vacation."
"Really tough day, but we had good clean last stage, many people, good fun, good show. We hope to change some thing to have tomorrow better."
It's unique stage, good for public. But I don't like this type of stages when we are on tarmac with these tyres. But I enjoyed it a lot today, I'm tired. Tricky rally.
"OK, not our day, not our rally, but we take it like it is."
"We are quite far from being happy with the car. Tomorrow will be another long day so I hope it will be better."
"Today was hard, but we enjoyed it, we are happy."
SS5
Retired -> Rally2
Retired -> Rally2
Really crazy, nice, but very hard. On tarmac I would be much more faster. Sometimes I lose the power, but I'm happy to be here.
"Second run was better, if we continue like this, we are happy"
"The brake fluid is leaking."
Really tight and twisty stage. The water temperature was on 120 all the time, I'm happy we survived.
I learned a lot of things today how to drive on the dust. I don't have many experience with gravel so I hope it will be better and better.
"We wanted to survive, it was so difficult to be on the pace."
"We had a puncture, we had to stop and change it."
It's really tough. What an incredible stage, you have to be smart. Really twisty, no grip. But I'm really happy, we improve the times.
"I think we ares slower here, the road is completely destroyed. We are happy to finish today like this, it was really good. We enjoy it a lot here."
"There are so many bumps and my neck is in pain. We try to not to load the car or find the limits. We are on the safe strategy."
"Very very difficult stage for us, before the stage we had slow puncture, second problem is that the water from the cooler went out. But we are here and we are really happy."
"We are happy, the time is enough."
It was good fun, physically demanding stage, so slow and twisty. I have been very carefull all the day and the car survived, it's OK. Tomorrow big push.
"This one is really really twisty, we had a good run, smoothly through the stage without punctures."
On the first loop our road position was really bad, now I'm not pushing, I don't know how this car and tyres can survive all this. I don't know the limits of the car. There were some impacts of course, I feel like it's win to be here.
Again no power, we had to go down with ALS and three times we lost the powersteering and had to restart the car. It's tough. You lose confidence, it can happe anytime, we need to get safely through and get ready for tomorrow.
"Very nice, I enjoy it, it was difficult day. I feel very good in this stage."
I'm alive, it's so twisty and slippery. Very hot inside the car, not easy to finish.
It's OK, second loop is better. But it's lose, no grip at all. But all good, we are happy.
"I trying to get to my pace. We are still not there, we are learning."
"It was much better than the first time. I like it, we have fun."
SS4
Retired -> Rally2
Retired -> Rally2
Retired -> Rally2
"The setup is better and the feeling is better. We improve and improve."
We changed the setup little bit so it's bit easier to drive in tight corners. It's more rough now and I lose power.
"We tried to keep our pace, it was OK."
"Unfortunately the same, no power again. At the start it was OK but from the middle of the stage the problem appeared again."
"I think it was good, we changed the setup and now I felt more comfortable in the car."
"Puncture on the rear, I think we lost too much time. We tried to be clean in the end."
"Wonderful to finish. The stage was really really rough, the car is good, we are here."
It's better, but it's still complicated learning these roads.
"Absolutely very tired. But all good, the stage was good. We continue."
"Good stage, more stones, we were very careful."
"Very very hard stage. Crazy."
"It was good, quite rough, but happy with the time, we improved a bit. Tough stage, you really have to look out the car. Tricky stage."
"I will put two new tyres for the next one so we can push."
"More rough, more rocks in the lines so were avoidoing them. We want to continue like that."
Now the feeling was much better. There are two clean lines and we didn't slide so much.
We pushed little bit more. We don't have to save the tyres not so much now.
It felt OK, we keep the same strategy. But the time is not good, I'm not happy.
It wasn't too bad. There were some rocks but not so many as I expected. Completely fine.
No problem, much better grip. It's more rough, very difficult and hot.
"We had little engine cut now towards the stage end, but no puncture. I think it was pop-off valve."
We made some changes to the car, it's very good for us. Car is OK, pacenotes are OK.
"Very very twisty, second time I was more confident in the pacenotes."
"Much better driving, but the time is not moving a lot."
"The car is OK now. Our rally started just now."
"Much better than the first time, we are happy."
Better from before, but it's too rough now.
SS3
We are second on the road so it's hard. We did few mistakes, we were out of the road.
"My rear tyres are dead. The car was moving a lot."
OK, but it's really hard. We go step by step, I hope the second loop will be better.
"Very rough, especially the second stage was very hard for us."
"We have no power, but we survived to the service."
The car was not working perfect, but we had many phone calls and tried to change some things. It's getting better and better.
"We are really happy with the first three stages, in the next loop we want to avoid the punctures."
It's hot, we tried to keep good pace.
"Last two stages OK, we try to push hard, the car is working well."
It's actually quite OK. Problem is that I drive after Nasser and he is so fast.
"I think we have a good run from the beginning. We are pushing, now we will see because the second loop will be more rough."
We are on the safe strategy, we don't fight with Nasser. Saving the car and tyres.
"This stage was easier than the previous one and the feeling is much better than last year."
"Bit too slippery, we ran out of tyres in this one. But it was a plan, so all OK."
"Very careful start, we have safe strategy. "
"It was dry and dusty, it has been OK. We have good time, we run smoothly, no problem."
It's very hot, this stage was... We are learning. This was much better then the previous, I took it carefully. It's so hot that stickers on the pedals went off and there is lot of glue on my shoes.
"Now there was no issue, it was cool stage and we pushed, super stage without any problems."
"Really tricky, but really nice stage. We enjoyed it a lot. The car looks OK."
"Not easy, the tyres are not like in the morning, so the car is sliding little bit."
"Not really good loop, something is with the car, maybe bad setup, maybe the suspension is wrong."
"We were opening the road this morning. Now we go to service to fix the throttle. It is hard to control the car with this."
We clean the road, it's lose everywhere, grip nothing. After service we start to push.
"out of the road"
SS2
Retired -> Rally2
Retired -> Rally2
Very very rough for our car. But mechanics did great job because we have higher car, it's safe.
I had no communication with my co-driver from the start of the stage, I couldn't go fast. I'm really tired.
I try to understand how to drive here, it's something new and hard for me. We drive carefully.
"Everything is OK, we try to push harder than in the previous race and the times are better."
It's hardcore stage. I don't know the time, but it was hard, we took it easy.
"We were pushing like hell. But if you see the rear tyres they are done. I gave it everything. This was a challenge and we did really good job."
Very good, good pace, the car is working well. We didn't push too much, just having steady pace.
"It was very very hard stage, the car was absolutely perfect, the time is quite OK."
"This was bit longer. Always trying to save the tyres, we went carefully."
"Very difficult, lot of wheel spin, poor traction. We will see what happens, we want to avoid any troubles with car and tyres.."
"Really hard in places and twisty. We have small issues with brakes but they always go on again."
New experience for me, it's very demanding. I had strange feel from the steering in the end but we stay out of troubles.
"Really bad, the dashboard is flashing like Christmas tree. Incredible stage, we hope to get to the service and have again a proper car."
We had some moments there. I don't know the time, I'm little frustrated, but not bad.
"Very difficult, new experience."
"Very very twisty and slippery."
"We tried to fix the car but after first 100 meters it was there again."
"We are happy and lucky that we are here."
"So difficult, Andreas retired in the middle of the stage so we now clean the road. We also have a problem with driveshaft on the front."
SS1
Puncture
We pushed, but it's really slippery, it wasn't easy. But we tried.
"Checking the pacenotes, taking care of the car, nothing special."
"We were too careful, in first ten kilomteres there was not good grip."
"OK, good. In some places we were careful and taking care of the tyres."
"OK, just very very careful."
"It felt really good, we are not on the maximum speed in places, anyway it was fun."
It's rougher than I expected, I expected more grip. It's quite slippery.
We got a puncture in the middle section, I don't know where. It's rough.
"We got a puncture in the stage, I had to stop to fix it."
Really nice stage, I enjoyed it. It's really fun.
"It was OK, little bit more slippery than we expected, very tricky."
Too slippy, I didn't have any traction. But it's OK, good stage.
It's just start of the rally and we want to finish. It was slow, but we get faster I hope.
"Everything is OK, the car works OK, we push now."
We clean the road and we were almost everywhere. Let's see in the second loop.