5. Rallye de France - Alsace 2014
2. 10. – 5. 10. 2014, Strasbourg • FFSA • asphalt 303.63 km • total distance including road sections - 1232.94 km • Other years • Other years
Info
SS18
"Starting this day after the mistake in Germany, I was pretty nervous… I had to learn, I had to take that lesson in Germany. We are still in the fight for the championship, that is important. It has been taking a long time to win a tarmac rally!”
"It feels really great to get second on tarmac. Not bad for a Norwegian.”
“I am really happy with my weekend, I could not have done much more. If you really stick your neck out you can get within tenths to the guys (Volkswagens). If I secure my seat, I can improve and get better and work with the car.”
"We need to work a little bit more in the engine side. You can improve always, everyday, I need to work myself.”
"We had been waiting for 2 days for this stage, we had a lot of motivation and gave everything. Congrats to Jari-Matti, he did a good job!"
"Got distracted by a noice and missed a pace note, went off. Happy to be through!"
"I am lucky to be here, I had a loss of power on the stage.”
“We had a good weekend, but still this is not my favourite rally. Happy that we finish my 100th rally, something good. I hope that Spain will be better, this is my favourite rally.”
SS17
“We have big moment in very high speed corner. There was gravel and I lost the line… Big moment."
Our target is to finish and we're not taking risks.
"We are controlling, trying to keep four wheels on a clean line."
"Just standard driving, we are not pushing."
Our target is to get three points at the Power Stage now. We'll push.
SS16
"Here we have completely wrong tyres unfortunately. We were on 4 softs (tyres), we were expecting 10 kilometres damp but the was only 1 kilometre.”
"We had a moment in the stage. We’ve been loosing a bit of time."
"It sounds okay (the time), lets just see what happens. It is not a steady run but I am comfortable and I feel okay."
I thought a lot could have happened so I took it easy, didn't push.
"In the fast section it was big big fog. The feeling is better but we are not pushing like yesterday.”
"There was a big jump in the road and we jumped out of the road, we were very lucky.”
“The conditions is difficult. Many wet on the road, sometimes slippery for me.”
"We had more rhythm than in the first one in order to valid our notes for the Power Stage."
SS15
"I wanted to be careful on the cuts and not to attack them too much."
"So far so good, just controlling the splits."
I tried to protect the tyres. It's still a long way to go.
Robert was really fast in here, I tried to push but not enough. Let's see on the next ones.
“We will see, everybody is using different tyres, we are trying our best to drive as fast as we can."
It's quite tricky. Not so bad even it's a difficult opening. Tyre choice is good.
It's a nice stage, very different from yesterday - I enjoyed it.
"Bigger problem was that it was quite dark in the forest.”
"Stage was fully try w
“It was quite wet under the trees, the car is moving a little bit with these tyres. I expect the next stage to be more wet.”
"We are not sure when the rain is coming, it may be there for the last stage, we will see.”
SS14
"We had a good feeling on this stage, I love it. Good feeling with the car, looking forward to tomorrow."
I had to be careful, because we didn't have spare tyre anymore.
Now its more or less to save the second place. We'll see tomorrow.
I'm losing so much time in this kind of stage. Tomorrow is still a long day.
"It is always tricky when you start with cold tyres, you are not sure about the grip levels, so I am not so happy about the time. We all want fourth place and we are all going to fight for it.”
“Its been okay, this morning was very good for us. This afternoon has been a bit more difficult, the times have not been as good as we would have hoped. We look forward to tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow can be quite interesting if the weather conditions get more difficult. It the rain is coming, as most of us expect, it will be interesting.”
“Good day, we enjoy it, all the stages were perfect. We had some problem from the car, a strange sound from the car. I hope that we can manage our way to the service.”
“It was a good day for us, we try to get the sensation and we are happy with that. The only hope in the race is the power stage tomorrow. The metro might change tonight so it might be more difficult conditions.”
SS13
Out of road
"Very controlled drive, not taking risks."
"Tricky starting on the cold tyres but a clean stage.”
Started after Meeke. "We had a leak on the rear diff before the start of the stage. That's why we were late." / Odstartoval až po Meekovi. "Ze zadného diferenciálu nám tekl olej, tak proto."
"It’s a really tricky SS. Slippery, narrow and lot of rocks. Thought I was having a puncture. Robert is really fast!"
"Very nice stage but also very tricky. We did our best and the car was working very well."
"We have some strange noise with the car and it was increasing with the speed, I think it is the gearbox. I am hoping we can come back to the service to repair the car.”
SS12
Retired due Brakes problems : Rally2
"I did not take any risks, if there were any cuts I take them in a safe way. We have to be really focused on the next stage now.”
"Car is a little bit too soft, should be a bit stiffer. But stage was good. Jari is very fast."
I really enjoyed the wide roads. I'm not taking any risk. We'll see, there are news stages tomorrow...
"I tried to push but Robert (Kubica) is going really fast as well. We will continue the battle."
“Nice rhythm and good information from the gravel crew.”
"I don’t like that SS so much. There’s so many nasty places that I don’t feel so confident."
“It was quite better than in the morning. I feel a bit confident on the fast sections. Happy we are improving on the times.”
"I have a problem with the tyre after 12 kilometre. We overheat (tyre) during the stage and it is a little difficult towards the end.”
"Good stage for us but the tyres are moving a lot. This is not a good sign for Catalunya."
SS11
Retired after a crash, having had major clutch problems he was having trouble to downgarde. He hit a bale of straw in sixth gear.
Front brakes died
“It is a nice fight, it is all quite fast, so not so easy. The stage is not so bad for me. We are using splits, but not so easy to do anything really big."
"Really enjoy, 1st 5 km was really perfect and felt really good."
“It was much better, I try to leave the higher gear and concentrate on the grip on the fast corner. The feeling is that it is faster.”
"Feeling with the car is better after the changes we made at remote service."
To enjoy driving you have to push and I didn't really this morning. This is the plan this afternoon.
SS10
Rolled
“There are sections where I know I can push, but some of the sections on the new stage I have to be careful. It was a bit demanding stage, but I have a good rhythm for driving this morning.”
"Trying to be fast without taking risks."
"Quite a tricky stage. I try to manage my position."
"Feeling is great but the times are really bad. I do not know what I can say. After the stage I am really sad, inside the stage I am really happy.”
“It has been good start although we had one mistake in the second stage. We hit with the rear right and we damage quite a lot the rim and the tyre, it was quite adventure to get to the end with good pace.”
"I’m trying to fight and I’m a little bit surprised that we loose so much."
"It is a new stage and I think it is difficult for everybody.”
SS9
"I have been practicing tarmac for so many years watching Loeb."
"A clean stage, but it could have been better."
“This morning just getting my own rhythm and taking no risks, it’s impossible to catch the guys in front. I am just driving to Dani’s (Sordo) splits, trying to learn the rally for the future.”
It's a great battle with Sordo, Kubica and Hirvonen. We have to push a bit more.
“It was okay, just was very inconsistent, in some places very good grip and in other places not so good.”
It was a good stage, I tried to do my best but I'm still not too confident with the car.
“I do some modification on the set-up and now the car work well with the tyre and we try to push during the day.”
"Today everything is fine and the car is working well. We try to work a bit and to keep a rhythm."
SS8
Very fast. I like this stage but it's very fast downhill. Grip was quite good, a bit slippy in the middle.
"I was too careful in the beginning of the stage, but I managed to fight back in the end."
It's a new start. I'm quite happy. There's more mud and gravel every cars.
"Stage was quite slippery but I have a better feeling with the car today"
“Really inside the car is great, we are enjoying it. But we are losing time, I still trying something on the fast corners. The rest I brake late, but we are still losing.”
The stage was really bumpy and the car was jumping around a lot - we're too hard on set-up.
Not 100% confident with the car, we had to fight a bit. I'm not sure what we can do to make it better.
“It was still quite humid, I did not expect and I was quite cautious on this black top."
SS7
“Was okay, we did quite bad stage number five, too many mistakes. I feel more comfortable on gravel than tarmac."
“This (street stage) is just the wasting of the time. Just get ready for tomorrow and try to improve. The feeling is good and we are enjoying, but the times are not good.”
SS6
“Now it is getting better and better, we try to change small set-up in the car and it is better in this stage.”
“Really maximum for me now and the time is really bad…”
"We had everything today. This is how it is, sometimes it may be better to have all the problems on the same day"
I'm happy with my drive, really enjoying. But, Jari-Matti was bloody fast here, crazy!
"Morning was really difficult but the afternoon has been lot better if we can keep this pace I’m really happy."
The car is good now so we're trying to do our best to set some good times.
"Couldn’t drive any faster. Something is not right, so very disappointed…"
I couldn't have done much more today. I'm happy.
It was a though day but we did a quite good job, improving since this morning. I'm more happy with the car now.
SS5
“Was better, but it was not the stage for us. The felling was not so good and we had a spin on the hairpin we went slightly off from the road. I could not get in the right direction so I had to reverse.”
“It worked well, the time is similar as in the morning. Nice stage. We did well, but the time should be better.”
Has some kind of problem “We will see if we can find it.”
Losing the front of the car... Maybe something with the differential. I couldn't find the rhythm.
Stage was OK but I'm not fully confident with the car - we need to work on the balance.
"Unfortunately we have another problem this afternoon, a broken front left damper since the 1st stage [of the loop]. I can’t drive so fast"
A good stage for us, maybe a little bit to careful. But I'm happy with my driving.
"A good run but some sections had poor grip, a lot of dirt on the track. Challenging."
SS4
“Now the car is going a well. We had a difficult stage in there, I did not have a good feeling, the car is sliding a lot."
“It went very well, much better than this morning. We have a better feeling.”
“Was not so good, we change quite a bit the set-up but now we get quite a bit of understeer."
“We get a little bit understeer all the time, we lost time in the hairpin. It is a terrible time…”
“Was okay, the car is a bit more stable. But we have a big problem with the steering, but we have to manage it.”
“Now we have the hard (tyres) the time is one second slower, it was quite okay, but we can feel it more on the next stage, the long one.”
"Nearly a perfect stage, except the last hairpin."
The mechanics fixed the car in service, they did an incredible job. We're happy to be back.!
"Everything is working well now. We’ll try to get some pleasure. The only target is the Power Stage"
"Good stage for us, a little bit more slippery than this morning."
"The funny thing is there is a lot of rubber on the surface now, the last junction is incredibly slippy."
SS3
At the end of the stage we had a warning light appear on the dash and the car stopped on the liaison back to service. We had no choice but to push the car into regroup, which wasn't easy!
“I am quite happy with the driving. It (soft compound tyre) was not working so bad, so we did not lose so much time. Now we need to make the car harder and see what it will bring.”
I hope we will be able to find what the problem is back in service - we don't know what it is.
Another enjoyable stage. I'm definitely feeling good. It's a good start. And we can still improve a lot.
It's a very slow time in a short stage. We have work to do...
"Very fast stage, lot of stones in the line."
Not bad but we'll try to improve in the afternoon loop. Lost a bit of time in some places.
"A much better feeling on this stage felt a lot better. Sorry that Seb has had problems, you never want to see that."
“I guess it is with the shifting (gears) with the car, a lot of cuts (engine) and then I lost power…”
SS2
"Good stage, lost a bit of time towards the end for some reason."
“Not really bad, but we chose soft tyres and on this stage we lose the tyres, not a good choice. But not a bad time on these tyres. I try pushing again.”
“Struggling with grip, the car is moving around so much."
"We had a good speed. A beautiful stage, but we have to remember to stay focussed!"
No problem. I'm happy with I've done so far.
"We drove the last 5km with no power, we will have a look now. We also got stuck in a ditch briefly."
"Not going strongly but start to have a bit of understand of tyres."
Stopped on stage. "I don't know ehat happened. I try but I do not know. Possibly linked to the gears.” / Zastavil na zkoušce. "Nevím, co se děje. Asi něco s převody."
“I do not have a very good feeling with the car. The brakes are too hard, I cannot get feeling with the brakes.. Seb has problems, I pass him.”
SS1
“Good for the first stage, but it is going a little bit dirty now, they cut a lot. It was a difficult road for us, the time is not so bad.”
“It was okay, too wide, nothing to do… We go through the stage smoothly. Very slippery, more slippery than I expected.”
“It was okay, we choose soft tyres so we are on the limit with the tyres, so lets see if the next one will be more slippy.”
"Very fast stage, some understeering but overall it was OK."
"Not 100% happy but the rally just started, long way to go."
"Very fast and very wide. I enjoyed the stage. Not so bad for me to start this rally."
A lot of grip. But it's very easy to overdrive and overheat the tyres. We'll see and keep going!
"Maybe not a good start but it’s so fast up hill that if you make a mistake, you loose a lot. Time to wake up!"
"Stage conditions were ok but we have a little bit understeer. Next will be more important."
"Quite a good start. The tyre is working well."