33. ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2015
20. 8. – 23. 8. 2015, Trier • asphalt 374.43 km • total distance including road sections - 1397.50 km • Other years
Info
SS21
“Is been really great weekend. The car is really incredible, really fast. I have enjoyed every single metre of this rally. All the Volkswagen family has to be happy this weekend.”
"It's a big relief. The pressure for a win was on all weekend and we made it with a 1-2-3. And now I am so close to a third title. So, so happy! "
A huge moment on stage - "One cut moved the car and we hit the sumpguard, which unbalanced the car. All okay."
"I'm really happy for me and the team. I need to give congratulations to Thierry. Finally I beat him, but he did well here like always."
"A good edition and a good fight with Dani - he deserves fourth."
"There have been some real positives this week but still there's a lot of work to be done between now and Corsica."
"I had a spin in a slow corner, I had to reverse. I'm happy with our progress"
"I did something stupid on day one, so I didn't want to do anything stupid here."
"An incredible week for us. Improvement stage after stage. I'm very happy."
"The rally was difficult from the start with the engine change and time penalty. We will miss Australia so I am looking forward to returning in Corsica."
spun
SS20
"I tried to catch but it's not enough."
"The time was not too bad.”
“We are trying to do are best, but the car is working fantastic without any troubles. Is a really nice test before the Barum rally.”
"It's looking good. I hope we celebrate the same feeling in 15km. I just want to finish."
"No problem. Relaxed. Easy driving."
"I upped the pace a bit because Dani was closing. The most important thing is to keep the 1-2-3 until the finish."
His bonnet is carrying some straw from a bale. "Just touched a chicane. All okay."
"No big push, a comfortable rhythm."
"No problem. I didn't take any risks in the gravel cuts."
"It's not possible to catch Elfyn."
“It was okay. We are playing around a lot with the set-up. Sometimes it is worse, sometimes it is better.”
"A stall on a hairpin in here cost me about five seconds but I'm happy."
“We are enjoying the last two stages. Slippy at some places in the braking."
"It was okay. A better feeling on this second pass. One more stage to go."
SS19
"My engineer made a few changes to the set-up and they really worked. The car feels great."
"We had a big spin. It lost us six or seven seconds. We were pushing! Okay, we try again now. Never give up."
"It's fantastic to fight with him. I'm a beginner here in this car. Nasser had a lot of experience and we know the Skoda is a good car with a good engine. I tried to push."
"We would like to bring this wonderful car to the finish."
"I've never driven this one better. I know now why I made my mistake last year - my notes were too fast. I wish I could go back in a time machine. Every day is a school day."
"It was okay. I'm surprised by the time because I thought I was slow. I'm disappointed because the car feels great now, we've found a good set-up. I wish we had this feeling earlier in the rally."
“It was not a good stage, I had some problem with my brakes, even on the first corner, no real brake on the rear. I was off the road a few times. Not a nice stage.”
“It’s not bad this morning in the first loop. In this one I brake too late for the hairpin and I think I lose 5-second with the cold tyre."
“Just taking it quite gently and see in the second loop.”
“It is okay, the road is more cleaner than we had it in the previous stage."
SS18
"I spun and was briefly off the road. The car is running perfectly." Front bodywork slightly dented."
penalty 5 min = arrived at TC13C only on rim and only pieces of tyre
"We have a good pace and the notes are working well. I try to push. They are very close now. If we can make up one position it would be fantastic. We need the points."
"The plan is to finish second. No problems this morning. Everything is okay. I hope it will continue."
"Lots of loose gravel coming out now. We have a big gap behind us, so took it carefully."
“It is important to finish this rally, of course would be stupid to push this morning."
"No risks at all. Three stages to go."
"A few less risks, but I still keep the pace. You never know what Thierry can do."
“Maybe today is the day to accept the situation and get to the finish and then next year can be a completely different story.
"I tried. And I'm happy with the rhythm. I felt I did a good stage. If Evans is quicker there's nothing I can do."
“Wasn’t a perfect stage, we had quite a big moment in one place, but we are still here and we need to keep pushing.”
"We're not pushing too much today."
"It's alright, but the stage was more difficult than I thought. There were some clean sections with little grip."
double puncture - one spare
“I push a little bit.”
"Being first through is not nice because it means we are Rally 2..."
stopped again
stopped - moving again
SS17
"We pushed a lot. I'm really very, very happy with the pace of this Skoda. We show we are fast on the Tarmac. I'm happy to move up and now I understand how to drive this car! Tomorrow we will push more."
"We had a puncture (on the Panzerplatte) and stopped to change it. Unfortunately I forgot to close the bonnet and we had to stop again to secure it."
"A really good day for me. I've been able to push where I felt it was safe to do so. Now I need more experience before I can go faster."
"A good day. No mistakes. No pushing this afternoon because we didn't want to lose this excellent position."
stopped
"This afternoon has been enjoyable. We are getting there with the car set-up step-by-step. Now we are using different brake pads and I have to get used to them. I'm happy to have made some positive steps."
"From beginning to end it's been a horrible day. I'm happy to get through it."
“I don’t think there is any problem only the turbo problem. I am doing the best I can with the driving. I am never one to blame the car, if the times are slow, the first person that is on is myself. Anyway we can fix the problem and come out again tomorrow.”
"Not so bad. It's getting better and better. I struggle to hold back. If I push too hard I seem to go slower."
"A positive day for sure but Panzerplatte was very frustrating. We were forced to take two spares because we were concerned about tyre wear. We need to start tomorrow like today - we need to keep Ostberg at bay."
He completes the stage with grass filling a front wheel. "I went wide in a corner near the end, nothing serious."
“It has been a perfect day for us, really happy. We managed to make the most of the difference in Panzerplatte, that was the key of the rally, the set-up and the tyre management. I had a really good feeling. Four more stage to go!”
SS16
"Another puncture directly after the start of the stage, without having hit anything. We had to change the left rear tyre."
"I made two big errors and had to reverse each time. That cost me some time."
changed a puncture
stopped
"We got a puncture quite early in the stage. Without gravel crews we're driving blind and a corner that was clean before was full of dirt this time."
“I think Craig (Breen) had puncture. I was very very careful to avoid puncture. I try to finish.”
"One stage to go today, driving carefully but I tried to put on a show for the Czech fans I saw in the stage."
“Very hard stage, the feeling is good. 2-kilometres before the finish off road for small time.”
"It's not easy for the tyres, and its not easy for me to get a good feeling for the grip, but all good."
“I am quite happy with the set-up. I did not expect the car to be working as well as it is. Not an easy stage, it is very long. It is okay, I enjoy more than the first lap, much better in the grip.”
“Was okay, much better than in the morning. It was first good stages, first stages without problem, we were enjoying the stages.”
“We went off in the beginning of the stage, we went straight. Unfortunately our starter moment failed before the stage, so we could not restart the car.”
"There was gravel on the road in one of the last corners and we went wide. We always knew we would lose a bit of time here because we're carrying two spares."
"Good. There's a maze of roads here and it's a little easier on the second pass. Wide in one junction but that's it."
stopped, moving again
"I tried a bit too hard and made too many mistakes. Too many late brakes, especially in the slow corners."
“I am surprised with the time as I think we had a good run. I am really surprised about that. I do not understand, I thought I had a good run. The feeling was really good, but the time was not there. I do not have answers. It was on one of the impacts (broken windscreen).”
"I had a really good stage. I managed to find a good set-up. The tyres survived okay. Even at the end they were good. It was enjoyable to drive."
off road, moving again
SS15
"The car has been repaired, everything is running to plan again."
SS14
"I have gearbox problems while shifting up from second to third. All other gears are okay."
clutch problem
"We made some small corrections to our pace notes on the earlier pass. This time was much better."
He completes with a front tyre missing a big chunk of rubber. "We touched rocks on the inside of the first corner and that upset the rhythm."
"The power-steering is fixed. The feeling is good, now we can start to build the speed."
front left puncture
"We changed the diff in service and it takes time to get used to. We're testing some set-ups for Corsica."
SS13
Right front tyre heavily worn. "We didn't hit anything, the tyre started disintegrating in the final third of the stage."
"We drove past the point where I had my accident some years ago. The memories came back immediately. With the huge delay, we try not to take too many risks, we want to get to know the car better."
Air is coming out of the rear left tyre. "I didn't notice, that probably happened at the very end."
"A beautiful stage and a great battle with Camili."
"I have made a mistake and overshot a junction. That cost me a few seconds."
"I hit a rock. We have changed the left front wheel, but something on the suspension broke as well in the process."
punctures - both front wheels
stopped - He's gone off 11km into Panzerplatte. Crew okay
stopped
"This one is no fun in a GT car. There's no grip and it's too bumpy. Go fast here and you wreck your car."
"We had no power steering for the last 10 kilometres."
stopped
“It is not easy. I lose some time on the start line.” - Stalled on the start line.
His right-rear tyre is badly damaged. "It's because of the broken driveshaft," he explains. "It's making a flat spot on the tyre and even though we were careful we destroyed it. We almost didn't make it around the last corner.
“I don’t have much good to say at the moment. The car is fine, it is just set-up. You turn the steering wheel and the car goes straight ahead, everywhere…”
"It was reasonably okay but when the tyres started to go off I lost a bit of confidence."
"I tried to start quite slow, but still my tyres were worn by the end. It's very difficult to judge your pace in there without the split times."
"It was a long stage, really hard to know, how hard you can push. "
stopped
"We had a huge jump in there and a heavy impact on landing."
"The car did not work as I expected it to after the test. It did not work in here. It was too stiff."
“It is a difficult stage, now without splits, you do not know where you are. You have to save a bit the tyres but also go as fast as you can."
SS11
"The car is running perfectly."
"I could only cruise, we have a broken driveshaft."
"Currently, I am the fastest non-Volkswagen, that is almost like a victory for me."
SS10
"Not so good. We have a problem with the gear change. It's not shifting down for hairpins. I had to shift manually. We lost a little time there."
"I am happy to be able to drive the Skoda. It is getting better and better, I am happy."
"We were too careful this morning. Now it's better. A bit more of a push. 80 or 85 per cent - but no more."
"We have a broken drive shaft. I'm losing a lot of time under braking and acceleration."
An onboard camera has come loose and is rattling around the footwell. "It was a distraction. I didn't want it to get stuck behind the brake pedal."
"A clean run from us on a stage we don't know too well. That's a great time from Jari-Matti."
“We just have to continue. It’s a nice stage, some sections are completely new and there is some mud being pulled out under the trees.”
"I had a big impact quite early on, I hit something in a corner and had a bad vibration afterwards."
"It was a good stage. I remember it from 2007. I had a good feeling. With a few more straights it was easier to see the road."
“I didn't take all the risk, I have a little margin, not a lot.”
SS9
"I had a big impact." Significant damage to the left rear of the car. He was in a ditch.
The bonnet is open on the left-hand side and there is bodywork damage on the car.
puncture right front on the stage and changed the wheel
“My target for today is to preserve my third place. We were very careful.”
"Jan [Kopecky] is on a good pace. I'm going to try and keep Eric [Camilli] behind and see how we go."
"We'd like to keep our position today, so I plan to go fast enough to do that but not so quick that I make mistakes. I need to push to keep up my concentration."
“The first bit of the stage was really good, the second half we were slow on the pace notes. I have to brake better to get the right feeling.”
“No big problems, all good. This stage we haven’t done last year as it was done when we were retired, so we are trying to correct pace notes.”
"I studied our on-boards last night and I'm trying to concentrate on my throttle and braking - I've got to learn how to do it right."
The car was not stable, not braking well. We try to stay with the cross (mixture of hard and soft compound tyres) but it is not working.” "Auto je nestabilní. Obuli jsme mix pneu (tvrdé a měkké) do kříže, ale nefunguje to."
“Not so bad, this stage I make mistakes in some places, was not flat out all the time. I am quite happy.”
“He (Evans) has done a good job. I just need to go faster…”
“Maybe we should do the whole rally on this stage! I think the feeling is a bit better, okay it was a bit slippy at the start, lost a bit on the brakes in some sections.”
“I had a good stage but my brake pedal was getting very soft, I have to bleed the brake, it is strange.”
"No mistakes, a clean run, we are not going flat out at all, just trying to find a clean rhythm and stay there.”
“It was okay, I do a couple of big mistakes, in junctions and hairpins, I am not able to do a handbrake turn, very strange."
“The car set-up wise is fine, just the braking seems to be a problem for me.”
“It’s good, I had a clean drive, not too much risk as I want to be back in the rhythm again."
SS8
Turbocharger failure
"I have a great feeling in the car. We are enjoying every single metre."
"The day started really, really well. But since the accident on SS6 I have been thinking only about getting to the finish. The team have a lot of work to do."
“Was really nice fight (with Neuville), on this stage I am pushing really hard. I do some modification with the car and it feels good.”
“It hasn’t been too bad, we have to be realistic. We have not made the improvements this afternoon that we wanted.”
"It's been an okay afternoon but we've been struggling a bit with the set-up and the rhythm. It's been a long time since we've been on Tarmac."
“It has not been perfect. I had a better feeling with the car.”
“It has been great day for Volkswagen. We just have to keep on working hard. It has been good day for us.”
“It was a little bit better, I tried maybe too hard too soon and you end up losing time. I need to be patient, but the times I see are quite encouraging.”
“I have not had the best feeling this afternoon, but Seb (Ogier) has been driving well this afternoon.”
"I had a great afternoon. Really good fun. It's been a long time since I've had to push so hard on tarmac. Jari-Matti is not too far behind so we have to keep on going."
SS7
Lost the windscreen - “We went off, massive understeer. We went through the vineyard. We had to stop as I could not see anything.”
“I made one mistake at a chicane.”
“We have just some small problem with the sump guard.”
move again
stopped
"After we went off we were back to full speed for four or five kilometres but then the compression strut broke. I've made a repair and I hope to get back to service."
Evans had passed Meeke mid-stage. ""For me this stage was alright. Nothing special but overall okay"
"Flat out. I did my best and had a few moments in there. I nearly hit a wall near the finish because we had a lot of understeer and the brakes were going. Let's see how it compares to Dani."
"We hit the right-rear wheel when we slid wide on a left-hand corner. My mistake. It seems to be okay."
“It’s been okay, a very nice stage. I have a good rhythm.”
“We had a good run, I can’t go any faster at the moment, I don’t know..”
“Not a perfect stage, but if I manage to beat Jari (Latvala) here it will be great as I never beat him here.”
SS6
"We went off in some gravel, hit a tree and ended up a long way off the road in a field. Some spectators showed us back on, but after that we went off again and then had a spin."
"I got caught out in a bit of gravel, went off into a field and it took some time to get back on. The car felt okay after that but now I have a problem - I have to go..."
SS5
He completes with a rear puncture and the shredded rubber jamming the wheel in the arch.
The German has not started the stage. His Skoda is on the road section just before the start control.
high-speed spin
“We have a differential problem and we cannot change until tonight. We still have to do three stage more, the wheel is spinning a lot and we have to preserve the tyre.”
"I'm loving driving the car - flat out."
“This morning is very difficult, very hard.”
“Now we change the gearbox and everything is fine, the car is braking when I want to brake. Better than this morning. I am happy now, I am driving a rally car now.”
"Okay. Quite okay, We changed the set-up. It's slightly better. Trying to keep up a reasonable speed without taking too many risks."
“It was not so bad, we had a few big moments in the stage.”
"Better. Still struggling on the gravel sections, where we don't know what the car is going to do, but it's much better on the clean."
“I am happy, fairly tricky conditions.”
"The handbrake is working fine now. The car is more enjoyable to drive on this repeated stage."
"The stage is a bit cleaner than before. The car is fine after we bent the wheel earlier."
"The car is working a bit better. I think I had a good stage. We will see how Dani [Sordo] comes but I couldn't go much faster."
"Everything is fine. My best stage of the rally so far."
“I think it was a big improvement, but I have a problem at the beginning of the stage. The driving felt better.”
“I think I am losing in cutting places. He is doing better on places where you cut. There was a couple of tricky places.”
"I'm quite happy with the car - the set-up was good"
SS4
"The car is working really well, a little understeer, but I'm enjoying myself."
“I was really enjoying this stage, but some braking zones, I missed a junction. There is an issue with the front diff."
"It's getting better. It's all about getting the braking right."
SS3
Retired (technical) -> Super Rally
hit a wall in the vineyards. Bodywork damage right rear, wheel is bent
Puncture right rear, to the finish on the rim.
"Our set-up was too soft for this stage. We will try to change it before the next one."
"We had no handbrake. We re-set the system with the button on the dash and it was okay in the second half."
completes with its right-hand rear wheel wobbling badly. "It happened in a slow junction, second gear, the rear just stepped out and hit a kerb. We don't know how bad it is until we have a look."
"Quite happy with my driving but of course it's not very funny when you see their times at the stage end. We can't get near them. I have no idea what to do."
"It's very easy to make a mistake in there, a lot of gravel in the cuts already."
"Still I did a few mistakes so I'm not completely satisfied. I'm still struggling to find the correct feeling with the braking."
“It is close… It was not really a good stage for me, I try to drive well, but some corner I do not have the perfect speed, too cautious. But it was not too bad. It is a good drive, no mistakes, but now I am looking for perfection and now it is not the case.”
SS2
made a spin
Has been off the road but completes the stage with front left damage
"It was okay, I changed the set-up a bit and found some more grip."
"The first stage was okay but I'm not happy with my driving in here. I'm losing too much time with understeer and I don't know why."
SS1
Front-left damage to the wing, bumper and bonnet. "There was a lot of gravel in the road and we understeered off. Spectators pushed us back on. Okay, we try to continue.
"On tarmac I feel good, but there's so much dirt on this road that I don't feel too confident."
"Completely new for me - a difficult stage but I pushed hard."
"The car is incredible. I'm very happy. I didn't push hard."
"Very dirty and slippery. We struggled with the grip but, okay, we start with a five minute penalty - so just driving."
"I tried. We can be a little bit better I think but not enough to match the times of Ogier and Latvala..."
"A quite okay start. Not much grip at the beginning but it got better and better."
"I didn't enjoy it so much. The road was very different to Shakedown and there is a lot of gravel around. I lost the rhythm."
front-right wing and front bumper damage - "I hit a patch of gravel in a braking zone and went off the road. A big surprise. The car is okay."
"Not the best start. Not as much grip as I was expecting and the road is pretty dirty. Not a clean run from me."
when he sees the times of the Volkswagens": "They've got something we haven't."
"Very, very tricky. In a few hairpins I lost time on the handbrake because the roads were more slippery than I expected."
“Out of the junctions I went a little but sideways and into the gravel and lost a little speed, but it was a clean stage for us.”
"A lot of hay bales on the stage, we hit one quite hard but we're okay."