54. RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada 2018
WRC #12 • WRC2 #12 • WRC3 #12 • Peugeot Rally Cup Iberia #5 • Beca Júnior R2 RFEdA #6 • N5 RMC Cup (E) #5
25. 10. – 28. 10. 2018, Salou • Real Automóvil Club Cataluña • asphalt - gravel 331.58 km - (cancelled 14.12 km) • total distance including road sections - 1495.73 km • Other years
Info
SS18
"I just... It is incredible, I couldn't believe that! I tried my best, I struggled every morning to get the rhythm except this morning. I managed to get the feeling back with the car and I could push. Great satisfaction for sure, I didn't believe I would win a rally again. I'm not thinking about next year yet."
"I think it won't be enough to win the rally, I'm sure Seb will do what he has do. The main goal was to stay ahead of Thierry and that is positive for the championship."
"Evans in front of me took a big stone out of the cut, I tried to avoid it but no chance."
"It was quite straight forward really, I'm concentrating on my rally and he is concentrating on his - nothing more to say than that."
"It was a nice rally, few mistakes - we lost a little bit of time on some stages with indecision on the tyres. On this stage I made some mistakes. I'm not happy, but I'm also not sad, it was OK."
"The sport is fantastic and when you are in a position like me you have to keep fighting. I'm really happy with the car performance. I am really sorry to the team for my mistake, that's what happens when you are fighting for every tenth."
puncture
"We are very disappointed, it is more or less impossible but we never give up - we always push until the last moment."
"Victory. Yeah, I mean for sure some other things matter but at least we brought the car to the finish. I finished this rally for the first time, try to do better next year."
"A bit demoralising to be honest, we had great speed. We could have been among the fastest but we kept having set backs and having moments. I'm trying to build the confidence but it is tough when you keep having these moments, the positive is at least the speed is there."
"It has been very difficult conditions this weekend. It's been really tough, I can't really explain why. I just can't get the feeling. Going into the corner I can't seem to get the car to do what I want. We have to keep working to try to understand."
"I would say I learnt to drive in the wets on difficult sections. In the dry I think I was on an OK level. I need to improve the driving technique though."
"I'm really excited for the lead battle, but look at it from the sporting perspective - everyone is pushing really hard. It will be great to watch."
"We think we should be fine, this stage was really good. If we win it would be great, it's been a great rally."
SS17
"It was a big push I can say! It is a shame we have been wrong the whole weekend with tyres because we could have been much better. We will fight on the last one with Seb."
puncture
"I had a spin in the hairpin, that's it."
"It was good, I was really happy with the balance of the car - it is working really well. There is a bit of a deficit to find, but the car is working well and I'm happy to give it a go in the next one."
"I'm just second slower than Dani, I had a good stage but we changed the balance and I struggled a little bit with understeer."
"I pushed like hell. It is drying a little but and I felt more comfortable. I needed to push because the weather has been so complicated. I like this weather now and I want to push."
"We did a good change for the car, but we didn't have enough tyres and the one soft is not so nice - it overheated already on the first part. But that is how it is, you need to live with that. We're not fighting for everything so it doesn't matter."
"The position for us at the moment doesn't make any difference, we are just driving - not competing for anything at the moment."
"It is sad to thing that is the right way, but that's rally! Just trying to stay out of trouble, no mistakes. I just wish the whole rally could have been like this, building up the confidence. I just had an hour of testing on asphalt before the rally."
"I tried the set-up which I found during my test, still I struggle with understeer but the feeling is better."
"We are really trying to drive faster but I think we lost some time, I just couldn't find the grip. I'm starting to be a lot closer to team-mates now, which is good."
SS16
"Loeb is doing really great times, it looks really nice! Before this stage we made some changes and it was understeering as much."
"I had a moment, I was pushing hard. I hadn't done this stage last year and it was the first time doing it in this World Rally Car. I was pushing and had a small moment."
"It is very intense! For sure the end of the rally is going to be exciting. We'll have to change things on the set-up for the second pass."
"The information we had from the gravel crew and the weather team was dry - drying - and I knew the hard tyre would be the right choice. I think I had a good drive on this stage, but the gap is not as big as it was before."
"I don't know why I lost so much, I knew it wasn't a perfect stage but I didn't expect to lose that much."
"I tried to do a good stage, but I didn't do the full stage last year. I'm faster than Dani, he was very fast in here last year. We'll have to see if I can close in on Ogier."
"We make a big mistake with the tyres, there is a lot of grip in the surface and the tyre is moving quite a bit. Sébastien made a great choice with the tyre."
"It doesn't matter. It was not the plan, I am trying but I cannot. I don't know why. I crashed on the previous one last year so I need to check the pacenotes for this one now."
"I think if you look at what the older master is doing it could be quite complicated. It looks like he is the only one who made the right tyre choice. But for sure we will push a little bit."
"The first part of that stage you could have been on the black road back home - really narrow and bumpy. Really hard to commit to it today, two stages without mistakes so far today."
"I'm struggling to get everything dynamically right, the braking, the acceleration, I can't get it right."
"I tried to save the tyres through the stage, compared to the last stage, so I think I was a bit slower."
"The stage is quite fun, in the second-half we have a bit of dry mud - a bit of a sandy surface. The damp also makes it quite slippery at points."
SS15
stopped
puncture
"I didn't consider the hards. I am struggling with the car - I'm having far too much understeer at the moment. I need to do some changes to the car before the next stage."
"I think he went for the risk and it is paying off. For us it was difficult for us to take that crazy risk when you're fighting for the championship."
"I think I made a good time, I drove really hard - really fast - and I took the hard choice, I think it was the right choice."
stopped
"Didn't want to give any time away, it felt like a good run but I've obviously lost a few seconds somewhere."
"At the end I was sliding a little bit too much but I had a good rhythm."
"The car was moving a lot, and it was a bit slippery. Maybe two soft tyres was too soft, I tried my best but the car was moving - under braking the rear was coming a lot."
"I have a lot of understeer and no real confidence because of that. I did what I could to be honest."
"I think it is exactly what we thought, not so easy in places but much more consistent than yesterday. There is no plan, just to drive through and get the feeling for ourselves and basically bag the manufacturers points."
"Steady away, maybe a little too hard with the car - it is quite slippery in the second-half of the stage. Clean run though, that's the main thing."
"I tried to push, I touched the armco. We had a clean stage, it was quite dry actually - some damp parts here and there but we had a clean run. I expected it to be more damp, I still think soft is the tyre."
"Hopefully we can get used to the car more on the dry asphalt."
"A lot of places are dry but under the trees there are damp places. It is more consistent than yesterday in terms of the level of grip."
SS14
stalled
stalled
stalled
SS13
"We had a driving mistake on this one, I had a spin and I had to go back down the road to turn around."
"That was not good on the stage, really muddy sections."
stopped
"It felt like an OK run to be honest, just difficult - sliding a lot. That time of Seb looks pretty good."
"We had too much rain, the tyre is not working properly now. I think I had a good drive but it was impossible to do better."
"It was quite muddy and I can tell you, I was too cautious because Ott had a puncture here. I was not confident in the car. That was poor, I didn't drive well."
"I felt it just got worse and worse throughout the stage. It looked like it was the wrong choice. It has been a tough day for sure, I was hoping for a dry day today to see if we had made progress with the car."
"It has been a difficult afternoon unfortunately. It is a team sport, we all work together, but we trusted our meteo and there was no rain all afternoon. There is still some fight going!"
"I wanted to enjoy this day so much but it hasn't been a good one."
"Maybe I lost a little bit on this one, I was struggling with my windscreen so much which was full of mud at the beginning. One more stage, hopefully we can get closer to the lead - especially Sébastien [Ogier]"
"I got in a rut, it was full of mud. I think we were sixth gear and we spun."
"I think the wets were overheating, not the best option but at least we tried something. The car is in one piece buth it would have been nice to have been faster."
spin
SS12
“We were very lucky to get away with a spin in there. More time lost but no damage."
SS11
stopped
stopped - gearshift issue
"It is difficult, we have the worst position on the road with all the mud and dirt, it is hard to fight with the drivers who are starting further up."
"I was leading but Latvala was coming fast. I will still continue to do my race. For me, the feeling was good - I am really surprised by the times of the drivers with wet tyres."
"Ogier has pulled a bit on us, I wasn't too happy with the stage. There are places where I could have pushed a bit harder. A bit more rain would help, but the tyres are still working okay."
"It was really tricky in this one, it was muddy in the cuts. I did a small mistake. I tried hard, it was okay - at the moment it is a good battle."
"A little bit off the pace, but the middle section was so abrasive that the tyre was moving. I didn't do this stage last year because I retired before it. I think I've got the right tyres."
"I'm working, I'm really trying to work hard and trying to be better. Now running four full wets and trying to get used to that feeling. Every corner I'm telling myself I could have been faster. I just need to find that feeling."
"I think I have to get used to these tyres a little bit. I don't think I was aggressive. For sure, more rain would help."
"Pray for the rain a bit more, I thought it was going to be wetter in there so the car was moving around quite a bit. I'll have to make some changes now."
"If I see the time of Lappi I'm really surprised, because I had the feeling that my tyre was working well."
"Let's see, there is still long to go. We'll try. I guess he'll benefit on this one as he has slicks but hopefully we'll benefit on the next two."
"It was much drier than we expected. We have six wet tyres so let's say there are not options in there."
SS10
"I was just trying to do my race, at the end of the stage I lost a time because it feels like I had a puncture. I got news that it was very slippy. Jari-Matti is really flying here."
"Just a puncture. Don't know exactly how it happened, there was a bump, nothing special."
"Few slides because I pulled the handbrake by mistake. I had trouble turning the car, especially in the last downhill section."
"I think it is an easy answer now we've seen how strong the Toyotas are. It is a bit of a lottery to choose, we chose wrong."
"You don't get temperature in the tyre and you're on the edge everywhere. I think I did a good stage, but when you see the time it is obviously not enough!"
"Now I went cross-tyres with a wet and a slick and it is tricky like that. Not an easy morning, we try to adjust now for the afternoon loop. The driving was better it is just the tyres."
"Absolutely disgusting, it was the most horrible stage I've ever driven in my life. The car just wanted to swap ends everywhere. I just want to enjoy it, but with the wing gone it is just undriveable."
"I think I'm still too cautious! On the first one my team-mates beat me. There is more grip than to what I'm driving. This downhill at the end, how slippery!"
changed tyre
"For sure I'm very happy with how things have gone this morning. I thought the tyre was overheating towards the end because the grip was not there, but I think it was coming from the surface."
"It was difficult for me to get in the rhythm of the wet conditions with these tyres. Six years I haven't driven a wet stage, we're still behind but not too far. It's okay."
SS9
stopped
"We don't have a lot of experience in these conditions - anyone. The tyres are not as safe a choice as Jari-Matti but I'm happy."
"It is difficult, some of the cuts are getting very dirty but others are not too bad. It is difficult to judge how it is deteriorating."
"It is very difficult, very complicated. The car is very nervous on this tyre, it isn't quite adapted to these conditions."
"I took a wet tyre, I am a lot more confident driving with the wet tyres. I'm comfortable with the car as well, it was performing nicely."
"I just tried to be super smooth, it is so slippery. Struggling to find any confidence to go fast, it looks like we were way too careful so we have to step it up."
"Very difficult, I think the car is very snappy in there because the tyres are not working here in the wet. Difficult to know if these were the best choice."
"I don't know, wide line or something, it caught me out under braking. Bad start, shouldn't have done that."
"I had a good stage but it was very tricky, I was sliding everywhere. Towards the end I took it a bit steadier, in those conditions I wanted to be careful."
spin
"Quite okay, very smooth run. No drama, no risk as well. Let's see how the boys will do behind me, that's more important than looking at those ahead!"
"It is even more difficult than yesterday it is my first time in this car on wets. We need to find the limits."
"Very difficult conditions, for me especially. When it is wet you cannot predict, there is not much on these slick tyres, okay they are soft but it is not great. For me, this is completely new."
SS7
electrical issue
"It was difficult in the beginning. I had a better set-up in the afternoon, I struggled with understeer earlier. Tomorrow, asphalt - if it is wet - will be tricky. Daniel is performing as usual! He didn't lose anything."
"It felt good in terms of commitment, but maybe not as efficient as it was earlier. Still all to play for."
stopped
spoiler is missing! "Must have got caught in a branch or something, the trees are a bit longer. It was a bit tricky towards the end of the stage."
"I know Seb from before! All the people in the front, they are also interesting so we're not just focusing on Loeb."
"Sadly it was actually colder outside than on the first loop. The tyre wear wasn't as bad as I expected so bringing the extra spare didn't pay off."
"It is frustrating, but I think the most important thing is that I've got the confidence back. It is good for me, because I haven't been on this form for a long, long time."
stopped
"I know it could have been much better. That's how it is now. Really looking forward to the asphalt now. Beginning of the stage was good."
"Nothing is done yet, but still it was a tricky day I would say. Beginning of the afternoon the car was really good, but later on I started to struggle and I don't know why yet."
"It has been very tough for the front-runner today, it has been very loose and we have been losing time all day. If the conditions are tricky tomorrow that makes it tough for everbody and that gives opportunities."
"We are absolutely on it to be honest to be fast as we can. We kept the pressure on Ogier, we are not so far behind, we made a few small mistakes but it was a good run."
SS6
stopped
"It was not an easy morning, but now we have a proper set-up and the car is working. It was not so clean stage for me but the driving was quite okay."
"This stage is really fast, I'm just missing some kind of loose experience. Turkey and Sardinia were both quite slow. We'll see what time we can make back tomorrow!"
"The confidence is growing, the tyres are working better this afternoon and the car feels better. I'm a bit far off where I want to be, but it is getting better. That stage was really fun. This next one, I don't like so much but we're having a good time out here."
"It was okay, it was a good stage. I tried to be a bit more aggressive and changed a few settings between the stages because there was a bit of understeer on the last one."
"Dani is doing really well this afternoon, but I felt that was a good clean stage. He has taken a bit of time. There is still more to come."
"The grip level is really high on the clean line but I'm struggling to keep the car on the line. Maybe the car is not the easiest for me, but I just need to learn the drive."
"Maybe Jari has a few more grey hairs than me! I think he knows the stage better. The car is doing what we want, we'll keep plugging away and hopefully the next one will go to plan."
"I tried to push but in the middle of the stage I started to take care of the tyres. With the next stage having the asphalt section I didn't want to take too much life out of the tyres. We're still in the fight."
"I hit a big rock on the line on the front-right and I was afraid something had broken, the car doesn't feel quite right."
"I'm very pleased, the car is feeling very, very good. Everything is doing a great job, everything is in balance!"
"It is not going well. That's how it is. I don't know what the problem is, probably me. The car is quite okay."
"The beginning was nice but the dampers seem like they can't manage, they're getting so, so hot."
"It is cleaning a lot and for sure it is going to get much faster after a couple of cars. I gave it everything I have, there's not much more."
"There was a rock under braking, but I had a very good stage to be honest. I can't do the next stage like this, I won't stay on the road for sure."
SS5
"The feeling is a bit better, but we are still 4 seconds behind so there are still things to improve. I know what the issue was, but it is difficult to change the mind and change the driving in service."
"I touched a stone at the start of the stage but it's fine - it knocked my confidence a bit. I'll keep plugging away at it, I'll be flat to the square right this afternoon."
"Happy with the car, my rhythm is a little bit better than this morning. If we want to be in the fight then we have to push. Tänak is really fast, so lets see what happens."
"Feeling is good, the grip is high so it is better. We have one more spare than everyone else so it is not optimum in this stage but hopefully we'll gain it back on the others."
"I had a surprisingly good feeling in here, I really enjoyed the driving. I was really frustrated after the last one, it was no ones fault but my own. I hope to start getting some time back now."
"That was my mistake, I spun and I couldn't put it in reverse so we lost time. The car feels fine."
spin
"The grip is really high, but now obviously on the first ones we need to look after the tyres and hopefully we can have a good run on the last one."
"Welcome to my world Thierry! It is not too bad, for sure the grip is much higher than this morning. Maybe there will be high tyre wear this afternoon."
"There is some still cleaning to do. I have to do a new line because I go a lot wider than the two-wheel drive cars that have gone through."
SS4
water pump
puncture + broken differential
"It is difficult, the stage is difficult. I have a feeling I wasn't fast but the time seems not too bad. I struggled with the car, I cannot drive like I did in Mexico, but it is better than it was in the morning."
"It's okay, first pass with new notes it was very tricky in there. Clean run through."
"I'm struggling to keep the car on the clean line, and struggling to carry the speed through the corners. When I try to be careful and keep the car on the line and I'm losing a lot of time."
"Not so great, had a fairly big spin down through a compression which should have been okay. But the car spun and I had to back down the road a bit to turn around so that cost 10-15 seconds. The car wouldn't restart after the spin intially as well."
"I didn't enjoy this stage, there was not a lot of grip. Zero grip in the rear, we don't have it at all."
"We did some changes to the car so I could have a little more control over the rear which helped. It is a new stage but I felt really comfortable. It is a good time but I expect people will go quicker."
"I don't want to know, I am so angry now. We could have won this rally now if it wasn't for this puncture."
"It is good to go to the service so at least we can do something. We'll change the brake pads and maybe something else."
left-rear puncture
"It's been a good run. This one is such like a track, not a road. It is extremely slippy in places, I was quite steady but still a clean run. Seb and Thierry are earlier on the road so cleaning effect has an impact."
Puncture
"The first stage I was not really sharp, I could have been a little bit faster. I'm pushing as hard as I can, but I'm struggling for grip - I can't match Ott that's for sure! I feel I've made the right choice with the tyres."
"I tried to push but in these conditions there is not much I can do. I spun the car and had to reverse and at some point I thought I had a puncture. It was all over the place."
SS3
lost wheel
double puncture
stopped
stopped
"It is better, the first stage I was really not confident it had a lot of wet parts and I was on the hard tyre. I was a lot better on this one, but still a bit nervous in some parts."
"It was a clean and tidy run so we just have to keep going like this. Car feels good actually, no complaints."
"It hasn't been the best morning for us, struggling for rhythm in the car. The car itself is fine but we can seee that Seb is so much faster."
"It is a stage I haven't done too many times, the last time I did it was in the old generation car - we're fighting against experience here."
"Very, very slippery. With hard tyres it is a bit difficult. It is not easy to drive but it is okay. We'll find something."
"A little bit like Wales in day one, the grip is coming and going. Outside the lines the car is very unstable, oversteer and understeer all the time. When you have constant grip the car is great but in these conditions it is very difficult."
"I'm surprised! I said to Miikka I didn't know if we were going to slow or too fast, we were sliding a lot, but it seems to be working! Our confidence is improving step-by-step."
"What can I say? That was not a perfect stage, it was very slippery on the front and I'm sure the guys behind are going much quicker. I can't complain too much, as I said yesterday we're using our Yaris advantage."
"It was not a big moment, I knew there was a field on the outside but I was a bit too optimistic on the note. I struggled to go faster through the stage, the grip is very low."
"So much cleaning on this one, I was trying to use all the road, right to the edge. It is so frustrating but it is like this."
SS2
"All okay, it was a clean run. Don't know if it was damp, but it looked a different colour in places and it was a bit slippy."
"That was to be honest quite a bad stage from us, I couldn't find a good rhythm."
"I struggled a little bit with the rear in some places, and I've never done this stage before. Not a bad time on this stage, so we'll keep pushing on."
"Really nice, I was a bit nervous for this stage - I didn't do so well in some places. At least I enjoyed it."
"We have four hards and no grip, we were all over the place. There are some lines, but the tyre is too hard to have that grip like a soft would have. It is tricky a road position like this, if there is more grip it starts eating the tyre."
"It wasn't too tricky, it generally was surprisingly good grip. In some places it was slippy for sure, but overall good."
"I went off two times, the brakes are not releasing. The brakes locked and I just had no chance."
were off road
"Quite surprised, I know it feels slippy but the car still feels too soft, I'm sure we can still improve."
"It was slippery and I was a bit too cautious. I was not immediately in the rhythm I have to say. I believe my tyre choice is the best we can do, certainly the long stage (SS4) is always a tricky one."
"I was trying to push as hard as I can. Maybe in the short stages we will lose some time due to the tyre choice but hopefully it will pay off for the long one."
SS1
“I was more focused on pleasing the fans than on setting the car right for this stage”.
"A huge thanks to my mechanics who fixed the car! A really nice stage, I think the time is okay."
"It won't be easy for the rest of the weekend. We had a good strategy on the tyres but now tomorrow we have a little less tyres than everyone else."
"I have my Toyota. We will use this advantage."
"A lot of spectators, which is always really nice when we come to a big city like Barcelona."
"I took three softs and 1 hard and I didn't have the grip. Very difficult to warm up the hard. It wasn't a good stage."
"I'm positive for the weekend. I think we are going to have a lot of fun for sure."
"I'm very happy with this stage, the balance of the car is really good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
"It is nice, I had a surprise on the first corner - the same thing as two years ago. Should be a nice dry day tomorrow and then two wet days."
"It was a bit tricky, and quite narrow."
"It is a pretty stunning setting to start a rally. Not the nicest stage, pretty narrow and tricky, but all good."
stalled