Meet the Crews Leg 2

Present:
Kai Lindström, Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
Andrea Adamo, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
Pierre Budar, Citroën Total World Rally Team
Richard Millener, M-Sport World Rally Team


Q:
Kai, what a day it has been for Ott Tänak. He's hoping to gain victory number three in Rally Germany. He did it in 2017 and did it in 2018 as well. Looking good so far, but a heck of a battle with Neuville. Are you happy with what he has done so far today?
KL:
Yes, of course I am happy. He has been driving very well. However, as you said, Thierry and Nicolas are fighting back quite hard. 2.8 seconds is very tight. Hopefully it stays that way tomorrow as well.

Q:
He looks so cool and calm behind the wheel, as if he's not even trying out there. I'm sure he is, but it looks effortless for him. Do you feel that when you're watching him?
KL:
He does make it look easy. However, as I said, there is no room for an error and it is a big fight. He is good under pressure, you can say that.

Q:
Talk to me about your other boys, Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke. Both of them are towing the company line so far today. They have talked a lot about Manufacturers points, and that is the key this weekend isn't it?
KL:
It's part of the game, for sure. But if you look at the times the boys have done, there is now a good battle for third. Unfortunately, only with Ogier at the moment, because it was very sad to see what happened with Dani and Carlos. The boys are driving well and do not seem to be under too much pressure. They are relaxed and the times are good as well.

Q:
It's a tough day out there tomorrow - we head out into the military ranges and the Panzerplatte stages. From what the drivers are saying, it is looking pretty rough out there. There were a number of punctures on the recce alone. You've been there before as a co-driver, you know how tough it can be out there. Big challenge tomorrow?
KL:
Yes, for sure. Nothing is secured until you have done Panzerplatte for the second time. According to the crews there are more holes on the top of the tarmac and, of course, those rocks. Hopefully they have found all of them - we had ten punctures on the recce.

Q:
Finally, a word on Takamoto, because it is his first WRC event in a WRC car, and on tarmac. How do you think he has done out there today?
KL:
He has done well. He told me on the first day, on the recce, that he only overshot one junction. I told him that if he could do the same on the rally then he would have done well. And he only overshot one junction, so it was a good day for him.

Q:
Let's turn to Andrea Adamo now. Kai mentioned Dani Sordo. He was giving it a good push on that final stage and was battling for a podium position, but he had a gearbox issue. Disappointment for him and the team, what is the feeling right now?
AA:
Do you want the real feeling, or something I am allowed to say?

Q:
I want the real feeling.
AA:
Quite sh*t.

Q:
I thought that might be the feeling. It is a real shame for him. Do we know what happened at this point, or do we have to wait?
AA:
At the moment, we only know that it was not possible to shift up to second gear. That is what I know so far. Of course, it was a disappointment, because he was catching up. He was doing good times, so I'm not happy.

Q:
Thierry Neuville put in a really good performance out there today. He's not too far away from Ott Tänak. He mentioned this morning that he was a little hesitant out on the stages. Do you think he was more confident this afternoon?
AA:
What we have seen today, and I hope it will happen again tomorrow and again on Sunday, is Hyundai performance catching up. I have to say that my people have done an amazing job, and seeing Thierry and Nicolas able to extract what my people gave them is something that makes me very proud of my people. I'm very happy about that. Thierry is very confident. He looks calm. So far, I am very pleased. As you say, tomorrow will be a difficult day.

Q:
Finally, Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jaeger. What have you thought of their performance today?
AA:
Everyone was pointing their finger at me, because I didn't enter Loeb here, so I anticipated that question. I think we have to see it over the season, and if I had to make the same decision this evening, then I would make the same choice. Considering we are on tarmac, we are doing very well. If you compare the times for the two loops, they are doing very well and are doing what we expect. Of course, in our plans they were the back-up crew. They will now have to be the crew that has to catch up, so the strategy will change a bit.

Q:
I am sure everybody has been asking the Loeb question, but we are also all asking what driver line-up we will see from you next year. We know Loeb is going to be there, we know Thierry is going to be there as well. When are you going to announce your other spots for 2020?
AA:
Good question, and one that I am also asking myself. I don't have the answer. I can tell you bullsh*t, but I don't think you would like that.

Q:
Pierre Budar, we know what your drivers are going to be doing, because they have both signed a contract. Let's talk about the performances out there today. It has been a frustrating day for Ogier, he has talked about understeer. It seemed to get a bit better in the afternoon. A few mistakes crept in. He seems to be driving out of his skin right now.
PB:
Yes, it is obviously very frustrating for him. And it is also frustrating for us. We have done a lot of work since Corsica, on tarmac, and we thought we had solved a lot of problems. However, today showed that they are not solved.

Q:
What can be done here, if anything? I guess there is very little change that can be made here at the event.
PB:
We have already made some changes at the midday service. It was a bit better this afternoon, although if he wants to catch Thierry or Ott he has to push very hard, and he made a few mistakes this afternoon. That can happen when you push so hard. As you mentioned, he was maybe on the limit with the car this afternoon. We still have to make some adjustments tonight to try to give him a better car tomorrow, which will be another day.

Q:
Richard Millener, you lost Teemu Suninen very early on. What exactly happened with him this morning?
RM:
There was a technical problem with the throttle pedal. That is not good. You cannot do very much without a throttle. Just a very disappointing day for him. He has spent a lot of time and effort testing and we had a very good test. To come to the second test and be put out like that is difficult. It's a shame and not where we want to be at all, but we can't do much about that one.

Q:
And as for Gus Greensmith, it is his debut in a WRC car on tarmac. He set some decent times out there today.
RM:
He was the same speed as Seb Ogier on the last one.

Q:
He was. What do you think of his performance? Can we see more? I know he wants to finish the event. He seems tempted to push a little bit...
RM:
He is always tempted to push. He's hard to slow down. He is driving sensibly. He has not had any real problems and has set some impressive times. We've asked him just to carry on like that. It's important for him to finish the rally, as it is for us. We've had a couple of bad and tough rallies and we want to do the best we can. We don't want an accident, basically.


Present:
Ott Tänak (EST), Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
Thierry Neuville (BEL), Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
Sébastien Ogier (FRA), Citroën Total World Rally Team

Q:
Welcome to you, guys! Ott, an incredible day for you but not much of a lead into day two. Are you a happy man?
OT:
Yeah, I'm happy. I mean we can see we're playing in Thierry's backyard today. It's really great to see so many fans.

Q:
It is good to see so many fans. How do you feel your day has gone? Have you given absolutely everything or is there more "Tänak magic" to come tomorrow?
OT:
I guess everything that is more is magic already. I've been doing my best and I've showed everyone that I have been on the limit. It was very difficult to make any time difference today, so I'm quite happy with my day. In the morning I was a bit rusty, but after I got in a good rhythm and I'm happy with the car.

Q:
Rusty? You? Are you sure about that?
OT:
I was not in a perfect rhythm, but it came quite quickly. It's been a long time away from tarmac, so it wasn't perfect immediately, but after it was quite good.

Q:
Really challenging day tomorrow out there. The question is can you keep ahead of Thierry? He's got a bit between his teeth now, he wants to catch you.
OT:
Yeah, sure! Tomorrow is a big day, because there are two routes in the forest in the morning. It is more or less the same rhythm as it was today, but after that we go to the military, so it's a different characteristic and a different surface. It's a new challenge again. I guess if we arrive there with the same gap, we'll still be going for the maximum. if we arrive there with a nice car and we will go for the maximum.

Q:
As you mentioned we are in Thierry's backyard, so where are the Estonians right now? All I can see is Belgian flags. Where are you guys at? You have seen many Estonian flags out there, I'm sure!
OT:
Yeah, there are quite many, but I guess Thierry is strong here. We were strong in Finland and he is stronger here with his fans [laughs].

Q:
He certainly is. Let's turn to Thierry Neuville then. Congratulations on a great day, Thierry. Are you happy with your performance today? Ott said he was bit rusty.
TN:
We could expect that it would really be a tough fight yesterday and today and it's going to continue like this probably tomorrow and on Sunday. I have to say I woke up well this morning. We had a good speed and a good feeling with the car and I was actually able to improve that this afternoon. But not everything went to plan. I had clearly decided to catch back more than three tenths this afternoon, and I tried, but obviously Ott was resisting quite well and it is a very close gap at the end of day one. It was a lot of pleasure in the car and a good atmosphere on the stages.

Q:
You came to the final stage this morning and it was only this short nine-kilometre stage. You looked at Ott's time and you went: Not a chance! You couldn't quite believe how much time he had taken in that stage. But did that motivate you to push on this afternoon?
TN:
My motivation is there always. For sure, it sometimes is a bit frustrating, when you think you've done everything and you lose so much time. But on the other hand, you'll always find some places where you could have improved a little bit. That's why we tried to do even better in the afternoon and, I mean, we did a run without any mistakes. And that is really important here on this rally. Tomorrow, we'll repeat that and do it maybe even a little bit better.

Q:
You want to catch him and you want to win. Can you?
TN:
The feeling is good. I'm convinced that we are able to put a lot of pressure on him. After all, nobody knows who will be fastest tomorrow. I mean, it's different stages in the morning and in the afternoon. Everything is open. For sure, the battle is great and that's what people want to see.

Q:
Seb, today must have been frustrating for you. You hadn't quite the machinery to be able to keep the pace with these two, right?
SO:
Yeah, they didn't wait for me, unfortunately. We tried everything we could. But it seems we haven't quite solved the problem we had in Corsica. Still a lot of understeer. It's not so much fun to drive a car that is not turning the way you want. At least we improved a little bit in the afternoon. My feeling was a bit better, but we were still losing time and I had to take a lot of risk to try to stay on their pace. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes and lost more time. It was not the day we wanted to have. But tomorrow is another day and we keep fighting.

Q:
We saw you on the onboard and it looked as if you were absolutely driving on your limit, wrestling with the car in places. I know there is not a huge amount the mechanics can do, but can they do anything else this evening to make it a little bit more comfortable for you?
SO:
I wish we could, but the truth is, we know we have this problem for quite a while. Unfortunately, we do not really have an answer yet. I think things need to be deeply changed - in the differential. I don't think we'll improve so much tomorrow. But as I said, this afternoon was better, so if we can at least stay as close as this afternoon, that would be an improvement. Even if they [Tänak, Neuville] are far from us, we have to stay at least in front of the car behind us. Tomorrow is a very long day with Baumholder and many things can happen.