Attendees:
1st Sebastien  Loeb, Citroen
1st Daniel Elena, Citroen.
2nd Harri Rovanpera, Peugeot
2nd Risto Pietilainen, Peugeot.
3rd Francois Duval, Ford,
3rd Stephane Prevot, Ford
Guy Frequelin, Representative of winning Manufacturer, Citroen

Q Sebastian , first of all over to you.  Many congratulations on your sixth win of the season. Now that equals the record set by Didier Auriol in 1992.  Does that mean a lot to you, is that a statistic you’re proud of?

SL I don’t understand.

Q The last driver to win six rallies in one year was Didier Auriol in 1992, nobody else has done that.  Does that make you happy?

SL Yes, sure.  It is always very nice to win so to win and equal the record is better. For sure it was a very nice race.  I like to drive here.  We had some very nice stages.  Okay, it started with a good battle the first day and after that I was a bit alone so my race was not so interesting on the last day but the most important was the finish and to win for us it is very good end to the season.  We started the season with a victory and we ended the season a victory so I think this season couldn’t be better.

Q Thank you.  Seb, when Marcus Gronholm retired you were really on your own in the lead.  Was it quite difficult to keep a good rhythm and to keep concentrating when you had no one really attacking you all the time?

SL Yes, at the start it was quite difficult because I was really not happy when Marcus retired because I wanted to fight.  For a few races I had to stay on the road and I could never fight like I wanted because it was important to finish for the Championship and now we have the two last races to fight for.  At the start it was difficult to stay concentrated but I took a good rhythm and I continued to push in the stages and it was good.

Q Daniel, congratulations.  Your sixth win of the year as well of course.  On the first day here, yourself and Seb were running first on the road.  Everybody says that’s a big problem in Australia.  Was that difficult for you?

DE Yes sure it is very difficult here when it is completely dry but now it is completely wet and it is not bad for us because you have a lot of gravel in the road.

Q Harri, congratulations on an excellent second place.  Has your Peugeot 307 made a big step forward in terms of speed and reliability?  There was Marcus at the front, you were second, the car seems quite good now.

HR Yes, that it very good news.  The last race for me was Sardinia but I did not have any problems the last three days, it is a very nice feeling.

Q Was it difficult for you get back in the car after two months away from it?

HR Of course it is not really difficult –…. But after some months away you need to do some kilometers and then it’s almost okay and the first two stages after that are not a problem.

Q What were the biggest improvements you noticed to the car since Sardinia?  What were the biggest differences?

HR Well the gearbox was working better.  The suspension, it is much nicer to drive. There are many things, I’m sure this car is really good.

Q Risto, Congratulations on second place.  The first time when Australia was run at the very end of the year, do you think that made a big difference, did it make the rally better or was it about the same?

RP This is a nice place to celebrate, weather is nice, better than England anyway.  Sorry for the English people.  The weather is nice and the place is nice, why not?

Q Thank you.  Francois, you don’t have much experience driving in Australia but a fantastic third place.  Was this one of the more difficult rallies of the year for you?

FD Yes, it is very difficult.  The water is bad, makes it really slippery.  But it is not a bad result, I finished third, that’s quite good.

Q Did you have any moments during the rally which worried you?

FD Yes, sure.  After the third day I was pushing a little bit too much for the last day and yesterday I continued pushing really hard about 70 per cent. I prefer to make changes to the notes and make them okay for next year.

Q Stephane, was there pressure on you and Francois with the retirement of your team mate Markko so early in the rally?  Did you have to finish at all costs?

SP For sure, they wanted us to be at the finish, not to break the record.  We had no pressure, the Championship was done before we came to Australia so I think it was just a normal rally for everybody.

Q How did Francois approach this rally because he doesn’t have so much experience here and it is quite new for him.

SP Yes we knew before we came here that we had a lot to do on the notes before we were trying to find something different from last year to make it more simple and this is the first rally where we have tried to change something on the recce so it was a bit too early and we knew we had to change a lot of things and that’s what we did.  Before we came we knew that it would be difficult for us.

Q Guy, congratulations.  What are you emotions at this point? Another win for Sebastien  in the year he won the Championship, but of course few days ago we heard that Citroen, as well as Peugeot, would be leaving – how do you feel sitting here now?

GF First of all, I am very happy for Sebastien  and Daniel for this sixth victory.  Also I am very happy for all the team for the fantastic job during the season.  The car was very reliable but the drivers – Sebastien , Daniel, Carlos and Mark, were also very reliable during the complete season and the two titles, one for Sebastien  and Daniel and one for Citroen, was fantastic in Corsica.  Sebastien , Daniel and all the team showed today that they have kept the motivation for next year and it is very important for the future.

Q Thank you Guy.  Just a quick word from you about Carlos – how disappointed are you not to see Carlos complete his last rally here with you?

GF Carlos, retired in Australia but in stupid conditions because he stopped when only in the practice, in the recce. For sure he liked to do the rally and to show that he can drive fast still in this rally but he was unlucky during this part.  For sure he is very great gentleman and a very great driver and sportsman.  He has been the king of the rally and now he is gone and there will be another king.

Q Sebastien, coming back to you.  After a little bit of break over the winter, after a long season like this, how tired do you as a driver get? Do you need a long holiday?

SL Well the rally is not really work, it is what we like to do but for December the work begins because we have a lot of testing for next year and everything.

Q Daniel, today was very hot so how difficult does that make your job inside the car?

DE I remember the start of the last stage I asked Seb is this too sharp or is it difficult. But the last stage is very flat and speed is no problem. It was very difficult for concentration because it was not big pressure and one mistake is easy. I take maximum concentration to the finish after the service to win this race. And I am happy.

Q Harri, we were talking a little bit with Sebastien  about what happens over the winter and next year.  Do you have any plans for next year or is your situation not clear?

HR Not so clear yet.  We will see how things go.

Q Risto, your team mate Marcus Gronholm had quite a big accident this afternoon and was taken to hospital.  Do you have any news from Marcus?

RP Yes I heard he is okay.  Perhaps he can come out of hospital this evening but it is not clear yet but he is completely okay - he is 99% okay.

Q Francois, Harri mentioned that he will see what to do next year.  Malcolm Wilson says he would like to see you stay at Ford, what do you think you would like to do?

FD For the moment I don’t know.

Q Thank you Francois.  Stephane, is there anything about the rally that you would improve or do differently?

SP For me maybe going too far away to do the stages down south.  In the rally we’ve done maybe 1,200 kilometers or something like that and I think they could find something easier for us.

Q Does anybody have questions?

Daniel, you talked of your concentration but were you doing anything to help Seb concentrate?

DE Sure, but Sebastien  is a very good driver, well he’s not so bad.  It was difficult for Sebastien  to drive very slowly.  It is impossible.  Concentration is very important, you need maximum concentration.

FIA Production Cars World Rally Championship

1st Toshi Arai, Subaru
1st Tony Sircombe, Subaru

Niall McShea, Subaru
Michael Orr, Subaru      Winners of FIA PWRC

Q Toshi, if we start with you.  Congratulations on your win.  There was very little more you could do.  How many stages did you win here?

TA I don’t know. 16 may be.

Q That’s quite a lot but not enough to win the Championship.

TA I started my own team so always I am thinking about the money and the people, not so good.

Q Is it easier to drive?

TA Yes, very difficult because in JQan I’m always thinking about the team but its not so bad.

Q Tony, quite a dramatic end to the rally here, was there a point after Giovanni had his problem and Alistair had his problem, did you think that maybe you would end up as champion?

TS We came here and it would be a miracle to win the Championship.  I’ve competed here 13 years so I know that anything can happen in Australia.  It would have been nice to beat Niall but I think he was a deserved winner of the Championship.

Q Now Toshi, the other thing you’ve achieved this year, you’ve made Subaru win a production car round.  Why do you think it too until the end of the year?

TA I think Subaru is quite a strong car now.

Q Now over to you Niall, first of all congratulations for becoming the FIA Production Car World Champion.  Given some of the financial difficulties in the year, it must seem like a bit of a miracle that you’re sitting here at all.

NM Yes we started the year and we knew at the start that we’d have a very big problem at the end and things really got quite good for us in the middle of the season and we’ve had our ups and our downs as well.  Well, what I thought we’d be coming here with a realistic chance of winning but unfortunately we can completely out of money just before the end of Corsica and it looked like we weren’t actually going to make it here.  So after Corsica I phoned a few friends and let them know the situation so a group of some businessmen and a lot of the top Irish competitors in Ireland put together a budget for me to be here.   From the first stage I think we realised that we didn’t seem to have the power in the engine that we needed and the cars seemed to be in a rally of their own. We stuck with it we made sure that we stayed out of trouble and we didn’t get exasperated and try to hard or damage the car and finally in the end it paid dividends.

Q You’ve also been running the car very much to a budget too haven’t you?

NM Yes, the situation, as you know, we’ve had a very good team and the suppliers have done a mega job of keeping the car as fresh as possible but it is not always possible and I am very thankful just to do this.  The car really has given me so few problems this year it is unbelievable.  We seemed to be on the pace on every rally last year and had problems but this year we had no problems and I am extremely grateful to the team and everybody involved for that.  It worked very well indeed.

Q Thank you.  Michael, congratulations, when you woke up this morning and had Alistair in front of you, you can’t really have expected to be sitting here now.

MO That’s for sure.  We’ve had that feeling since Friday morning, maybe even Thursday night.  It is very unfortunate for Alistair.  His team have done a great job developing the car and he was extremely quick here, as was Toshi and there was nothing we could do with that.  Our guys were amazing this weekend and the preparation and first class.  With a limited budget there is only much you can push the car but we knuckled down and now here we are, it is all a bit of a dream.

Q Toshi, what are you plans for next year?  We’ve finished one season, what will you be doing next season?

TA Well I hope the same as this year.  Next year much faster I hope.

Q Is it possible we will see you in a world rally car at all?

TA Yeah I hope.

Q Now, unfortunately last year’s production car world champion Martin …. He’s had a bit of a quiet season this year, what are your plans to make sure it doesn’t happen to you?

NM Certainly my plan would be not to disappear at all.  I would like very much to do this Championship again, try to do it in a better form.  Probably not even possible to do it in a better team or anything like that.  Just to have more budgets so that we can have the luxury of being able to do more testing and I would very much like to try to bring in a few rounds of the WRC Championship in a WRC car.