Present:
1st Marcus Gronholm - Peugeot
1st Timo Rautiainen - Peugeot
2nd Sebastien Loeb, Citroen
2nd Daniel Elena, Citroen
3rd Chris Atkinson, Subaru
3rd Glenn MacNeall, Subaru
Representative of winning Manufacturer: Jean Pierre Nicolas, Team Director, Peugeot
Q: Marcus we start with you as the event winner. Your win is in strange circumstances, two weeks after the disaster that hit your team. It must be a very emotional feeling, What are you thoughts now?
MG: Yeah it’s true, it is quite emotional. Because two weeks ago it was a really bad thing that happened for everyone in the team: Michael’s accident. So it was really good to come here. First we did not know we were going to come here at all and then we decided to do the rally and maybe it was the right decision to come here and carry on with life and do it. I am happy with that and I think the team is also.
Q: Jean Pierre, how about your emotions?
JPN: Me and all the team feel very, very emotional because Marcus has shown to everybody what was the right way to celebrate Michael’s memory and in this occasion everybody who was in the service park in this time could have seen how everyone in this team is close behind Marcus and also Marko and Michael in memory. What we have seen, and there is a lot of emotion for us, is that most of the people in the rally circus was with us in this difficult circumstance, was happy for our victory today. When we have seen Guy Frequelin (Citroen) and his complete team coming to celebrate with us in our service park and our guys also celebrate with Citroen people to congratulate Sebastien (Loeb), it’s the biggest emotion I have ever seen in many years in the rally business.
Q: Timo, congratulations on a fantastic rally. You were second with two stages to go but were held back by a few problems. Is this the result you deserve at the end of the day?
TR: I think it would be quite difficult to deem which one of the drivers should be here - Marcus or Petter - and were fastest. That’s true we had some problems yesterday, small problems with transmission. Luckily we could come back to the service without any big delay and we were still quite close to Petter. As a matter of fact we already were too much behind on Friday evening when we were struggling with the long stage and we lost too much to Petter on that one. And also the last stage on Friday evening. As I said it would be difficult to deem which one was really fastest but Petter also had some technical problems, I think this morning he lost some time. This time it happened this way. Bad for Petter; good for us.
Q: Seb, many congratulations on assuring your second World title. It must have been strange for you knowing that third place was enough to win (the Championship). What was it like?
SL: It was not an easy rally for sure. I started the first day driving fast and fighting with Marcus for third place. Petter was not far in front. My first target was the podium. I had in the head that we can fight but not make any mistakes and then we were in contact, but the second day Marcus was driving very fast in the morning and I could not go as fast as him without taking some risks. I decided not to take some risks. I preferred to save this place for the championship I think this was the most important thing to do. At that moment it does not matter for me if I finished first or second. If I made a mistake because I wanted to fight I would not be happy at this moment. I thought this yesterday so I decided not to fight.
Q: Daniel, how difficult was it going at a rhythm slower than you were used to?
DE: The difficulty when you go more slowly is that you don’t have the same concentration and the mistakes are easy. In the stages when you go slowly, you go in some parts in the mud and you think it’s okay but actually its dangerous. It’s very difficult to keep going slowly. You want to push but it’s difficult.
Q: Chris, congratulations on your first podium. Do you think your experience here helped you a lot?
CA: Yeah definitely I think it helped a lot. All year we have been doing new events all the time. It’s very hard to come straight into the world championship and not make mistakes when you are trying to push, so it’s good to come to an event we have done before. I think that showed. Experience helps a lot and we are really happy with the result of that and looking forward to the future.
Q: Glenn, was Chris doing something different?
GM: It’s exactly what Chris said. The difference here is the experience. He has been driving exactly the same as he has been doing in other rallies but the thing is he has experience of the stages here. If you have something to go on from past years, that makes the difference. These guys are the best in the world going very, very quickly and to match them you do need all the experience you can get.
Q: Marcus, how big a factor was a tyre performance here? Pirelli seem to have the upper hand? Did that help you?
MG: Yeah it was good. On the first day, in the long stage, it was very difficult but it was like that for everyone. Yesterday and today, there was absolutely no problem. It was good. I am happy.
Q: Timo, what is your opinion on the running of this event? Now that the organisers have one more year’s experience, is there anything they should do differently?
TG: First of all I have to say we absolutely need at least one event here in Asia. As a huge manufacturer of automobiles Japan absolutely deserves a rally here. The roads are nice and they are nice to drive on. The marshals were working correctly, No mistakes from the marshals side. The organisers were prompt and that way the rally was perfect. But then the stages are too soft to be driven four times like in some stages. Ten, 11, 14 are too soft to be driven even twice. With a good selection of roads and a little bit of thinking about the road sections, the travelling, and good co-operation with the police and the speed controls this will be a very good rally for the future.
Q: Seb, now the championship is won does this mean you will from now be trying to win every rally till the end of the year?
SL: I was trying to win every rally before the championship was won! It’s not always possible to win. Now sure I have less pressure than I had here at the start of this rally. Corsica is my home rally and I have never won it and I have done it a few times. I would be happy to win it one time like Marcus has won five times Finland. For the other rallies we see.
Q: Daniel, what do you think of Seb’s chances of wining all the other rallies this year?
DE: It’s difficult - Corsica, he has never won, Catalunya too. For a tarmac expert he has just won Germany! But after he has won Australia one time. Okay try, why not?!
Q: Chris, how much more confidence does this event give you, not just for the rest of the year but for the future in general?
CA: Obviously we needed a result and even though we had shown a bit of potential we didn’t have the result that we wanted and it’s good to have that finally come through. Hopefully the future is looking good and obviously you have a lot more confidence when you are going into each event and you don’t have to worry. When you are confident to drive that is when you drive at your best.
Q: Glenn, what do you see as Chris’s biggest strength?
GM: The speed Chris has shown has been exceptional. He makes exceptionally good notes and commits to them very, very well from the first pass.
He is exceptionally good in the fast stuff. He is exceptionally good everywhere really. He just needs the experience. At his level he needs the experience and that is what he has been trying to do this year. And this result is an example of what he can do with experience of this event in the past.
Q: Jean Pierre, Seb has won the driver’s championship but there is still a battle for the Manufacturers’. How do you think it will go?
JPN: I think since GB Rally the battle is more or less over, because we didn’t score any points. Before GB Rally it was quite open it would have been possible until the last stage of the last rally. But now, if there is nothing special or no real problems coming on to Citroen and there is no reason (for them) to have any problem, the championship is nearly over.
Q: Jean Pierre, what do you think of the job Daniel (Carlsson) did for you?
JPN: Daniel has driven exactly as I asked him to. We came here more or less undecided on whether to come. When I asked Daniel to come I said “you have only to drive carefully to finish the rally because we have to be in this rally; it’s the wish of Michael’s family - we have to go”. So he has driven carefully without testing the car even one km before the rally. So he has done exactly what we were expecting from him.
Q: Jean Pierre, will we see Markko Martin in the team for Corsica?
JPN: I spoke yesterday with Marko’s manager, Paul Turner, and today Markko doesn’t want to make a decision before Michael’s funeral next Thursday. This means we already sent a letter to FIA to ask for a waiver to postpone the nomination for our second driver for Corsica until next Monday 10 October.
Questions from the floor: Martin Holmes, Martin Holmes Agency, GB.
Q: With Seb winning 18 WRC rallies and Marcus winning the same who is the better driver??
SL: It’s difficult to say, as you say we are equal, so no difference
MG: I have given one victory to him, Cyprus!
SL: I have given one too!
Japanese journalist
Q: Seb, eight wins out of 13 just like Michael Schumacher in F1. Do you think the WRC is now in the era of Sebastien Loeb?
SL: This year I won a lot of rallies and everything was working perfectly for me and Citroen. We had a very good car and no mechanical problems and we were competitive on every surface with the new Michelin tyres which were very good. For me I have driven the same car for five years and I am used to it. So perhaps this year was my season but when you look at the times we are always fighting with Marcus, with Petter, with some other drivers and one day it will be more difficult and we will see that next season.
2005 FIA PRODUCTION CARS WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
Present:
1st Toshi Arai, Subaru
1st Tony Sircombe, Subaru
Q: Toshi congratulation on a fantastic win on difficult circumstances. You had a puncture, the first of many, early in the rally, how did difficult was it to fight back from that first problem?
TA: Very good, I had big pressure this year and so I have a little bit of fear to drive and then because of the puncture I lost two minutes. I fought everything so it’s getting better.
Q: It must have been tough. You must have felt under a lot of pressure?
TA: Yes, because I’m in homeland and Subaru said we had to win.
Q: Tony maybe you can sum up for all of us to the championship situation now, is it still going to be close, by the sounds of it?
TS: Yes, it’s not over, three people can win the championship going to Australia, we have a seven point advantage over Marcos Ligato and a nine point advantage on Nasser Al Attiyah so we have still got to get points if one of those wins in Australia
Q: Toshi what did you think about the weather and the stage conditions here? It sounded very difficult, there was rain, fog, mud. Did you have the correct tyre choice most of the time?
TA: Yes I hope so. I did. Not completely correct but nearly good.
Q: Was this one of the most difficult toughest rally you’ve driven in Japan?
TA: Yes, because in the night it’s very, very difficult, fog, unbelievable big ruts, quite hard and difficult.
Q: Tony, you and Toshi must have enjoyed tremendous local support for Toshi. How much does it help the encouragement you get from all the fans by the side of the road?
TS: It’s great to see people out there supporting you with banners with your name on it, I mean, that always gives you a bit of a laugh, but that extra pressure makes it very hard. You know, we came to this event not really wanting to have to go out and try to win. We wanted to be ahead of Ligato and extend the point situation going to Australia so it’s a compromise of national prides and a World Championship.
Q: Toshi, we saw the latest generation of Group N, Subaru Impreza as a course car here. Is this the car you will be driving next year?
TA: Yes, I think so.
Q: Finally, Australia is the next rally. Is this the rally that suits the car and Toshi?
TS: Yes, Toshi has got quite a good experience in Australia, we won there last year. He has won there two times before, I think in Group N. We have all been there fourteen times. I think we have got a little bit of experience. We have got our eyes open for that one.