Present:
Sébastien Loeb – Citroën
Daniel Elena - Citroën
Toni Gardemeister - Ford
Jakke Honkanen- Ford
Gilles Panizzi - Mitsubishi
Hervé Panizzi - Mitsubishi
Guy Fréquelin - Citroën

Interviewer
Welcome to the press conference at the end of the Monte Carlo Rally, the first rally of 2005. Joining us are the winners, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena for Citroën, and their team principal Guy Fréquelin. In second place, Ford’s new pairing of Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen, and in third place the best ever result for the new Mitsubishi with Gilles Panizzi co-driven by his brother Hervé Panizzi.
Sebastien, as always, if we can start with you, congratulations on yet another fantastic victory here in Monte Carlo. A remarquable record. Was this win easier than the others or more difficult?

Sébastien Loeb
I would say that this victory was on the whole a bit easier thanks to our huge lead, though the road conditions were very difficult. The race was drier than what we were used to. On the other hand, dry road means slick tyres, and on these tyres it is easy to make a mistake on an icy or snowy patch. That’s what happened to many drivers. We managed to avoid making any mistake and to keep our concentration. Things have gone very well, the car was very good. Michelin tyres helped us a lot too, and we always chose the right compounds. A problem-free race.

Interviewer
Are you surprised to have won with such a huge lead?

Sébastien Loeb
Undoubtedly! We were not expecting to win with a three minute lead, but I would have been just as happy if we had won with a two seconds lead.

Interviewer
Daniel, were the road conditions in the Turini difficult today?

Daniel Elena
Yes and no. Compared with some conditions we have encountered in the Turini in the past, it was easy because it was mostly damp and dry. There was a snow patch made by spectators on which Marcus and Petter went off the road, but we will never be able to avoid this here. The spectators are there, and every year to put snow on the road. The problem is that they don’t think about the crews’ safety and it would be good to do something. On the other hand, you can’t put a steward behind each spectator, and this is therefore part of the Turini Legend.

Interviewer
Seb, what did you think of that snow patch Daniel mentioned?

Sébastien Loeb
This is where Grönholm and Solberg made a mistake. This was a in a blind left-hander where you are braking before a right-hander, and from the start of the bend it was covered with snow. It is the type of bend you take at more than 100 kph, but with snow you have to go at 10 kph on slicks, so it was difficult to anticipate. My safety note crew had mentioned this bend, so I was warned, but even then it was very surprising. We had talked about the Turini a lot with Guy Fréquelin, and we know that every year spectators move snow from the roadsides to the road itself. I had briefed my safety note crew to ask them to mention any place where a lot of spectators were likely to do that. I also chose to drive very cautiously wherever there was snow on the sides.

Interviewer
Thank you, Seb. Toni, congratulations for your second place, your best ever result. It seemed quite easy for you. Did you have any problems?

Toni Gardemeister
Actually I didn’t have any big problem. Everything has gone very well, and Ford works very nicely. I was very happy about the car, and I concentrated on getting a good result here.

Interviewer
And now that you’ve had the opportunity to drive the Ford in the rally, what do you think of the car? What is the best thing about it?

Toni Gardemeister
For me, the car is very stable and very easy to handle and to drive. It is very suited to my style.

Interviewer
Jakke, this was your first rally with Toni. Has it been difficult to adapt to his pace notes?

Jakke Honkanen
It was very easy. He is my eleventh driver in World Championship, and I don’t know how many drivers I have been with in Finnish Championship, so I didn’t have any difficulties.

Interviewer
Are his notes quite straightforward or are they complicated?

Jakke Honkanen
For me it’s easy.

Interviewer
Gilles, it is the best result for Mitsubishi so far. Is it a sign of real progress on the car?

Gilles Panizzi
Yes, it is the best result over the last year. This is very good because we needed it for all these people who have been working very hard for more than a year. This team, which might be old to many, was deprived of results over the last four years. Add to that our victory at the Dakar race, I’d say this has been a good month for Mitsubishi.

Interviewer
What are the car’s main evolutions you’ve worked on?

Gilles Panizzi
We mostly worked on the chassis and its suspensions. This was something missing for me to feel fully comfortable. We need to stress that we raced here with mechanical differentials, and we are working very hard to have active ones ready for the next races. The car is still very basic in its configuration, and I am pleasantly surprised by our performance. I feel confident in the future of my team.

Interviewer
Hervé, you have entered several Monte Carlo rallies with Gilles. How did you live this one?

Hervé Panizzi
It was better than the previous ones. We had some minor problems, but none that really affected the car’s performance. We possibly fought less inside the car, so our feeling was good, and I am very happy.

Interviewer
Guy, congratulations! One race in the season, and one victory already! What are your thoughts?

Guy Fréquelin
This is undoubtedly a good way to start the season. It is difficult to do better to keep the team motivated. Of course we could have had a second car at the finish, but we are hardly alone with this problem. Sébastien and Daniel are among the rare crews not to have made any mistake. Coming back on François’ crash, I don’t see it as a real mistake. I had given recommendations to be cautious on treachery parts. This was not a one according to my definition, that is icy, frosty or wet. The road had rails dug in the tarmac, and the car bottomed out under braking and lost grip. He came in the bend too fast because of that. This can be seen as a mistake, but he was really unlucky!

Interviewer
Was this result, a victory, the one you expected?

Guy Fréquelin
It is the one I hoped for. I always try to be cautious before an event. I hoped the car would be competitive. Sébastien and Daniel have a known talent, and François and Stéphane showed that they are fast too, though they were stopped in their momentum. This shows that the team is still motivated, even though we will not be here past this current year and we don’t know yet what our challenge for 2006 will be.

Interviewer
Seb, Sweden is the next rally. You’ve won it last year. How do you feel about it for this year?

Sébastien Loeb
It is a great event that I love a lot. Last year we’ve won it with a great feeling and a great car. I hope I can be this competitive this year, as I know I will have some serious competitors there. I hope we’ll be able to fight, especially since we’ll start the first day first on the road.

Interviewer
Daniel, what is Seb’s secret here in Monte Carlo for going so much faster than the others?

Daniel Elena
His co-driver! (laughter)

Interviewer
Toni, you’ve finished second here, an excellent result! Do you think you can be a contender for the World Championship as well?

Toni Gardemeister
We’ll try to do our best in each event, but I think our overall result can be quite okay.

Interviewer
Jakke, to come back to what Guy and Seb were talking about, did you see spectators throwing snow on the road?

Jakke Honkanen
We have ice crews, and they were very good. There was no surprise here in this rally. I really don’t know how much they’re throwing or shovelling.

Interviewer
Gilles, you won’t be competing for the whole season. So what will be your next race? And what result do you expect?

Gilles Panizzi
I have a pretty heavy development program ahead. I will try to focus on this work. Our next race will be in Mexico. We won’t be in Sweden, but we will be running in the next event.

Interviewer
Hervé, is this result sort of a new birth for Mitsubishi? Does this really help the team being motivated?

Hervé Panizzi
Certainly. We’ve been waiting for a podium or a victory for a while. We hope we’ll have another result like this, or even better, before the end of the season. We all are motivated.

Interviewer
Any questions from the room for the drivers?

Journalist
This is a question for the drivers. We’ve seen here how important the ice crews, or safety crews, were. Do you hope to influence the planned ban on these crews for tarmac events?

Sébastien Loeb
Safety crews are impossible to do without in a rally like the Monte Carlo. We could never have kept this pace without them. They are also needed in other tarmac events as they are an important factor of safety. I don’t know if we’ll have any influence but we will try. When they were restricted, everybody was against that decision. Now things have calmed down, and some events might not require them. But on tarmac they are really important.

Guy Fréquelin
I would like to follow up on what Sébastien said about safety crews. It is obvious that they are needed in the Monte Carlo Rally. Regarding tarmac events, we have no alternate method to allow us to say that there will be no safety crews this year. If we find such a method, we may consider prohibiting them, but if not we will push to keep safety crews on tarmac at least. On gravel, they are much less important, though we need a crew to open the road and tell us the differences in conditions between recce and the race. This is especially important in Australia where the roads are narrow and between trees, and rains can be very powerful. We need to find a solution that fits the safety needs of the drivers and co-drivers.

Michel Dotta (ACM) thanks competitors and journalists.

Daniel Elena congratulates his team for winning in three different categories (WRC, Junior WRC, best amateur)

FIA JUNIOR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Present
Kris Meeke
Chris Patterson

Interviewer
Joining us next is the Junior WRC winner, Kris Meeke.
Kris, Monaco’s event seems to suit you quite well. You already had a good result here last year. What is it about here that you like?

Kris Meeke
I think I like the challenge. It is certainly one of the more challenging events in the World Championship. I think you need to know when to push and when to back off. Everyone thought it might be less difficult, being with a more Southerly base, but it hasn’t proven to be. It can still be very treacherous on the stages and luckily we managed to get through without any problems.

Interviewer
Chris, was it difficult to face those treacherous conditions in a two-wheel-drive car? What extra precautions are you taking?

Chris Patterson
You don’t really take any extra precautions. Kris just drives according to the pace notes as well as he possibly can. Obviously this is absolutely treacherous. Sometimes you find yourself in a slippery stage wondering what you are doing here, but then you get to the finish you think that you wouldn’t have missed that for the world. It is an absolute challenge! It is a fantastic event!

Interviewer
Kris, you have a new car with the C2. You’ve had the chance to drive it in two rallies. How is it like?

Kris Meeke
It is fantastic to win in Monte Carlo, but also for Citroën to win their first Junior WRC event and with a new car. That is very special. We have still work to do, but it can only get better, and it is looking very positive for the future.

Interviewer
Chris, this was not a straightforward run to victory, with Suzuki leading during the first two days. Were you still confident despite their pace of winning the event?

Chris Patterson
We came to this rally with one goal in mind: to score points for Citroën. From the first stage of the event, we chose a pace and stuck to it, and that pace has worked for us.

Interviewer
Kris, I believe you are not going to Mexico, are you?

Kris Meeke
No, we have the option of dropping one event from the calendar in Junior WRC, and we chose Mexico. The next one for us on the calendar is Sardinia.

Interviewer
How do you expect to get back into the groove? This is three months away. Is it going to be easy for you to carry on where you left off?

Kris Meeke
For me it’s not a problem, but we are working quite hard to find some extra events or possibly some testing. So hopefully we’ll be in Sardinia ready for the challenge.

Interviewer
Thank you very much.