Present:
1st Marcus Gronholm – BP-Ford World Rally Team
1st Timo Rautiainen – BP-Ford World Rally Team
2nd Sébastien Loeb – Kronos Total Citroen World Rally Team
2nd Daniel Elena – Kronos Total Citroen World Rally Team
3rd Toni Gardemeister – Astra Racing
3rd Jakke Honkanen – Astra Racing

Welcome to the final FIA press conference. Joining us are the winners Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen, second-placed crew Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena and Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen who finished third. BP-Ford World Rally Team principal Malcolm Wilson joins us on behalf of the winning manufacturer.

Q:
Marcus, your first victory on asphalt and your first for Ford. Would you have predicted this after the first stage on Friday, when Sebastien Loeb was 25 seconds quicker than everybody else? You lost a podium place here last year on the final afternoon, after some spectators threw some snow on the road on the last passage over the Col de Turini. Were you nervous today that this might happen again?
MG:
Not really. I had a spin in the middle of the first stage. It was really tricky conditions; icy. I couldn’t imagine anything like this. I’m always worried on this rally. My speed was not fantastic, I’m not happy with that, but I’m happy with the win. I was afraid on the slicks on the snow and ice, it’s not comfortable. Anything is possible on this rally.

Q:
Obviously Sebastien had that problem which cost him time, but he set several fastest times on the way to second place. Without that problem, do you think you could have beaten him anyway? Did you have enough in reserve?
TR:
No. On the first day, of course, we were pushing like idiots, then the spins in the first stage had taken so much time, it looked already difficult. The second stage was okay, then the third stage was cancelled, the fourth and fifth we lost to Sebastien. Already it was clear we cannot beat Seb. He had his moment on stage six and it looked like we could win. But without that I don’t think we could have won.

Q:
Sebastien, congratulations on second place and an amazing come-back drive. Your rally was turned on its head at the end of the first day - what exactly happened? Do you think it is easier to make a mistake with this new generation of cars that rely on mechanical diffs? Often you have been in the situation where you have controlled the rally from the front but here you really had to fight for it. Was that more fun?
 
SL:
It happened in a place where I was confident. I thought the road was a bit wet, but it was more slippery. I braked for the left corner, but we were going too fast and we went off the road and then had a spin. The car went into a ditch and was 10 metres below the road. We could do nothing to come back on the road. I’m really happy with the handling of the car, it’s all working well but Monte is a tricky rally. In this place I was a bit too fast. Yes it’s more fun to fight back, that’s sure. Marcus knows that it’s very difficult to drive with a big lead like he had; during two days in tricky conditions, it’s not funny. For two days we were pushing very hard to try to come back and take the place on the last stage. It was a very good moment.

Q:
Tell us about the battle with Toni Gardemeister today. It seemed to be quite close?
DE:
Yes, sure. In the last one it was very fast. When you start the last lap with a difficult decision for the tyres, it’s not easy. But he did very well in the first and second stages. In the last stages, it was maximum attack, because we had Manfred Stohl fighting with us. We had to take the maximum risk to keep second place.

Q:
Toni, congratulations on third place, after an exciting battle. Did you think it was going to be possible to hold Sebastien off? What do you think of the Peugeot 307? Is it as bad as some drivers have said it is? In the modern era, this equals the best result for Peugeot here…
TG:
I was confident that we could try to keep him behind.  But I know it’s very difficult, at least we tried. The first stage was bad, it was very slippery, maybe I was too careful on the ice. Then we had a good fight with Seb, he was so quick, we had no chance to beat him. When the conditions were good and I trusted the tyres, the car was very good, especially on the fast roads. When it was really slippery you could push the car. It wasn’t so bad, I was very happy with the car.

Q:
You held an advantage over Sebastien Loeb right up until the final stage, the famous Col de Turini. What happened there?
JH:
The thing to look at is the cars have changed, now we have passive front and rear differentials and some other changes. We have changed the cars; Marcus has Ford and we have Peugeot, but the drivers are in the same order. Seb is still the king, Marcus next and we are third! Look at the speed, nothing has changed, Sebastien is the king today.

Q:
It’s been 25 years since Ford won a Championship, and you and Marcus have got off to a perfect start. You’ve said before that you weren’t targeting the Championship this year – does this raise your expectations a bit?
MW:
I’d like to think so, but being realistic we felt quite confident coming here. The biggest hurdle was Sebastien. He made a mistake, and at the end of the day that can happen. I really believe we can win many rallies throughout the year. There will be some fascinating battles. The long haul rallies will be the hard ones for us: you can’t test there, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t challenge for victory on every event.

Q:
How confident do you feel now Marcus? Are you 100 per cent at home in the car? The next rally is Sweden, where you have always been particularly fast as well. How good are your chances of making it two wins back to back?
MG:
Maybe not yet 100 per cent. I had no problem in the car, it was fantastic on this rally. That’s good. My only problem was the throttle position - I couldn’t push full throttle all of the time - it’s true. It will be okay in Sweden, I think. I hope and I think we have a good chance in Sweden; it’s my favourite rally. I’m really looking forward to it. It should be snowing. When it’s a winter rally, it’s one we really enjoy.

Q:
Was this one of the most difficult Monte Carlo rallies you can remember? How difficult was it to react to the changing conditions? Are you more happy to be in second place here, or disappointed not to win for the fourth time in a row?
SL:
It was not so easy. For me one of the most difficult and tricky Monte Carlos. You never knew what was going to come next. One time it was dry, then snow, then wet, then ice. It was not easy not to make a mistake. Okay it’s the Monte, and sometimes the tyre choice wasn’t so difficult.

Q:
One of the best things you did on this rally was choose a half-studded tyre for the first loop of stages, whereas most of your competitors chose a winter tyre or even a slick. How did you arrive at this inspired choice?
DE:
Yes, it’s a very good choice for the first loop, but it’s with the information from the gravel crew. They did a very good job here. We have confidence in them and that’s so important. The choice comes from the gravel crew, they’re last through the stages – they helped us make a very good choice.

Q:
After such a good result with this Astra-run Peugeot, is it possible that you could extend your programme? Which rallies are you likely to do, or which ones would you like to do?
TG:
I hope we do a lot of rallies: all of them. At the moment I don’t know, maybe nothing. But I hope we know something soon. Sweden for sure, we don’t go. The entry is closed. We don’t know after that.

Q:
Malcolm, what do you think the level of competition on this rally says about the health of the Championship at the moment and your decision to sign Marcus?
MW:
For me, the WRC is in great health. Look at this rally, there’s been 26 World Rally Cars – a record. Six teams going for the Championship. For me, if it was too expensive, you certainly wouldn’t get private teams and drivers investing in the WRC. To have a private driver finish on the podium sends out the right message. It is possible with these technical regulations. You would have to say the technical regulations are also in very good health. Okay nobody likes to see manufacturers disappear, but I think there’s enough evidence to see there will be more teams coming. It was a long negotiation with Marcus, starting in March or April last year, but as you can imagine, we’re delighted. What he’s done here is fantastic. In his entire career, I don’t think he’s ever had to drive like this. It’s been tough to control, especially, as Sebastien says, it’s been the most difficult rally. You could see how tough it was from looking at the splits. It’s been a difficult job for Marcus, who likes to drive at 100 per cent. On his first rally with the team, and his first Tarmac win, it’s a great boost for our operation. Not only for those here, but also those back at home in the factory who have worked so hard on this project.

2006 FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Present:
1st Fumio Nutahara
1st Daniel Barritt

Now for the final press conference of the FIA PWRC, we have the winning crew of Fumio Nutahara and Daniel Barritt.

Q:
Many congratulations on your first Monte Carlo victory. How difficult was it and how do you feel?
FN:
I’m very happy to come back here as the winner. It’s my first Monte Carlo, it was such a difficult rally. The hardest thing was the road conditions, the Tarmac was wet, damp or snow or ice. I chose good tyres, but it was very difficult.

Q:
It was your first rally with Fumio and your relationship has got off to a perfect start. How easy was it to adapt to his pace note system and get everything working properly?
DB:
It’s been quite difficult, we don’t speak the same language. It was quite tricky out of the car, but in the car we found a way of working. It took a few stages for us to get used to it, but otherwise it’s been good.

Q:
Nasser al-Attiyah was in the lead at the start of this rally, until he crashed. Do you think he will be your biggest rival this year? Who do you fear most?
FN:
Today in the faster stages, Nasser was very, very fast, but I and Nasser took different tyres. Nasser was on a snow tyre, my choice was slick plus stud. I was thinking ”just keep pace.” I went fast in leg one, two and three, but always wanting to finish. I’m very happy. The fast drivers are last year’s winner Toshi (Arai) and on this rally Latvala and Nasser; they’re fast.  David Higgins was also very fast. This year there are many fast drivers; we will have an exciting season.

Q:
Conditions here were extremely slippery and changeable. Were there any times when you thought that you might end up off the road?
DB:
It was hard for both of us. It was the first time either of us had done Monte Carlo. Everybody was telling us to go slow on the snow, but it was hard to work out how slow to go. We went a bit too fast on the ice and had a few moments, we learned to go slow and then even slower.

Q:
You were the only competitor running on Yokohama tyres here. Do you think that they handed you an advantage? Finally, can you tell us what your programme is for the rest of the year and which rallies you are looking forward to most?
FN:
My tyres are very good for this rally because I think the low temperatures are good for them.

Q:
Dan, what’s the rest of your programme?
DB:
Mexico and then we have a gap until Japan at the start of September.