They were the main actors of this 2022 edition which will remain in the memories of all. Discover their reactions during the FIA Press Conference.<\/p>\n
S\u00e9bastien Loeb (M-Sport Ford WRT), 80th wins in WRC<\/em><\/strong> About Isabelle Galmiche, his new codriver:<\/em><\/strong> About the Ford Puma Hybrid:<\/em><\/strong> About SS17 Powerstage:<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n S\u00e9bastien Ogier (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT), 2nd<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0First, you are completely right, we need to celebrate our teams. They have done a fantastic job building completely new cars that are completely different from the other ones. I was expecting more issues, there were some here and there, but we could fight like in the good old days and you would not think it was the first time for these cars. It was really enjoyable and a good show for the sport. I was targeting first place not second, so I can\u2019t say I am 100% satisfied. We can keep smiling, we gave everything out there, but fate decided differently today and we had to settle for second. But it\u2019s been fun in the car and now we have a reason to come back next year \u2013 I\u2019m not sure my wife will enjoy that sentence!\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n ABout Benjamin Veillas, his new codriver:<\/em><\/strong> About SS17 Powerstage:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0I feel it was on the limit. Surprisingly, the engine strategy started to sound different two seconds before it was time to go. I thought it was like it was dropping RPM or losing pressure or power. It disturbed me. I wanted to try to start sharp. I knew I had to start sharp when I had to make nine seconds, I knew it would be hard. To take this nine seconds to S\u00e9b, I think it was quite a performance. I had to give it everything. It was over the limit in a couple of times, but we managed to keep the car on the road. But in the end maybe it\u2019s better to have this jump start \u2013 without this, the gap would be only 0.5s and if it was like this then I would be even more frustrated!\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n About his frame of mind before the Monte-Carlo 2022:<\/em><\/strong> Craig Breen (M-Sport Ford WRT), 3rd \u201cIt\u2019s a really high-level podium. I knew before the start it would be a difficult one for me. I\u2019ve not done the event for four or five years and this in only my fourth time here. To come away from here with a podium on most difficult rally of the year, I\u2019m delighted. This is mainly thanks to the team \u2013 they have done an amazing job, given us all the tools to perform. Myself and Paul have learned with every kilometre.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Richard Millener, Team Principal M-Sport Ford \u201cIt\u2019s obviously very unfortunate to see what\u2019s happened to this S\u00e9b, but in terms of the rally we could not ask for a better start. And it\u2019s been so exciting to watch, I\u2019m just glad this one went our way. It\u2019s a very nice feeling.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n Andreas Mikkelsen (\u0160koda Fabia Rally2), WRC2 Winner<\/strong> \u201cIt was a little bit like I expected\u2013 I thought the Toyota would be fast with all their [hybrid] category experience and I was interested to see the Puma. I was not surprised it was like a rocket \u2013 M-Sport are good at new cars. Hyundai struggle a bit and they can improve for Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sami Pajari, (Ford Fiesta Rally3),<\/strong> WRC3 Winner<\/strong> <\/p>\n Rapha\u00ebl Astier (Alpine A110 RGT), R-GT Winner<\/strong> They were the main actors of this 2022 edition which will remain in the memories of all. Discover their reactions during the FIA Press Conference. S\u00e9bastien Loeb (M-Sport Ford WRT), 80th wins in WRC \u201cReally happy for sure. I didn\u2019t know what to expect. I had a good feeling since the first test and this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10575315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10581578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headline-news","category-rallye-monte-carlo-en","millesime-2022-en"],"acf":{"contenu_des_pages":null},"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cReally happy for sure. I didn\u2019t know what to expect. I had a good feeling since the first test and this give me some confidence. But then to know which level will I be? I don\u2019t know. The level in WRC is sometimes really, really high but we decide to come here and the result is amazing. It\u2019s more than we expected, but the team, and with Isabelle [Galmiche] \u2013 everything has been really amazing with our first rally together. It\u2019s really great.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u201cShe did it really well. It was just one or two times she went a little bit late, but then it was just a little bit. This car is really difficult for the co-driver, we are flying in the stages and she had a lot to say. She was in the perfect rhythm and she understands how to do it really well. There are a lot of things to check and she did it all really well. She has a lot of experience in French championship, but in the WRC you have a lot more to do around [the car]. She did a great job.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u00a0It wasn\u2019t difficult to manage. It was a lot of power. You can really enjoy it in the exit of slow corner and when you don\u2019t have it, you understand how much it gives you an extra boost. Some drivers said these cars were a bit more heavy, it\u2019s true, but I wasn\u2019t used to drive in the WRC a lot [recently] and when I sit in a car like that, I enjoyed it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0I was feeling OK. Then in the stage I felt I was losing the front tyres. Still the feeling was OK, then I saw his time and I was quite surprised how fast he has gone! It was a relief to win the rally.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0He did well, honestly. We need to admit it\u2019s never easy to jump in the car, they really fast. And when you have never done this job at this level, it\u2019s a huge pressure on your shoulders. In general I am very happy with what Benjamin has done at the weekend. Of course there is any details he can improve and it wasn\u2019t 100%, but nobody can jump in and do the perfect job. I\u2019m pleased with what he has done and we made a good step together. Today was almost harder for him than me. I had the chance to enjoy many success already in my life, my career. It would have been amazing for him to win Monte Carlo, but it was still a great achievement and something special like for Isabelle. They have both done a great rally, but only one can win. Today luck was not on our side, but I\u2019m sure we will win some rally together..\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0A little bit more relaxed, even if I think I\u2019m a bit more relaxed for a while, like you notice. I wanted to enjoy the event, it\u2019s great. Somehow, I didn\u2019t feel differently. I wanted to give my best and try to win this event. There were so many questions before the start with the car and reliability and who would be able to fight for the win \u2013 we were joking in the test that maybe we would be better to start in the R5! The team did a great job. The hybrid feels a little bit like the first time sex: very intense, then one second and gone. It\u2019s a good start!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n<\/sup><\/strong>\u00ab\u00a0Good. It\u2019s been a good weekend. It still feels a bit surreal to be sitting here sharing a podium with these guys \u2013 I hope it\u2019ll not happen again! If they\u2019d not been there I could have won the rally! It\u2019s really amazing, we share 17 world titles between the three of us\u2026\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u00ab\u00a0I can\u2019t put it into words. It\u2019s been difficult for the last couple of seasons we knew that we would put everything into this year and we had a very competitive package and the whole team has worked incredibly hard. This is at the forefront of what we want to do, we had the complications of competing last year, but we knew we could get these results. Everybody worked so hard up to and through Christmas to get cars ready. We\u2019ve ended up with a fantastic team, great drivers and a result we could only dream of.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0It wasn\u2019t very straightforward. There were a lot of dramas in Rally2 in general. We tried to be very clever, we stayed out of trouble. The conditions, for me\u2026 it was a little bit opposite, even though there was not a lot of snow it was really difficult black ice. It\u2019s really difficult to drive on that, difficult to push. When you see the snow you know about the grip. I found it difficult. We had an approach to try to win but risk as least as possible we managed that. The Citro\u00ebns were fast, we knew they would be in dry conditions. [Yohan] Rossel and [St\u00e9phane] Lefebvre were my main competitors and they fell off. They crashed, I had a puncture yesterday and thought I lost the win. We all had issues. Today Erik Cais was the closest one to the challenge \u2013 we put up a good pace on the first stage this morning and we managed to get quite a good gap. It was a good rally to know how much we should push.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0It\u2019s quite clear, if you imagine about Monte Carlo, the ice and snow make it really special. As Andreas [Mikkelsen] mentioned it wasn\u2019t easy to see where the ice and snow was. For me it was a difficult to see \u2013 that made it a huge challenge. Maybe I was too cautious where I was expecting the ice, but we didn\u2019t do any crazy mistakes, so I need to be happy. \u00bb<\/p>\n
\n\u00ab\u00a0It wasn\u2019t easy especially being here in a two-wheel drive car. There were a lot of tyre choices and a big Tarmac section. Globally I am very happy with the crew and with the team. It\u2019s been a fabulous event.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"