53. Azores Airlines Rallye 2018
ERC #1 • ERC2 #1 • ERC3 #1 • ERC Junior U27 #1 • ERC Junior U28 #1 • ERC Ladies #1 • Portugal #2 • Portugal 2WD #2 • Açores #1
22. 3. – 24. 3. 2018, Ponta Delgada • Grupo Desportivo Comercial • gravel 207.44 km • total distance including road sections - 674.43 km • Other years
Info
SS15
"Great package of experience. Very difficult rally for me, first time on gravel, but I'm happy."
"Very happy for the crew which never gives up. We pushed every stage and this is the result. Thanks to my codriver, great during the whole weekend. We are happy."
"It was hard weekend for me. In the last loop I had problems with overheating brakes. Good experience for next rally, incredibly tough rally."
"What a weekend, we are crazy, we tried full attack now, but I think it was poor. Yes, we did it."
"I did big mistake. So slow corner and I went flat out, we hit a wall."
"The accident in shakedown was good for us because if it wouldn't happen there, it would com later in the rally. It woke up us. many thanks for our team."
"It was a very tough weekend for us. Yesterday we improved lot of positions, but today we lost the front diffeential so it was very tough."
"We hit a rock in the same place where Lucas went off last year. I was affraid we lost a wheel but we are here."
"We did it again, so happy with this victory, I'm proud of my team, sponsors and co-driver, we worked hard to win here and we did it."
Mechanical in road section
Driving slowly trough the stage
"We got a puncture, there was a big stone in the line, we couldn't do anything about that."
"I had only first and second gear in the end of the stage."
"Today was quite good. Our tyres are done, so it was slippery, but really good experience. We go step by step."
Puncture
"We are really happy we could finish this difficult rally. We went step by step and learnt a lot about these stages."
Off road
"This year was much toucgher for us. I'm really happy to be in the finish because we had quite a lot problems. The competition was hard, but we keep trying, this was difficult rally for us."
"It was OK, I came here to get some confidence because last year I had big crash, but it went well and I look forward to rallies in our championship."
"We have a problem with the car now, the shifting is not working, also the rear diff is not working anymore. But we are here."
"It was a good rally, not easy, we had some problems, but we are happy with the result in our champuinship. Thanks to my team and my co-driver."
"It was a good afternoon, in the end we had a pop-off problem. We have to learn and next year it will be better."
" I was so happy that I made some donuts before the end. Thanks to my team, my sponsors, they all did really great job. We will try to do our best and be clever."
"I think Alexey did great rally, he deserves it. We had some issues but we managed driving this car, for us it's quite nice, congratulations to Alex."
"The tyres were not correct, we are on slicks now. It was not possible to do better. It was good rally, unfortunately some small things didn't went good, but I showed my pace. I can do better but I'm quite happy."
"Martin ripped off the wheel. Good stage for us, we were under pressure to be honest, but it was a good rally. I'm really happy with the result."
"It's good, this result is a good start to the year. We had a good weekend, I'm quite happy."
"It's been really good weekend. We had few spins, but we really enjoyed it. Very tricky rally."
" Today we were opening the road. The most important was to finish the rally and score points to the national championship."
SS14
"We just enjoy the ride, the stage was now much better. We don't need to push hard."
"We struggled with the grip, let's hope for the last one."
"The tyres are completely wrong, we just want to reach the finish, nothing more."
"We did a half spin in the stage."
" Clean through the stage, the rear tyres are already quite bad."
"We don't know where we are because we still don't have the time from todays first stage."
SS13
"Good. Last loop, but the gap is really small. I don't want to end like last year, but I want to both finish and win the rally."
"It's getting better and better, we are happy with this stage time."
"Really happy, because in the first loop I lost ten seconds here, but now it is OK."
"I thought we had a puncture, but it's OK."
"We hit nothing, it's just really narrow in here. We are quite confident. Easy to get a puncture here."
"Not bad, the times are not OK, but it's not easy, there are many cars and five different lines on the road."
"Very tricky one, lot of ruts, but OK."
"We had to go over many rocks in the line. I tried to drive carefully, but two kilometers before the finish I hit big rock. But the car looks OK."
"Few little mistakes, but nothing big. We try to control our position. Thanks to my mechanics, the car now works perfectly."
"Stage is good, but we have no brakes."
"I have fun, everything is OK. The afternoon stages are more easy for us."
" I don't like this stage. We improved a lot, but still very slippery."
" I don't know, I stayed on the line, I don't know."
Front left puncture
"It was OK, we did a good stage. We did some changes to the car and it was better."
"I was driving slowly to be neat and gentle, slowing early and saving tyres."
"This stage was incredibly difficulf, we tried to be smart without any risk."
"Difficult, we are not with correct tyres, this loop we just need to get through to the finish. The rear diff is OK now."
"I was just bit too careful. But no problem."
"This is about compromise, I think we play it well. We have four new tyres, but we still have to be clever. I don't want to push much, but I try."
"It was OK, but we have not the best tyres, I have to be careful especialy on braking."
"So difficult, I want to push but it's so narrow. I don't want to do any other silly mistake."
"Too much lose gravel, but it's OK."
SS11
"Another stage, we learned a lot. We keep improving and holding the position."
"We lost powersteering for last maybe 7 kilometers, I'm terribly exhausted."
puncture
puncture
It was OK, I didn't want to taky any risk. It was very narrow and technical in there. I was trying to be smooth, but maybe I was too careful.
"Still having the problem, we will try to get to the service."
"We are now first on the road, Frank was crashed, then we caught the guy with Hyundai."
Accident, car blocking the road, following crews will have notional times
SS10
"The alternator belt went off yesterday, really bad rally for me."
"We need to wake up, I was too slow. It was slippery with little bit of fog."
"It's OK, it wasn't the best stage from my side, but the car is OK."
"It was good, I tried to push hard and I think the result is good."
"Disaster, I couldn't find the confidence an rhytm."
"At the beginning it was bit slippy, but then it was OK, we are happy."
"The visibility was very tricky, we had to rely fully on the pacenotes. But not bad."
"It's OK, trying to find the rhythm. Tricky, but allright."
"It was really very slippery, sometimes we had really much fog. Maybe one or two moments, but OK."
" I enjoyed it, it was difficult because in some places there was very good grip and then there was no grip."
"It was not bad. Of course very difficult conditions. In the first part of the stage I had no brakes, then some small mistakes."
"Not easy, I was late on brakes, went off and had to reverse. My fault."
"It was OK, I didn't take any risk. It was hard in the fog, but it's OK. Today the grip is better."
" I think we didn't do right tyre choice, they are too hard."
"We did it quite carefully, especially in the end I was cautious, the brake caliper started to leak."
"It's attack today, we want to push. There was a lot of fog."
"The feeling was not so bad, but lack of traction, we tried different compound on the front. We have to manage the tyres for today."
"It's completely different rally compared to yesterday, the grip is much better now."
"Really difficult stage to be honest, very slippery. But no mistakes, no drama, that's enough."
damaged rear left suspension
In the middle of the stage we had a spin and touched the inside. The engine is overheating.
We had fun, I was bit too careful, especially on braking, but good stage.
SS9
Mechanical -> Rally2
"I'm not very happy with our stage times, but we are looking for the points."
"Great day for us. We need to keep focused tomorrow."
"I don't like fog, I like to see the road. Let's see tomorrow."
"So many fog, but wonderful stage. In some places it was really rough. But we are happy to finish the day."
"Today very nice stages, I really enjoyed it."
"What can I say, I'm very sorry for guys behind. We had a roll. It seems the car is working good so we will go to service and check the car."
Rolled and blocked the road
"It's not bad, the only problem was that we lost the powersteering."
"It was much better than in the last loop. We just had some mistakes in the pacenotes, but the feeling was absolutely good now."
"We could see little bit more this time. I just wanted to get constatnly through and not make any stupid mistake."
"Not the best, but his time we had no puncture so we had quite a good run."
"It's great to finish the day in this way, no mistakes, no big push. We meet some cows in the stage, unfortunately it was on the beginning of fast section. Actually we had a problem with pop-off, but we don't need to push."
"It's difficult, now we have to manage also the tyres because we had puncture, in the afternoon we had poor traction so it's hard."
"I like this rally, it's very tricky and different from what I did before."
"We don't know the car, we have to be careful because of punctures, we need to be clever and improve."
Everything is going well, now it's easier for me. I try to push, the car is working well now."
"We did wrong tyre choice for the afternoon loop, the car is moving a lot."
"The visibility now was better, but the rest is wrong."
"One minute faster than prevous time, really really enjoyable."
" In the end of the stage the engine stopped, I lost maybe 10 seconds. Very difficult stage."
SS8
Puncture
Front right puncture
SS7
" I'm not happy because I know I can do better. We will see, I don't want to push and do some mistake."
" It was OK, much better than last loop, thanks for my mechanic they repaired my car."
"The feeling is quite good, the surface is dry and we can drive more confidently."
"It was OK, we made some changes, but I don't know, we'll see."
"I enjoyed the stage, in places I drove careful. Nice battle with Chris but I try to focus on myself."
"The grip is lot better now. Saving tyres for the next stages."
"I don't like this stage, we did some changes on the car and the feeling is different, but basically it is in the stage. Too narrow, lot of walls, I drive here always bad."
SS6
Mechanical -> Rally2
" Great stage, I love it. Maybe too cautious in some places, but we will be faster in next round."
"We had a slow roll and landed on the roof."
Puncture
Puncture
It is an absolute disaster, we have no grip, no feeling. We need to change the car. My mind is also not ready to push.
In the fog it was tricky and I touched the wall. But I don't have the confidence with my setup the geometry or something was changed with the hit.
This stage was very foggy, but there is still a long yourney so we keep pushing.
Very tricky, very muddy. You have to trust the pacenotes.
Unbeliavable stage, we didn't see anything.
I did one mistake in the fog, the visibility was zero and I simply didn't see where to turn.
SS5
Puncture
Puncture
Puncture
I changed the setup of the car slightly and the feeling is good. I'm happy.
I don't know, how it happened, I did nothing special. We did half of stage with it.
Two stages I hate in this rally. But OK, still long rally to go.
There is still the oil pressure alarm, but it should be fine, it is just distracting.
No problems, but new stage for me because two years ago I retired already before it.
Puncture
SS4
Mechanical -> Rally2
Missed Time Control CH3B yesterday, not allowed to start today -> Rally2
Front right puncture
"It was quite good, not perfect, but we are still in the game."
"Not really good, we have some problems with steering, it's hard to keep the car in the straight line."
"We like this stage, we have little bit weird set of tyres for the next stages so we take it carefully."
"I enjoyed it, sometimes I pushed little bit too close to the walls, but anyway it was a good start."
" Little bit struggling, maybe I was little bit too safe."
"I think it is nice morning for us. No big push, we will see later on next stages."
"I want to go steady and not crazy, but it is a challenge."
"It was very tricky, especially in the narrow I wasn't very confident."
"Today is about getting back in the rhythm, looking forward to the volcano stage."
"This is a stage I don't like, very narrow, we just concentrate on the next one."
"There is a lot of lose gravel, other guys will be probably faster. I tried to push but it was hard with our position."
"Good start, we had yesterday plan just to get through, now we want to keep guys behind."
"Sometimes I was little bit too wide, maybe too aggressive. I have to calm down."
"It was quite a god start of the day, It was slippery, but nothing special. We tried to go clean."
"It's quite slippery, but this stage is not so bad, it has lot of straights. I enjoyed it."
SS3
Retired in road section (Electrical) -> Rally2
"Technical stages, it is not easy to keep the speed."
"The engine is too hot, I don't know where is the problem."
"It is fantastic, so emotional to see so many people around. I have to improve my driving, but I had clean run no mistakes, let's keep on this."
"It was quite a good day. We have a good position for tomorrow."
"We have an oil pressure warning on the dash."
"It has been tricky, but nice and steady day, we look forward for tomorrow."
"Difficult day, the previous stage was hard. We need to improve the setup of the car and I need to improve myself. I'm still recovering from the accident and other guys are running very fast."
"Such a difficult start, I'm still getting used to the car."
"We had a problem with power, maybe pop-off, I don't know."
"It wasn't easy to be the first car on the road, it was very slippery. But the feeling in the car is quite good."
SS2
Mechanical -> Rally2
Mechanical -> Rally2
Mechanical -> Rally2
Crashed in the stage
Stopped
"We still have problems with power."
SS1
Broken suspension
"It is very very good."
"Difficult tarmac stage, we need the tyres for the next big stage."
"We have harder tyres so probably it should be OK."
" I'm going to do my best all the rally. We have our plan. Here we tried to save the tyres."
"Good, little bit understeering on asphalt, but happy with that."
"It was OK, very difficult for the tyres, we need to save them for the next stage."
"I tried to give a little bit push, I'm quite happy. Short stage, but also important one."
"I just stalled on the start line so I'm frustrated. But I love the car."
"Really happy, we changed the setup of the car and it's nice now."
"It was OK, but really really slippery. It could be better, but it's just a short stage."
"This is probably only for spectators, for us just a warmup."
"It was OK for us, only in the end sometimes like we had no torque."
"I tried to concentrate and be clean."
"I have no right tyres for this kind of stages. It was quite slippery, we clean a lot."
"No power", Pop-Off problems