87. Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo 2019
24. 1. – 27. 1. 2019, Gap - Monaco • Automobile Club de Monaco • asphalt - snow 323.83 km - (cancelled 20.04 km) • total distance including road sections - 1366.43 km • Other years
Info
SS16
"It was a close fight, but we gave him a nice present on Friday when we made a mistake and gave him the lead. It was still a good weekend and we won't be first on the road for Sweden. We can take the positives from this and look forward to the next round."
"You know it is the rally I want to win the most in the season, that is why I am so happy now. We had this problem with the throttle and it was pushing the car on the brakes so it was tough. I am very happy. Six years in a row with three different cars!"
"This morning I managed to reclaim the podium and after that it was just about remaining in this position. It was a good weekend except for one thing that we couldn't control."
"We were not so fast, I cannot say I am happy with my times. I was pushing really hard but making no times. We finished fourth on our first rally with Hyundai so that is not so bad."
"It is a lot. But the feeling wasn't the same as I had last year. Everything is my fault, I made a mistake in the test and crashed and I built the car the wrong way. It is my mistake."
"I set my marks the first time and I hit them all now. I was clean, I wasn't overly aggressive. Maybe a second here or there, but it is my first event in a new car and it feels good."
"The rest of the rally was better than the start, just unfortunately the crash on the first stage. It was great to be able to do Monte-Carlo in a World Rally Car."
"It is a lot of learning, so much learning this weekend. We just need to analyse it all now. I want to thank the team and everyone who has helped, especially my gravel crew they've done a great job this weekend."
"It's felt like it has taken so long, but finally! There's so many people I need to thank, the whole M-Sport Ford team, my Mum and Dad but there is one man I really need to thank, my co-driver last year Craig Parry. We put all the work into this last year."
"I think there has been a big learning curve from last year, and we have been learning all weekend. It has been a good rally if you don't count the first stage!"
SS15
"Still struggle with an issue with the throttle, but I try as hard as I can. The throttle is still not working very well, but I am trying my best."
"I had a very good stage, a very good stage. Especially towards the end I think I was really on it, the car felt really nice so I could push to the maximum. I don't know how much of the tyres are left, but I still have enough for the next stage to try and push for the win."
"We tried really hard. We changed the set-up to try and stabilise the car and it felt better. The grip was better also."
"I've been trying hard, I can't go the speed Ott is going. The question now is how much Loeb can do."
"I don't know really how it went this one, but I must say the car balance was better and I had a good clean run. Maybe not pushing so hard, but I had a good rhythm."
"The stage was totally different from the morning. The salt has gone, so it is interesting to see how the other drivers will drive this one."
"We've not been on a cruise this morning, I wanted to check my marks on the first pass of the Power Stage. I also didn't do this one at an idle speed because I wanted to get myself in to the rhythm."
SS14
"Not pushing much, I don't know if it is a good time because faster guys are still to come. I'm not happy with the brakes but this stage was a bit better."
"I'm enjoying it, but for sure we are just taking it easy and even if there is a bit of hesitation going into a corner we just back off and don't do anything stupid."
"Difficult. Because the car is not 100%."
"Big battle. I was not happy with my driving in here because I had to play too much with the engine mappings because of the ice, and I lost the brakes also. Not a clean run."
"I can't do more. We had a good stage."
"Ott has been driving really well, he has been faster than me all the time. Today it seems the car is fine but it is me, I can't get the best feeling and the confidence isn't there."
"We try to improve the car a bit from the previous stage, but at the beginning it was a bit worse. Now we have some time to discuss it."
"I tried to get my marks. I wanted to save my tyres on the first one, but on this one I wanted to get my teeth into it. I can do better on the Power Stage."
"Much better stage for us, better conditions and I was happy for the car. There was not much salt so the balance was better."
SS13
"It was not so good drive from me, but it was a nice stage and the conditions were quite easy. Not so easy to change to drive asphalt so easily and I have not got a good feeling with the brakes - I have to use quite a lot of force."
"I feel fine, we've got a 1min 30 lead, we can afford to lose a bit of time and just be careful."
"It is okay, I can push more!"
"Very tricky to drive, the tyres were overheating quite early. Sliding a bit too much and not enough speed in some of the corners."
"We cannot do anything, I was pushing really hard in the stage. It was very slippery and we have some understeer in the long corners. He is incredibly fast."
"I'm not having a good feeling with my driving. I have understeer, I am not confident and I am not driving well. I need to do something with my driving."
"It has been a long time driving on asphalt and it was quite slippery with the salt in places. I had a clean run, nothing special, but a clean run. I am doing my best to get third, but I am not going crazy."
"Really nice exploring the car again on this type of road. Nothing to do for these first three stages, just trying to preserve the tyres for the Power Stage."
SS12
puncture
puncture
changed a wheel
"I had a bit of a wake up on the last stage, I felt like I was driving well but the time wasn't there so I've given it a bigger push on this one."
"The Toyota was even faster, I was pushing vey hard! It is dry now, so I can take a bit more risk. It is intense for sure, I think on the stages tomorrow the C3 will work well."
"On this one I was pretty much on the limit except on the ice where I took it a bit steady. I had a good stage and I couldn't do any more."
"I tried to push, I tried to push as much as I can. I felt like I had a good run, but we still had a bit of understeer. Maybe I'm not so good driving with the mixed tyres."
"For sure I am enjoying it. I was happier with the car this afternoon, I could push a bit harder as we found a better set-up in service. I enjoy the race."
"There is no difference, none of the tyres have studs any more! It is not a big risk, but if there had been snow or ice we could have lost 10 or 15 seconds, but there is no one behind us."
"Some of parts have dried up, but the snow parts are still tricky. Really enjoyed it today."
"We had the super soft so it has worn quite badly, but it is okay."
"Quite similar to the first I would say. It is a very nice stage, I enjoy it. The car is fantastic to drive and I want to thank my ice and gravel crews, they have been fantastic."
SS11
"It is very close, but I am happy it stays close on these types of stages because it is not easy to find a rhythm. If Thierry can hold a bit more, I'm happy with that!"
"Difficult to know what is the best rhythm but I kept going towards the end, maybe a bit too much movement in the car but I try to be smooth and efficient. I could do more, but it could be risky. Seb is at home here, he knows the stages. Sometimes I need to be careful."
"This stage, I don't know why I can't get the best feeling on this stage. The grip level is changing a lot. The battle is fantastic."
"I had a good stage, we will see what we can do. I tried to push, maybe it is not enough but I am doing what I can."
"Some icy places, the tyre was okay but obviously they are very similar to the winter tyre - just without the studs."
"I love my Yaris! This stage is a nice stage with a nice profile, we almost know there will be winter conditions. Driving with a smile on your face is always nice."
"The car was okay, I tried to save the studs then I realised in the middle of the stage that I had to start to push."
"For sure some places it is more icy and some places it is more dry. It is a proper Monte stage."
SS10
"Not so good run for me, it was really slippy on the icy places and there was much more ice than expected. The information we had was a bit less ice and we had no studded tyres."
"Like I said to my Dad this morning - he's the real boss - I said I would take it cautious, a small issue with the brakes but it is nothing that can't be fixed. The route note crew are doing a great job."
"I think it is a good gap, it has been a tricky morning - especially the first stage. Still happy with a cautious approach. It is still a tough battle with Thierry but so far, so good."
"Maybe not the best tyre choice, I was on two soft when I should have been on super soft, it was very slippery. It was a good run, but as I say - wrong tyre choice."
"It was a pretty good run. More slippy than I thought, I think the gravel crew came through before the sun came up. In the place where Elfyn went off it was very icy. It was nastier than I thought."
"I stalled on the start and lost a bit of time there. For the rest it was good, not perfect. I was not very confident."
"For sure, we keep doing our best. The stage was generally okay but I had a fancy moment at the beginning where I hit the black ice, there is so much ice and it is quite slippery."
"With this combination of tyres you have to drive it as fast you can - I'm not trying to showboat I'm trying to drive as fast as I can! Just trying to get through the day as cleanly as I can and focus on the Power Stage tomorrow."
Start is quite dry, and then at 2km there is some ice. I expected it to be icier so I saved the studs a bit too much at the start."
"This was a very nice stage but with the studded tyres and no spare I took it very carefully because I want to be back learning more tomorrow."
SS9
lost a left-rear wheel after flying finish
"It felt like I was stopped for most of it! So, so slippy. It felt okay, but then it didn't feel like a great time. I didn't make any mistakes but it didn't feel fast."
"I'm happy, you have no idea what rhythm you have in there, it is very low grip. The gap is nothing still, everything to be played for!"
"I was maybe a little bit careful, it was quite tricky - I tried to keep a good rhythm and keep the car on the road."
"Last corner, I had it flat in my notes to get the perfect exit towards the flying finish."
"16km, it was a tough call to know what to do but with the stage being so slow on ice it was the right think to do."
"I was not really confident in the stage, it was very slippery with changing grip."
stopped
puncture
"It's quite consistent, but still is changing a lot in places so it is quite hard to push. The target is just to do the best, there is a big gap in front."
"I really enjoyed it. Okay, nothing to fight for but I just took pleasure from driving the car. Nothing to compete for today - I am already thinking of the Power Stage tomorrow!"
"There was like 8km of snow and the end of the stage was really dry. It was difficult to manage the tyres, but hopefully we have some studs left for the next one."
"It is really mixed, we had a slow puncture after 6km and we had to stop and change it. We only had one spare so after that I had to take it carefully."
stopped
changing puncture
SS8
"It was quite fine, we had cross tyres like in the previous one so not the easiest on the dry asphalt but on the ice it was okay. This was a good drive through, no problems."
"It's been the most enjoyable day rally I think I've ever had. I've been closing in on Bonato (WRC 2 leader) so let's see what happens on this one."
"Then from the broken rim I have no front-left damper through this stage. When the car has been good the speed has been there. That's the way it goes sometimes. I'm excited for the future, it is a good car and a good team."
"We are still here, that was the goal. We had a tricky tyre choice, difficult on the first, good on the second and difficult again on this one. We aren't here for the victory, but we are still here."
"Probably a bit of a mistake on the tyres. We thought maybe we could make these work but we just had to be a bit too slow for the ice."
"Very tricky this one, for tyre choice I don't know what is quicker in there. We had a clean stage."
"We chose full snow tyres this stage, to try and make some difference. It will be exciting to see what is happening."
"Monte is not really about the pace, it is about consistency. It has not really been our day today, but we still do everything we can."
"Honestly, we had a good tyre choice, but with the mistake I lost 19sec to Ogier and the gap could have been bigger. It was full confidence on this stage, the notes from the gravel crew have been really good."
Thierry was pushing, I was careful on the icy section. I had no studs left anymore and it was very slippery."
SS7
"Today has been going quite well. We started carefully because of yesterday, I think everything has been improving today - the notes from the ice crew has been getting better."
"We took a risk on the tyres this afternoon and we split it. Everyone else went with studs. I really pushed hard on this one, I reckon this is the best stage I've ever driven."
"I broke another rim, that's the third this weekend." He's asked why it broke: "We need a stronger one. Simple"
"Okay? Cool. I had a really good stage now, I knew I lost a lot of time on the last one because of the tyre choice but I made it back on this one."
"We obviously had the right tyres, so that helps. I don't know where it leaves us in the loop, it was a tricky decision."
"We had an okay run, we could go faster but we tried to keep it in the limits. It is so easy to make a mistake."
"It is quite interesting, things are changing. I saw Ott in front of us and I was thinking 'I thought I saw a car' so that disturbed me a little bit."
"Puncture. I don't know how it happened."
stopped
"The mistake cost us all the time in the previous stage. I tried my best in this one and with the tyres I had it was a pretty good time I think."
"It was the plan. We had a different tyre choice than Thierry and we had an extra slick. There are a lot of deep cuts, so I didn't go in many of them to avoid any wheel damage."
"Quite dirty, but generally it is quite dry. So the way to go was soft slicks. It is not really cleaning, I think it is getting dirtier."
changing puncture
SS6
"It was a quite nice stage, the tyre choice that we had was quite okay. On the slippy places it wasn't great but overall I think it was good."
"We took a bit of a risk on the tyres, so crossed in there with the slicks wasn't nice. I gave it everything and had three massive moments on there."
"I drove my own stage, very tricky. I think there was a bit of everything: wet, dry, snow, ice, shiny asphalt, mud!"
"Maybe we lost too much on this one. On the last stage of the loop we hope for slicks."
"We have slicks on the car. Let's see if we can make the time back on the next one."
stopped
"The tyres were good for this stage, but let's see for the next one."
"Probably hit a rock, I'm not sure but something hard. We drove more than 11km like this. Very sorry for the team, but it is part of the game."
damaged front-left suspension
"It wa ssurprisingly good, we took all studs. We know we'll lose some on the next stages."
"It is just tricky, but nothing wrong. The conditions aren't consistent."
"I was too fast, with this tyre I just turned and the car wouldn't turn. I lost around 15sec. We could have been 17 or 18 faster and for the next stages he definitely has the better tyre choice."
"Not the best tyre choice I think, I struggled with the car."
"Quite difficult, it is getting drier but there is still 7km of snow with some ruts. With two snow tyres It was very difficult, especially on the downhill sections."
SS5
“The car is overheating. I had high water temperature alarms, so I had to turn everything off & we lost a lot of time”.
"Very tricky. I think the front of my grill got filled with leaves because I lost boost for the last 5kms of the stage. That stage was damp, icy everything, the road position wasn't great."
"At this stage it was no change, gravel everywhere. The cars in front cut everywhere. The feeling in the car was okay, the tyre choice this morning was good but the stage was really dirty."
"It is not a perfect rhythm for sure, but the conditions aren't perfect. It is quite tricky out there."
"You can go really quick in there because the conditions are not that bad, you just have to trust it. The feeling is definitely better, but I think the car is still a little bit nervous."
"For sure it is not ideal when you have crossed tyres but you just have to live with that, it is quite normal. I am alright with the car but Seb is doing a great job. On the previous one I was on the maximum without the risk, but on this one I don't want to take the risk."
"Finally it was a good run. Here I think we had the right tyre choice. This is the first time I had a relaxed feeling with the car and the notes from the guys were very good."
"It was a tricky stage. We destroyed our tyres on the previous stage and it is full of ice now. But it is okay."
"It went okay. But I have a rear tyre which was very worn at the beginning. Nothing must be left of it now."
"Everything was okay. I don't know which tyre everyone was on, there was a lot of ice where I was too careful for sure but it is a tricky stage for sure."
Puncture
SS4
puncture
"Not so easy to get the feeling after yesterday. At the beginning of the stage it was tricky but towards the end it was getting better."
"Didn't enjoy it really, at 10kms in the brake pedal just went soft, it went straight to the floor. Apart from that it was fine, I'll bleed them before the next stage."
"It's amazing! I go very careful. No dramas so it was a safe start. We went safe on tyres, they will be fine for the next stage."
He has stopped at the 4.1km mark. Now moving again.
"The amount of pollution and the amount of guys on studded tyres pulling out the verges meant this stage was all mud for me."
"We have a rear-left puncture, but it was close to the end. A bit of gravel on the road, we had a good tyre choice but we are not able to make a difference."
"It was okay, car feels very nervous in these conditions. Maybe running a bit too low. It is a bit like this all the time but it was an okay run."
"I think it could have been, but a few drivers are in the same position. What can we do when they cancel the stage?"
"We made the tyre choice for the first stage this morning. Now we have very soft tyres and I think they are overheating, that's why I lost time. It was a nice stage but I didn't have the best feeling because I had to be very careful with the tyres."
"Obviously, the previous stage was the main stage so for sure we don't have the optimal choice for this one. I think the next stage will be okay."
"It was okay. Not so nice towards the end but it was driveable. I tried to do a clean stage and see if we can catch some time."
"The cancellation of the previous stage was a big pity for us. This stage wasn't very nice with the studded tyres."
"Bit easier, but conditions were changing a bit and the tyres were overheating really badly in the end. My objective now is to get all the experience I can get."
SS2
"I'm happy to be here, we all knew it was going to be a tricky start. Maybe we were a little bit too safe on the icy places in SS1 but we managed to do a good time on the dry with crossed tyres, and overall it's not a bad start for us"
"It's been a proper start to Rallye Monte-Carlo. The first stage was really tricky, struggling a bit with the gravel notes but we got through. This one was a bit easier. The car was stopping a bit, cutting the engine, but we got here and it is all good."
"We're here at the end, the first stage was... I know why Malcolm said 'just come and do the rally!' I wasn't committed in the first stage, not even close. I just need to step up the pace tomorrow to how it was in shakedown."
"We had an off and we broke two wheels and something from the front and we had to drive without the lights. We could re-attach the lights for this one. Some mistakes on the ice place, nothing I could do but it was my mistake."
"The car is unbelievable to drive, I just need to brace myself not to make any mistakes. Our strategy is to get experience on this rally and get a feeling for everything."
"No idea, I just got a warning on my dash. I had to drive 7 or maybe 9km with a puncture. The car felt good before then, I'm happy to be honest, I am feeling confident in a car I love, bring on tomorrow."
puncture
"The stud tyres was not a good choice, I did what I can but it is not good with these tyres."
"It was okay, it was very, very difficult to judge how well or badly you are doing to be honest. The car has been working well, no big issues."
"I had a bit wrong strategy on the first one to be honest, but I saved too much the studs and it was the wrong choice. Now I try to come with a better rhythm."
"Fastest but that is not enough. We were expecting more. It is okay, we tried. It was maybe a little bit risky, but with the information I had I thought it was going to be the right choice."
"Completely dry and we have 4 winter tyres, sliding everywhere. Did the best I could!"
SS1
were off road
"The car is just amazing to drive. I want so much, but I was just careful now and calmed down a bit."
"Honestly, I was full of anticipation to drive again. I was waiting for that moment for so many months, but the car just gives you confidence. I tempered my confidence here for the first one, especially after I saw Suninen in the ditch."
"We saw the road getting very bad behind. There are a lot of corners where I have absolutely nothing in the notes and it's full of snow because the cars in front cut. It was really tricky."
"For sure for us we could have gone a bit harder. There was a few places I was kicking myself a little bit, but in some places you couldn't stop and in others you could. But it's a clean start."
"Before the finish, there was this sign that was like the finish so I started to back off but we still had a kilometre to go. Stupid mistake by me. And we were very cautious."
off road
"It was changing conditions. In the beginning some damp places were frozen so it was a bit tricky to try to trust the grip."
"Nothing special, I just went a bit soft with the car. I think the car was too soft in these conditions and the confidence isn't the best."
"I don't know. I'm not sure it is anything special. A few seconds here or there is nothing."
"I was surprised that the grip was still that good. I expected it to be a bit more slippy. I hope to catch back the time on the next stage."
"For sure it was safer with studded tyres, for sure he will be faster in the next stage but for this one I'm not so sure."