48. Rally Islas Canarias 2024
ERC #2 • ERC3 #2 • ERC Junior #2 • ERC4 #2 • Spain Superchampionship #3 • Canary Islands #3 • Clio Trophy Canarias #1 • Rally & You Canarias Cup #2
2. 5. – 4. 5. 2024, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria • C.D. Todo Sport • asphalt 193.12 km • total distance including road sections - 617.68 km • Other years
Info
SS13
"It was really easy, no problem! Thanks to everyone, thanks to my new team Trajectus Motorsport. The driver of the weekend is Franceschi and it's good for him in the championship, I hope he can win at the end of the season. The rally win is good for us, good for my team and good for my family who are here."
"I feel really good, it was an amazing weekend again. It's amazing, we don't expect to be in this place in asphalt because I need to learn on asphalt. Thank you to everyone and my team, it is amazing thank you."
"It was not enough, I pushed really hard. It's a good position for the Spanish championship. It is also a good show for the people."
"We have to wait, it was an amazing rally. Big thanks to the team, they did an incredible job. The car is amazing, to come here the first time and have the rhythm is great. Thanks to the team and Toyota for believing in me this year."
"I tried to push very hard, this stage is very important for us in the Spain championship. Cachón is so fast."
"This weekend has been massively competitive, possibly one of the most competitive I've ever done. Not the result we wanted, but not for lack of trying. Hats off to the Spanish guys, we haven't had a bad weekend but if you look at the result it looks bad. It's a credit to the championship."
"I gave it a good go in there, we had a good run in here this morning. I tried to push on the limit, I love this stage. Big thanks to M-Sport and MI Rally Academy, we wouldn't be here without them. Good speed this weekend."
"I think it's not fast enough against the faster drivers but it is nice to feel the progress, we need to take the rally as a lesson. We didn't come prepared at all which is frustrating but we have to look forward to the next round and make sure everything is perfect."
"We had an epic day, some problems along the way, but very happy with that."
"Feeling was OK. Just to say thank you to the team, they've done an amazing job throughout the whole rally, Sara Fernandez as well. This is not the result we wanted, we are fighting for much more overall. It is what it is."
"The island is fantastic as always, the weather was so nice. Enjoyable things, new car, new team, new co-driver. We enjoyed the road a lot, we need to be faster next time but it is a great event."
"We really enjoyed the whole weekend, I was hoping for a bit more but there are a lot of very good and famous guys out there. Thanks to the team, Škoda and Michelin for the tyres. We'll be back for sure."
"It's been a very long two days, I couldn't have done more than I did out there. Thank to you everyone."
"Probably not today that I want to remember but at least we know where we need to build our confidence more, thanks to Igor [Bacigal], he did an incredible job, thanks to my team and sponsors and big thanks to my family and girlfriend because this weekend I struggled a lot and they were there to help so, thank you."
"To be honest we aren't so happy with our weekend, but it is like this. There are some positives to take home from this rally and we will keep working. I would like to thank all my team for being perfect and Radek Bucha for co-driving. We'll be back."
"A little bit nervous but it was OK, we know what we can do on the car and everything. Few kilometres more and let's see the next one."
"It was not bad, just 1sec per km faster and it would've been really good. I'd like to thank my team Kresta Racing for the weekend. On the performance side, I'm happy because the standings was really tight, lots of spanish guys who know how to race here and the guys from France. From the driving side, not the best, but I tried and I was doing my best."
"It feels amazing, we didn't know we had this speed on asphalt and it's only my third rally on this car on asphalt. A big thank you to my team, sponsor and my coach Pontus Tidemand."
SS11
"Every time we try to change something, the time is always the same. They are improving we are improving, everything stays the same. This is how it is, let's see for the long stage."
"The day is going well, it's a good experience in this rally and on these types of roads. The next stage will be better for us, so let's enjoy it in this car."
"No reason why, it felt fine. I don't have much more than that. The car is moving and sliding around. The beauty of the ERC is that you get the national guys that come in and you have to try and beat them and keep them behind."
"I like the stage, I enjoy the drive, it's a good afternoon for us and we are so lucky to have this, so we have to enjoy this rally."
"We'll see on the long one, no problem for this one. There are a lot of fast sections, so this is a beautiful one for sure. The next one is so beautiful so we'll see about that."
"Every second pass we are losing time, it's very frustrating."
"We had some issues with the intercom on the last stage, different helmet now. Bit of drama but we're still here and still pushing."
"It's a good battle, let's see what happens. 0.5sec from this stage is quite good, I will push really hard on the next win. Everyone wants to win but only one can win."
"Not very happy in the start of the stage, some errors but the fight in the Spanish Championship is crazy."
"The plan is to go as good as possible on SS12 and then go for the Power Stage. I will do my best on the last few stages."
"We were noit aiming for anything. No plan, no problem. We try to enjoy."
"It was to do with the brakes, we changed all the brakes yesterday and maybe something happened there because the balance was out. I didn't have the right brake performance on the first few stages but I was able to correct it. It feels like a new rally now."
"Yes, I am very happy. Long stages left, I'm going to try and keep the same rhythm as the Spanish Super Championship drivers."
"I am pushing for podium, let's see. I think the key is in the long stage. This stage is very short and the difference between the other drivers is quite low, but let's see."
"We have to keep pushing, it's the only thing we can do to try and make up some time."
"Much more grip. Was as good run, a confident run. We will see, will be a much more interesting afternoon loop."
"Better feeling than the morning. We have to keep pushing but also be responsible."
"We had some issue with the car on the stage and lost some seconds."
SS10
"I know I won this stage last year!"
"We'll go to service now to check the pace notes and the line and then go to the second pass."
"Much better today."
"The feeling with the car is better."
"This one was the best one in terms of feelings."
"I push hard because it is a real pleasure to be here."
"Felt better, we made a small change to the car so we had a lot less understeer in this one."
"I want to keep my feeling and my speed. I don't want to take any risks."
"I think we did a good stage. Let's see."
"Now I am happy with the car, happy with me. I had a good drive, bring on the next loop!"
"First two stages was terrible, now I changed the setup again."
"I found it why it didn't feel good."
"We had some intercom issue on my side, the helmet didn't fix it."
"Everyone has good times so hopefully we can do well on the Power Stage."
"Happy to have done well so far."
"It's difficult to get podium. I am trying my best since yesterday but we lost a lot of time with the wheel damage."
"Could be faster, but we'll see in the second loop."
"I am not feeling good with the car, I am looking forward to the rally ending."
"It's very important to fight up to the top 10."
"Much better run."
SS9
"It doesn't matter we lost to Mareš.. It's really good to drive this stage, it's incredible."
"We are trying for sure, we are doing a good job."
"The aim is to learn and enjoy."
"We need to change something in the service."
"Feeling was not the best one, but we need to continue like this and see for the rest of the day."
"We take maximum pleasure and that is the most important thing."
"The grip is better than the other one, the profile is fast."
"We'll ceertainly try to hold back Suarez. Stage didn't go to plan, we have a lot of understeer today."
"For this stage, changed my style of driving."
"I spun in the first corner, I always spin on Canarias."
"It feels horrible. I don't know what to do I am trying to drive clean, but I feel no confidence."
"But of a disaster in there to be honest, need to improve now."
"Moving in the wrong direction now."
"This stage was not a very good feeling, much more slippery than I expected."
"It was not an easy stage because it is hard to drive all the time on a constant level on a cold tyre."
"I tried to push to gain a position to get some confidence back and get some pace. These roads aren't too well known for me so I wanted to push and now need to keep it up."
"I think we've done a very good job so far."
"In places it is a bit dirty and slippery, we have to push because last year on Saturday we gained 10th position."
SS8
"The target is the long stage and getting a good rhythm through there."
"My target is to keep Paddon behind."
"I tried to push maybe I did some mistakes. We'll see on the next one but I feel good."
"We don't worry about Cachón, he's the fastest driver on the rally."
"The car is much better, we have improved the setup."
"Some change in the setup today but I think the problem is me."
"The stage is more square, straight line turn. Unfortunately we struggled with pace here."
"I don't know exactly why but I struggled a lot with my confidence and when you're not committing it's not good to drive at all. We have to improve."
"Some small issue with the pace notes but I was trying. Now we are going for the long one which will be crucial for today."
"We have to start the morning and continue with the rhythm we had yesterday and we'll see where we can go."
"The first part we know well from the past, but the second part is completely new to us."
"Not happy with the performance. I knew I wouldn't like the stages so much today but we needed to stay at the pace."
"Difficult stage."
SS7
"In the afternoon I went better than the morning, I look forward to tomorrow."
"We started quite slow, we've sped up a little bit. We are quite far from the limit. For me, it's quite hard after seven years away from the European Rally Championship and the guys at the front are pushing like hell. But we'll see for tomorrow."
"It's been a very long day, not so easy finding the rhythm and so on. Cannot say anything bad, cannot say anything good."
"I am happy, this is the first time with the car in asphalt. I'm building my confidence step by step and being faster every kilometre. Let's see the time and we look forward to tomorrow."
"Morning I was struggling and couldn't get any rhythm, but thanks to the changes I've got more rhythm this afternoon."
"We are doing our best, we have no other way to do it.."
"It's been a fantastic day and we'll see if we can carry it on tomorrow."
"Obviously that's not good, what can we do?"
"Now I hope it is better. I'm playing with the setup to see how it reacts."
"The afternoon section is promising for us because the feeling is getting better."
"I'm trying to push hard to recover what I lost in the first stage."
"I hope we can go in the right direction, because this is not what we want."
"Our pace today was quite stable, I know now we're not able to push for the victory so we have to find out why and how."
"It's Canarias, you have to think about the temperature of the tyres and the temperature of the brakes."
"This was quite okay. Had some issues in the morning but everything is solved."
"This stage is very difficult to understand the grip. The first day is finished, nothing is perfect. We need to focus on tomorrow."
"It was a big stage, difficult because the grip changed every time. Big day and big performance today, thanks to my team because the car was incredible and I hope for the same tomorrow."
"I am really happy because now I've learnt to manage the brakes and the tyres."
"Very happy with the afternoon. The fight is on, we have to push very hard, so it's fun."
SS5
"There's a bit of pollution in places but overall really happy, we just need to keep up the pace right now."
"Honestly, we are doing a good job and I am really happy with our performance."
"E´We drove well. It's just the times aren't there."
"I think the setup isn't so good for this one so we are struggling a bit with the grip."
"The feeling was like I was one sec per kilometre faster."
"We did some big adjustments, theoretically not big but feeling wise very big."
"It feels like the team fixed the problem."
"Maybe I touched something and I punctured."
"It was quite a good stage, it's warming up but now I have brakes!"
"Something is changed, we improved a little bit."
"There is more confidence in the second pass."
"The run was okay and the car was perfect."
"I really enjoyed this stage, it is very beautiful but I think this loop will be better than the one this morning."
"The stage was good, lots of corners, really demanding."
"The temperature is higher so it is a bit more difficult with the tyres."
Puncture
SS4
"Too fast and slow in the corners, but we are here."
"We were struggling with some technical turbo issues then changed some setup that didn't work at all."
"We're struggling with the car, as soon as I want to push I have no front end. There's a real balancing act at the moment, but we're struggling."
"Very good. Dramatic morning, damaged suspension. We're still here at the end of it though, temporary fix to get us back to service."
"The feeling in the car is good, very happy."
"Everything is working well, we are doing our best."
"You have to be gentle with the car on the downhill. We had a good run through though."
"It's a bit difficult to judge the grip and I struggle to take full advantage of the road, cars and tyres."
"I think we're moving in the right direction."
"The surface is changing as well which is the main reason for the grip changing and the temperature is important too."
"Half of the stage we lost the brakes completely, normally I have no issues with brakes."
"The stage was quite long, lots of types of asphalt, very demanding for the tyres and the brakes."
"Very complicated to have the feeling out there this morning."
"I have to say the Michelin tyres here work pretty well. I can definitely go faster than expected but I didn't have the confidence."
"We need to fix something in the service. This afternoon will be much better."
"It's a very difficult stage, especially the last section absolutely no grip."
"The older asphalt completely destroys the tyres I think."
"My front tyres are totally destroyed. Not very happy with the first loop."
SS2
Accident
"At the moment the balance of the car is not good."
"The problem here is if you push too much you get a bit of understeering."
"It's my first time in seven years in this type of car on this type of road."
"I think I pushed the tyres a little too much, they were overheating."
"Quite a good run from my point of view. There is a bit to improve, but without any issue."
"We didn't drop the pressure on the tyres so we were late to TC."
"Yesterday after the shakedown we made some changes, I think it is working really well now."
"We went too smooth and didn't use the tyres well."
"It was exceptionally complicated stage."
"Everything is okay, we need to go because I was braking too much."
"Really bad but it's my fault, I need to push more!"
"It's not easy. It is like circuit racing, I like more bumpy roads."
"More slippery than what I expected in the first part of the stage. It was a good warmup."
"I think I was a bit too smooth on my line."
"I think it's good for the first stage of the rally, it's always difficult for us but this is a start."
"The weather is perfect so first position is perfect as well. Not perfect with my driving on this one."
SS1
"The rear tyres were cold at the beginning so couldn't push that much but we had a good stage."
"The rear tyres were cold at the beginning so couldn't push that much but we had a good stage."
"The rear tyres were cold at the beginning so couldn't push that much but we had a good stage."
"The roundabout was really difficult in a 2WD car but it was okay."
"I'm happy, but not important today, the race is tomorrow. We need to avoid the mistakes as in Hungary, but it's a better start than Hungary."
"Yeah there is a bit of pressure on us, I think everyone knows this rally will suit us better than the gravel rallies, so we'll try to get as many points as possible this rally."
"It's difficult with a 2WD car in the arena, my co-driver was singing to me while we did it! Really fun, let's go for tomorrow."
"A beautiful experience, this is my first stage on an arena. I don't know the time but the race is tomorrow."
"Clear run. I enjoyed and it was a great stage. Hopefully we will carry this on tomorrow."
"Very, very slippery! The race is tomorrow. A lot of mistakes!"
"I don't know really, for sure we need to get to the finish and get some valuable points but we want to win and that's what we're here for."
"We wanted to keep it clean and tidy and not make any silly mistakes. We have to develop on the asphalt, we're there on gravel, but we'll look to develop over the weekend."
"It's unbelievable and stuff I only used to dream about to be here. It's not like back in Ireland! We got through and go onto tomorrow morning now."
"I don't know! I was quite surprised myself, I nearly started laughing. Thinking about the long run, we'll just find our feet, play the long game and get to the finish. We've got the championship in mind."
"This car is good, I didn't do it like Jon Armstrong two years ago. On this stage you can win or lose everything. I am happy to go to the Parc Fermé."
"Donuts are more fun than I thought. It was a nice stage here."
"It's morning time in New Zealand so I'm starting to wake up! There's so many people out here and it's great for the atmosphere. It's made me excited for the morning now."
"This year was a bit better, we didn't lose so much time! I like these stages for the fans, but not for me. I am very happy. Let's start tomorrow!"
"The feeling is good, the real difference is there. It's good, the atmosphere is great, thanks for the rally fans."
"After this stage I feel incredible becauase I'm finally done. It's a stage where you cannot win so much but you lose everything on this rally. We're looking forward to tomorrow."
"We have a very good team, quite a lot of experience, big job from my team to repair the car. It's all in our hands."
"I think I touched something. I touched a small cube, but I'm a plumber so I'm used to it so no problem!"
"Definitely the stuff of dreams, alaways a bit daunting going into this stage after what I did two years ago in the first corner. Big thanks to the team and the sponsors for the car, we're really looking forward to it."
"I tried with the donut. Rally starts tomorrow, but good fun. I wish there will be unpredictable weather!"
"Inside the stadium was so slippery I could not do a 360, it's really good to see so many people come out and see the rally."
"I was like a beginner on the arena, it was too slippery and I was too careful. I pushed the throttle and the handbrake too much. It's my first rally and I have to improve myself with the new car and be more confident."
"It felt like chaos in there, arriving into the stadium was so slippy, just trying to manage it I felt bad but I think I gave it a bit of a show."
"Well, it was fun to do with this car! First metres doing donuts, never done before with this car but it seems okay, no?"
"The car is good, but in this stage it is very difficult."
"The stage is difficult, there was a bit of slip but it is okay and I am happy. Tomorrow is a long day."
"Gran Canaria is a one of a kind rally, it's like in the computer games. The stages are beautiful, beautiful landscapes. The people are incredible and it is really great to be back after a three year hiatus. Looking forward to tomorrow."
"With the cold tyres it is quite amazing, not easy and I made a few mistakes but all OK and the real rally starts tomorrow."
"It's all a learning curve, the pace is very hot over here! We hit the first corner last time so there's definitely more to be lost than gained in there!"
"It's a big problem, I don't know what happened in the car but it looks like a strong problem."
"Very slippery stage but I like that there a lot of people, I like the rally a lot. I look forward to the start. I did this rally in the past."
"Amazing stage!"
"Is incredible to see all the people inside the stadium and it is amazing. Tomorrow the proper rally starts, it will be a long day so we have to have a good rhythm."
"I think the feeling is OK, it's easy to make a mistake on this stage. Time to focus on the stages tomorrow."
"I feel really well, I did on this stage what I didn't do in the past, tomorrow looks good with three hard stages, I'll push and give it all I know."
"I am happy of course. We need to make some friendship between myself and the car. At the moment it's not responding the way I want."
"I was surprised how slippery it is inside stadium. Real sport will start tomorrow."
Lost wheel