New season, new hopes, new ambitions. As every year, the championship kicks off in Monaco.
I’ve always loved Monte, it’s a massive challenge for the teams and quite possibly the most mythical rally in the world.
Over here, the smallest mistake can cost you the win… and unfortunately this is what happened to us. We lost 4 minutes in the first stage as our Hyundai got stuck in a snow bank. The road was covered in ice and we were probably 5 Km/h too fast… That’s part of the game and that’s rallying.
From that moment, our only target was to move up in the leaderboard. Despite all the tricks, despite a puncture that cost us another 30 seconds on Friday morning, and despite an unfavourable road position on Saturday that made us hit the stages covered in fresh snow…
Thierry drove to perfection, he kept pushing without taking useless risks. The car was perfect all along and the team did a fantastic job, once again. At the end, we end up fifth, with 5 fastest times and 4 Power stage bonus points.
Every single point will count at the end in the fight for the title. It was important to keep calm and move up the overall classification. Job done.
This was my 8th Monte, on top of my 7 historic Monte-Carlo… and I still get goose bumps every time I come here. I do realize how lucky I am to be part of the WRC. It’s a golden era for our sport and I am so proud to be part of this adventure.
Bring on Rally Sweden!
