As our website is accredited by FIA, Sofia Siriatou attended to media events of WRC teams ahead of Rally Croatia and had the chance to ask three WRC drivers.
Sofia Siriatou: Hyundai faced many problems with the hybrid unit of i20N Rally1, but the most important is that these problems hit you twice so far this season resulting in your having only five points on the championship. Did Hyundai manage to solve these problems in the season break and in which areas of the car has worked on?
Ott Tanak: Unfortunately, it is something Hyundai can't. Let's say, change is outside from the company, it up to FIA. Yeah, it is something that we can't, so unfortunately no improve or development.
Sofia Siriatou: I remember you saying when you competed for the first time in Germany with Toyota that you were struggling on tarmac surfaces and you were trying different approaches at the braking points. How will you manage this defficulty in Croatia in combination with the extra power that you were caught by surprise during your pre-event test?
Esapekka Lappi: I believe that I have more experience now. It is, let's say, faster cars on tarmac, not recently, but in the past. I am pretty confident with the car, to be honest. The test was really good, so I am not worried of the braking. And, in Germany, I remember that year that I struggled. I pushed too much the throttle on the exits of the juctions, for example, and I created wheel spin. That was why I lost time on accelerations and it is pretty much the case this weekend as well with the hybrid, especially when it looks like it is gonna be slippery conditions, so we need to be very gentle probably with the accelerations and the throttle behaviour. Also, we can adjust a bit our maps with the hybrid boost. It does not need to be so strong all the time. I believe that we can do some car modifications as well. That will help.
Sofia Siriatou: You started your WRC debut last year in Croatia. Now that you are having more experience as a WRC driver and you are returning after one year, what are your expectations for Rally Croatia?
Adrien Fourmaux: It is always good to come back on an event that you have done and last year was a good one for me. We had very good pace and we had a really good time, but the beginning of this season has been a bit different to last year. I need to learn from Monte Carlo and to find a balance between pushing and pushing too much in the limits, so this is my main goal for the rally. It is a bit of unluck what happened in Sweden, so it will be a very tricky event and I think that it will be very different to last year. The car is different, the playing with that is also different, so it will be challenging for sure.
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