Well, what a challenging week that was with Tour de Corse. We knew before the event that with the unique logistics and itinerary of the rally that it was going to be challenging, but the horrendous weather on Thursday/Friday certainly threw us all a curve ball.
Nevertheless, to come away with another top five finish, leading Hyundai, and our best result on tarmac – is much more that we ever expected.
Logistically this rally was more of an adventure than normal, as we never stayed in one city/hotel for more than one night – moving after each recce day and then the end of each rally day ending in a different city center (each 80-100km from each other). But while the rally had less but longer stages, the feeling was almost a bit ‘empty’ – as with less stages it felt like we were driving less and standing around waiting more.
Admittedly the cancelled stage on Friday and Saturday didn’t help, which was out of anyone’s control. While its great to see organizers trying to come up with new ideas, I don’t feel this one worked for competitors, spectators, media or teams.
The target for this rally was always to learn and despite the competitive people we are, forget about the times and result. However, this is easier said than done, as once the helmet goes on and you’re in the heat of the battle, it’s very easy to get disheartened when you get beaten. The first two stages on Friday were no exception.
Unfortunately the island was hit with a very bad rainstorm overnight Thursday, which caused a lot of damage to some villages. The damage also wiped out a bridge on one of the stages, which caused the cancellation of SS2 and SS4.
With the massive amounts of water and subsequent mud/gravel washed onto the road, Friday was survival mode. In these conditions it is very hard to have any confidence with the grip levels, especially when we don’t have a specific rain tyre.
While we do have a soft compound tyre, it is more of a dry tyre, which means when you hit the patches of water you simply aquaplaned. In normal situations this is hair-raising moment, but here in Corsica in places where you have sheer 800-900 metre drops straight down on the edge of the road with no barriers or Armco, it certainly keeps you on the edge of your seat.
While I agree that this year having no spilt times in the car makes the sport more exciting, it does make it a little harder for us to judge the speed – and this is where we got it wrong on SS1. It was very slippery and we took it easy knowing it was the same for everyone. But we took it far too easy, only 15th fastest and nearly a minute back after one stage.
But from there we could only move forward which we did, eventually moving up to 11th, 9th, 7th and then finally 5th after nine stages.
From midday Saturday the conditions started improving, and while Sunday’s final stage was the only 100% dry stage, the others were still more enjoyable and consistent in the damp drying conditions. It was in these stages we were able to put into practice the techniques and things that I learnt prior to the rally, which I now have a much better understanding of.
For sure it’s not natural yet and I’m having to think about it a lot, but with time it will become second nature. The most important thing for now is that I understand and can feel what is needed, and that the stage times are starting to reflect the progress.
Now we have a busy two weeks ahead before Rally Spain, starting with our test in Spain tomorrow. Straight after this we head to Italy to compete next week as 0 car in the famous Rally Legend.
There is also a lot of homework and data analysis we need to do to prepare and try and make another step forward for Spain as we try and target another top result. Particularly with a day of gravel at Rally Spain followed by two days of tarmac, we will be hoping to get off to a better start and not put ourselves on the back foot.
A huge thanks again to the team who, especially for this event, had their work cut out with the conditions and logistics. But everything ran smoothly and we had no problems. John was also particularly busy on this rally, with our complex notes to describe one of the twistiest and most technical rallies on the calendar – it’s not called the rally of 10,000 corners for nothing.
Huge thanks also for all your continued support – let’s hope the next podium is not far away!
Finally, it was great following the last round of the New Zealand Rally Championship over the weekend where a new champion was crowned. Congratulations to Ben Hunt for your first (and not last) championship, and to Matt Summerfield for his maiden rally win.
Until Rally Spain,
Hayden
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