WRC Pirelli driver

"Hello everybody. We’ve just finished Rally Turkey and as you already know, it ended in the best possible fashion for us.

Thanks to this third win on the trot, we’ve managed to open up a gap in the title chase, all the more so as several drivers are tightly packed in the runner-up spots. A forty-point lead after four rallies gives us a good cushion - but that doesn’t mean I’m going to rest on my laurels.

What’s really positive is that there were no strategies in this rally. The best tactic was to push to be in front. I was happy with my performance on the first day, as I managed to limit the gaps despite sweeping. Saturday morning was a bit trickier. Although I never stopped pushing, I wasn’t able to pull back lost time.

As I was fifth out on the road, I had to cope with asphalt sections that had been dirtied by the passage of the first cars. Then things improved and we managed to take the lead in the afternoon.

The event’s route had good stages that were mostly pretty quick. I didn’t really like those on the second day as you had to push right in the middle of big stones and ran the risk of breaking something. Today’s stages were a bit damaged by the rain. I think it would have been much more fun in the dry. I gave myself a few scares in the muddy sections, and there were moments when I didn’t really know what was going to happen when I hit the brake pedal - but we got though!

One of the best moments of the rally was our 85-metre jump in SS20. We didn’t jump all that high but very far, much further than in Finland, in fact! It’s a great sensation as you feel that you’re almost flying. On such occasions all you see is the sky. Then you ask yourself if you’ve taken good notes and if you’re going to land on the road. Luckily, our notes were perfect.

Now we have to think of how we’re going to get home! Things don’t look quite as bad as we first thought. I should be able to take a plane for Rome or even Nice. Once there, we’ll be fairly close to our home and we’ll see what’s available to take us to Switzerland. The majority of the team members are going to have a bus trip of almost 3000-kilometres! I’ll tell you all about it later on in the week."