Although I was a little apprehensive going into Rally Germany, especially with the rain being forecast for all three days, I was pleased to finish in 14th place. If a couple of things had been different, it could have been even better and I feel I am making progress all the time. Tarmac is not my favourite surface, so I was glad that it stayed dry and that the conditions were consistent.
Unfortunately, I had prepared my pace notes for a wet race and paid the price on the opening day when I finished 18th, which would have been 19th, but for the bad accident that left my good friend Gigi Galli with a broken leg. It is important to be cautious when your notes don't reflect the stage conditions. The first stage was OK, but the second went a lot better and was very fast. In the third stage I dropped the pace a little because the road was quite badly cut up from where the drivers before me had dragged a lot of dirt on to the road.
Going into corners I was trying to lean the car into bends, but it was losing grip and sliding out. It was difficult to find a balance but I was better prepared for the second day. When I woke up and saw the weather, I decided to go for it and I was really pushing hard in the morning. However, the roads are so narrow and even without the rain, the grass at the edge of the stages holds a lot of moisture and I went off in stage eight.
I was in third gear and the car just slipped out at a corner. I smashed into some trees, thankfully they were only small, but it cost me time, but I was happy that I moved up to 14th. I was in a race within a race with Suzuki's PJ Andersson on the final day. It was tough and I knew that I would really have to keep pushing if I was to hold him off. My confidence grew the longer the race went on and I was able to go quicker than him, beating him in all three of the final stages. PJ was pushing me very hard and he was only twenty seconds behind me going into those final stages.
I picked it up though and suddenly found my rhythm. Something switched on and I wanted to hold my position. I had a moment when I landed on a kerb in stage 18 and cracked a rim, thankfully the tyre held though, it didn't puncture and that gave me a real boost. Then it was on to the streets of Trier for the Super Special Circus Maximus stage where two drivers race each other. I was paired with the Citroen driver Conrad Rautenbach, who was one place above me in 13th.
That Super Special was fun, the corners were very wide and you could really slide the car around. It was good to beat Conrad, he's finished above me overall, but I was more than two seconds faster than him in the city stage so it's an added bonus for me. If I hadn't lost so much time on Friday things could have been different but Sunday went very well. There were nearly 20 more WRC cars in Germany this year and I've beaten my position last year by two places so I have to be happy - for an asphalt event, it went better than expected. It's good that I am progressing in terms of confidence and performance.
@Email:sports@thenational.ae
