If the car gives me good information, I can push harder!
In his first season with the i20 N Rally2, French driver Laurent Pellier has proven incredibly consistent in the country’s premier gravel rally championship, despite being relatively inexperienced on the surface. However, he quickly got to grips with the car and the challenging stages to score podium finishes in each of the first four events of the year. On tarmac, too, he has shown strong pace, completing the class podium at Rally Mont-Blanc Morzine. This weekend his is back on gravel at the latest round of the championship – Rallye Terre des Cardabelles.
What are the main challenges of the French Gravel Championship?
The main challenge of the championship is the recce. Every day you make the recce of the stages of the day. We make this with the rally car during early morning and sometimes in the dark! And we have only one pass on the stage with a strict timing to respect. For us it’s essential to have a good system of pacenotes.
Why did you choose to focus on the gravel series for 2024?
I have done lots of rallies on tarmac with different cars. On gravel it’s different, I have fewer kilometres and I need to find my limits, but driving on the loose surface is very enjoyable.
How do you prepare for a new season?
To be honest, my plan for this season was decided very late, and I discovered lots of things at the first event. For my last three seasons, it has always been a new car, new team, and new championship!
So, first of all I’m searching for information on the rally car. I talked with the engineer to understand how the i20 N Rally2 works. What are the best points? I read the manual to understand the cockpit. Usually, we have half a day working with the team to discover the car, adjust the seat and belts, but the most important thing is to make some mechanical operations like changing a tyre. You need to know how to fix a problem with the spare you have in the car.
Finally, it’s time to do some tests and here you need to try to the maximum number of possibilities in a short time to understand how the car reacts to each adjustment.
Of course, like everybody now, I watch onboard cameras but that’s definitely not the best part of the game!
According to you, what is the most important feature in a successful a rally car, and how does the i20 N Rally2 do this well?
From my point of view, the most important thing is to have an easy car to drive in every condition. For example, this year we were making new to most rallies, unlike our opponents, but we were immediately in a fight for the podium and had some best times in our first event with the car. This is a very good point of the i20 N Rally2. Of course, the car must be efficient too, and it is! But for me, if the car gives me good information, I can push harder!
You have been very consistent so far this season – on the podium in all of the first four events. How important is consistency during a championship?
Yeah that’s true! It’s always good to score lots of points. I try to build my championships and titles like this. It’s good for the morale of the whole team. Our partners know this quality and it serves to build the season, but our opponents know this too. However, I also like to win, and it would be great to finish first now! But our main goal is to win the championship, so we will see!
Recently you joined the Tarmac Rally Championship in France for Rallye Mont-Blanc. How do you have to change your driving style between gravel and tarmac?
Like I said before, initially I’m more a “tarmac driver” than “gravel driver”. On the first tests (on gravel) of the season, my engineer said, “Please drive more like a gravel man!”
On Rallye du Mont-Blanc, on tarmac, my engineer said, “Please drive more like a tarmac driver!”. So I can confirm there are different style between the both. For example on tarmac, you can push flat on the accelerator pedal but on gravel, because it’s slippery, you need to be softer. That’s the same with the brake you can push more on tarmac because you have more grip. But with the steering wheel, it’s the opposite, you need to be softer on tarmac than gravel.
If you could choose one rally you would like to compete in, what would it be and why?
Difficult question! There are a lot of races I would like to discover or do again. If I have to choose only one, I think I would like to start Rally Sweden again. I really enjoy the fast stages and I have very good memories from there. Absolutely everything is different. You drive on snow and ice with studded tires, you are flat out by night, on crests between the snowbanks and trees. Atmosphere is incredible too, spectators make fires and it’s the only place where you can cross snowmobiles on the road section!
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