Chris Williams: “The Safari is a survival rally”

Given that you no longer have the right to install a wheel on the roof, a bull bar and a snorkel to cross fords, what differentiates your Kenyan Puma from those from Sardinia?

It is true that these artifices which were part of the decor are no longer authorized. As with the other teams, we must use the parts that have been homologated with the car. Therefore, it is almost similar to that of Italy. What has changed despite everything is the importance of protections.

You have not carried out a specific test for Safari. Do you already know how your car will behave on this terrain which is expected to be very rough?

We hope to have a good idea of ​​what this will look like. Perhaps we are on the wrong track? I don't know. We did what we thought was best. We will see.

In addition to being very deteriorated, the special stages offer significant parts of fesh-fech. How can you guard against this?

It's really very complicated because it comes in from everywhere. We have put things in place, but it is not certain that it will be enough. Anyway, every time we look at the course, there is a chance of having problems. We're going to ride with high ground clearance, there are the protections I talked about and that's about all we can do. It's a rally survival. You just have to get the car to the finish as quickly as possible.

Do you plan to carry many spare parts in the car?

There are indeed a lot more than usual, like suspension elements for example… but we hope we don't need them.

In terms of tires, should we expect to see you always start with 6 wheels?

I'm not really sure. There may be things to try in this area. You will also have to watch the weather, because if rain gets involved, everything will be called into question.

Is this the rally at the start of which you ask yourself the most questions?

Undoubtedly! We were unable to do a test in Kenya. In Europe, even though the tests we did went well, it didn't completely replicate what we're going to find here. The car is new, we still have things to discover…

How are you sleeping these days?

Really bad!