Isabelle Galmiche: “I tried to anticipate my preparation as much as possible”

What does Safari mean to you?

Isabelle Galmiche: Animals ! I'm really happy to have made this trip. If there had not been the rally, I don't know if I would have had the opportunity to come here. When I looked at the calendar at the start of the year, there were two destinations that really appealed to me. It was Kenya and New Zealand. I enjoy all the meetings of the season, but it's great to have such an experience here.

Have you seen the images from last year's times? Did you find this difficult to note?

It's very different from what we're used to doing. It looks more like tracks than special stages. These are not real roads like in Portugal For example. However, it is not very technical and it is more the specificities of the terrain that make the exercise complicated. There are very brittle places and straight portions whose length is not common.

Photo Paulo Maria / DPPI

Did this force you to change your preparation compared to the other rounds?

I worked as if it were a normal trip. In fact, I don't know how to do it any differently. I don't want to have to figure things out on the spot. Each time, I do my best to be as comfortable as possible when we are on site. I anticipated everything I could before leaving. It's always that much less to do during the course of the race. I arrived in Kenya very early in order to have complete peace of mind.

The heat in the Rally1s was mentioned. Are you afraid of suffering a lot?

This will be a factor to take into account, because we are going to be very hot, but I will adapt. As always, I can't wait to be there.

Isabelle Galmiche and Sebastien Loeb after their victory in Monte Carlo. Photo Grégory Lenormand / DPPI

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