Julien Moncet: “We are expecting a complicated Rally Finland”

A few hours before the outbreak of hostilities in the streets of Jyväskylä, Julien Moncet looked ahead to what awaited the Hyundai team for this event. The current team boss has not given up, but he knows that adversity will be very strong this weekend.

Published on 04/08/2022 à 19:27

Loïc ROCCI

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Julien Moncet: “We are expecting a complicated Rally Finland”

Julien Moncet, you didn't have much time between Estonia and Finland. However, have you been able to find any improvements on your i20s to make them perform better than in Tartu?

It's true that the previous round was disappointing. I admit that I expected better. It was indeed very short so the car is almost the same. We came to work on our base in Finland. We focused our days on adjustments and details. This also allowed us to address small problems of reliability and comfort for the pilots.

Was it not possible to revolutionize your car?

No way. We all received approval at the beginning of July. In Estonia we introduced new things on the engine. The next session will take place in October. Until then, cars won't change much.

What type of rally are you expecting?

Le profil des spéciales est différent, mais je pense que cela va encore être difficile ici. C’est une épreuve encore plus rapide qui réclame des réglages qui se rapprochent de l’asphalte et j’imagine que Toyota va de nouveau nous mener la vie dure.

What is surprising is that your Rally1 is the one with the best peak speed. Why doesn't this allow you to compete with Toyota ?

Our i20s actually go very fast because we have a gearbox layout that is a little different from that of our competitors. In terms of the engine, we also have the possibility of taking the car. However, if we can't exit the corners well, it becomes difficult, because we are penalized all the way down the straight regardless. Maybe that's our advantage, but Toyota isn't bad either and it's going to be complicated.

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Loïc ROCCI

Journalist specializing in rallying past, present and future... and with a southern accent

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