Nicolas Ciamin: “I still learned things in Sardinia”

When was your last participation on earth?

Last year, I was invited to compete in an event in Chile (he finished 7th in the Rally del Bio-Bio, Editor's note). In the world, it was already in Sardinia, but in 2021 (36th). So far, since I've been racing 4WD, I've mostly done asphalt. This is not by choice and it has created a huge deficit. I know that if I one day want to approach the level of those who ride very regularly on this surface, I have to be able to perform more. They drive more often than the earth than the tar…

Given this “gap” what were your objectives at the start of this rally ?

We tried to organize a test session in Sardinia in order to adopt the best settings, but this was not possible. Our base in France didn't have the same characteristics as what we found during the race, so what we had defined didn't really work in Italy. I had a hard time gaining confidence. This added to my lack of practice. Knowing all this, he was sure that it would be difficult to compete with the fastest.

After your performances in Croatia, you showed that you can aim for the podium in WRC2. Is it easy to start off by telling yourself that you won't be with the best?

No, but I'm realistic. I can't pretend to arrive in the world championship with less experience for me and the team, less than optimal preparation and a car that isn't very comfortable when it's very rough and hope to play in front. I knew we wouldn't be, but I didn't think we would be this far. We sometimes made corrections. However, it is not easy to compare your time with others at the stop point. It is also true that we had to face extreme conditions.

Indeed, given your position on the road, what state were the special stages in when you passed?

The rain before the rally plus that which fell during the race obviously complicated things. It was very smashed at times and the Polo is quite fragile in this type of circumstance. I tried to preserve it as much as possible, maybe even a little too much, but we still had a broken windshield and starter, which ended our Friday. The first passages were often correct, then it was much more complicated in the 2nd^e tower because it was widening enormously. When we had to deal with the mud, I had to regain my automatisms, because the last time I had experienced this type of condition, I was still racing in R2, in 2017. There were also special stages in a decent condition especially on Sunday, but I wasn't confident enough to take advantage of it. We still had fun at times. What is positive is that from the first turn of the shakedown to the final turn of the rally, I still learned things, I rediscovered others.

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