Pierre-Louis Loubet on the Estonian rally “These Rally1s are real monsters”

How was your preparation for Estonia?

As with the other pilots, I was allowed one day. The procedure is always the same with different things to test. With Vincent (Landais his navigator, editor's note), we were the last to ride which allowed us to move forward faster by not using settings that the team already knew did not work. However, we all have our particularities and I tried to find what suited me best.

Having not run for a month, did you have to get back into the swing of things on these boulevards?

It’s going at such speeds! I had never had the opportunity to drive so fast. It is certain that this is a different exercise from those we have done so far. The first two or three runs, it seemed to me that it was really fast, but ultimately when the car is good everything is easier. The feeling was excellent, I am very happy.

What kind of settings did you use to perform well in Tartu? It's always a question of compromise. The car must certainly be incisive, but it must also be stable and easy to brake to be able to position it as you wish and perform long drifts. For this, we tried to wedge the rear well.

Pierre-Louis Loubet 4th in Sardinia (Nikos Katikis / DPPI)

What does this event inspire you, which you have already competed in twice on a WRC ?

It's super fast. On these high-speed stages, we will be able to fully exploit the capabilities of the Puma which will be completely in its element. These Rally1s are real monsters that are made for these kinds of roads. With the hybrid, we feel like we can still push. This erases those moments when we could have the feeling of choking the engine. In terms of sensations, there is nothing better and I think it will go faster than last year. It's really awesome.

How should you approach it to perform well?

You don't have to force yourself. I will try to find the right feeling with the Puma and if I feel good I will try to attack straight away. We have to be consistent. If there is too much difference in performance between each stage, it will not allow us to mix with the leading car. If you look at the performances of the best in this type of exercise, they behave like metronomes by being fast in each time. On an event like Portugal or Sardinia, there can be management in brittle portions. In Estonia, this management is more materialized by the degree of risk taking that you are capable of achieving.

What will be your goal in Estonia?

Our last race in Italy was promising, but I'm not going to get carried away. I realize that there is still a long way to go. Nothing is acquired. It’s an eternal beginning again. We have the car to succeed and we will set off with the ambition of being as close as possible to the leading drivers. This is a new exercise and I don’t know where we will stand. If we manage to grab a place in the top 5, that would be really good.

(Photo Nikos Katikis/DPPI