Rally Chile – Alexandre Coria: “We will have to take good care of our reconnaissance”

How do you feel about playing a round you don't know?

From what I could see, it is a very beautiful event. There is no fundamental difference with our way of preparing a rally where we have already ridden. We have our routine that we apply to each race. In Chile, I found that we had to deal with quite sharp days. Friday stands out from the rest with its roads in the middle of the fields with embankments on the edges that it will be better to avoid touching because they are very hard. Saturday and Sunday, are more like what we are used to doing. It is more like Amarante in Portugal.

Have you worked more than usual?

It is certain that we have pushed the preparation even further, especially thanks to the on-board cameras of last year's competitors. I think that during the reconnaissance we will have to open our eyes more than usual, because we will be taking these roads for the first time.

How much will your absence in 2023 matter?

With Sébastien Ogier and Martins Sesks, we will be among those who missed the 2023 edition. Knowing the terrain is still a great advantage, because there are many hilly sections with skies, hidden places… Having already been there is an asset. You know where to brake and you remember the traps. I tell myself that we had not competed in Sweden in 2023 and that brought us luck with our first podium in WRC. Let's hope this is still the case.

You weren't there in 2023, but one of the keys to the race was tyre wear. Is that something you'll be keeping an eye on?

It is difficult to establish a rule. There are terrains where we have noticed that we wear our tires less than our opponents and sometimes it is the opposite. We will have to see on the spot before talking about strategy. We also have set ups that we can adopt in order to relieve our tires. It is still complicated to say to yourself before the start of a race that this will destroy the tires and that you have to start with this priority in mind.

The Ford Puma won in Chile 12 months ago with Ott Tänak. Does this add pressure on your shoulders with Adrien?

It is certain that the car was fast on this terrain and we have the data from Ott. However, we use very little of his settings. We will probably test them during the shakedown. I think that on our side we have improved, but we must not forget that our rivals have also improved.

Can a lack of knowledge of the special stages limit your ambitions?

Not really. We will approach this round in the same way as the others. We need to find confidence as quickly as possible on this terrain. This will involve effective reconnaissance and very careful pace notes. If everything comes together and we are well focused, I am sure that there will be a good result at the end. We continue to look at the championship. With the tarmac rounds coming up, it would be good to score big points to try to have an interesting starting position.

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