What did you expect before the launch of this rally from Poland?
Given that I was told that this was going quite well in ERC, I was hoping that people had learned a little about the rules of WRC. From the first day, we could see that it was not. I told myself that nothing had changed since 2017.
If nothing has changed in the behavior of certain fans, has the way of detecting them changed? Is there not more collaboration between the FIA and the organizers?
We have indeed made a lot of progress. It was necessary and important. Safety was priority #1 so we had to do something. With on-board cameras and the work led by Nicolas Klinger, we are more efficient. On this round, there were improvements between the 1er and the 2e day. We had to stop or cancel 3 stages for the spectators to begin to understand that we were not going to give up. It was more under control during Saturday. We tried to communicate a lot to send the message that we would not abdicate. It was important to affirm the unity of the FIA, the organizers and the promoter. I repeat, the most important thing is safety. This is all the more true on rallies as fast as here. I would still like to point out that the vast majority of people are in the right locations. They suffer from the behavior of a small number of people.
How does this manifest?
Most of the time they're in the forests and if you do that it's because you want to hide unless you have a really nice place. Otherwise, there is no point in being in the middle of the woods to see cars rushing by at the speed they are going.
What do you think these fans are looking for?
I don't know. Maybe they want to be on the side of the road? They are sometimes even on it and they are very stubborn… like fools! (laugh)
How is this playing out in the times as you pass?
When we ride on the special stage, I look for places where there could be people who are poorly positioned. We know they wait until the safety cars are far away to move into position. I look on each side of the road. I'm so used to it, I can feel them. I spot those who will stay quiet and those who will create problems. On the organizational side, perhaps there has been too much of a tendency to like it was before ". They put a lot of red tape while we no longer put any in the WRC. People don't know the difference between red and green. There is a banner and they sit behind it. However, this is not what explains why people come to stand at the side of the road.
Have you tried to apply zones with no spectators like in Monte-Carlo?
They tried to do it in certain places, but it was complicated to put it in place with the many access points. The stages are in the middle of the fields and it is very easy to reach them so this system was difficult to deploy here.
Do you ever get in touch with them?
Regularly. With experience, I know that if someone answers me “ yes, yes, we will move... ", it's as if they were saying to me " cause you still interest me. » It is certain that they will create problems. Maybe after 7 years of absence from the WRC they thought we still looked at rallies the same way, but we too have changed our processes.
Continue reading on these topics:
Comment on this article! 0