You were back driving for Roman Kresta’s team on Rally Islas Canarias. How did that move come together?
“We already had some history and experience together with Roman Kresta and Kresta Racing. In 2019 we were fighting together for the Polish championship and also Roman is supporting me when I’m with the ToppCars team, like in Hungary. We were driving a completely new car for this race, it’s good because the stiffness of the car, the precision and the reliability level is high.”
How hard was Rally Islas Canarias?
“This rally is enjoyable but to win the stages you need to think like it’s circuit racing, you need to be very precise. For 100 corners on a stage you need to be really proper on 98 of them if you want to fight for the win because it’s usually one, two or three seconds between 10 crews. You need to decide really well how to go into corners but making pacenotes is not easy because you have traffic on the recce. We had some experience from the past but only 25 per cent of the stages were similar to 2021 and I would say this break of three years is not good. For example, the San Mateo - Valsequillo stage is a classic stage for the last two years and it’s something new for us. We were also losing a bit on the Tejeda stage, which has been similar for two years. If we had been all the time in the ERC our performance could be two tenths per kilometre faster, but I was trying my best and fighting to get some improvement. The car was okay, it was mainly about my driving.”
Rally Islas Canarias took place one week after you won the opening round of the Polish championship. Did that result help you or did it leave you needing a rest?
“We were not very proper at the start Rajd Świdnicki, we were a little bit rusty but at the finish of the race we presented some good pace and were able to put good times together. This confidence and perception of the speed and braking places could be used directly for the start of Rally Islas Canarias. But I was not tired. In fact, I would say it’s even better to go rally-by-rally because you are in a good mood and you don’t think so much how to drive because you feel it, you are doing kilometres every day in the rally car, it’s always the best.”
You have a reputation for working very hard with all aspects of your preparation, including what you eat during a rally, which always looks very nice – it was pasta with shrimps in Hungary, right?
“We are trying our best, our co-ordinator Kinga, and also Janek, are trying to prepare for us the most reliable meals that give us energy to drive for the next loop. It’s quite important because the days are long in ERC and WRC and to be constant about the power perception and energy it’s necessary to think about the drinking and what we’re eating. I would say the spaghetti is a good one between the loops but it’s necessary not to eat one big meal because then you would like to go for a nap but there’s no place for that. It’s also necessary to drink a lot, in small amounts but all the time.”
Apart from your next ERC appearance, there’s another rally coming up that must be getting you excited, ORLEN 80th Rally Poland?
“For sure it’s something special for us and we’re happy the WRC is coming back again to our country. The stages will be really nice with tough ground but very fast places and I hope we can present really good pace in WRC2. We are not starting the full season but it’s even better for us as we will just push and try to get the best possible result in one rally, but not having to think about the whole season.”
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