Mikko Hirvonen clinched second place in the FIA World Rally Championship standings with his first victory for Citroen and his first in Sardinia today. He spoke to WRC.com following his 15th WRC career triumph.
Mikko, how does it feel to win your first rally for Citroen?
“Actually, for some strange reason, it feels a bit like I’ve won my very first rally! I’m very, very happy because it’s been a while since I won a rally. Maybe it wasn’t such a big fight, but there will be more in future and I have also proved that I can win rallies like this.”
Sebastien Loeb retired early on: do you think your pace helped to push him over the limit?
“I don’t know really, but we were in the fight from the very beginning and on the same pace as Sebastien. That’s important but of course it’s important to finish rallies and score points as well. We were all pushing very hard and I was the only one who didn’t make a mistake, so that was good. But it’s shame that it ended really early so we didn’t find out how the fight would have continued.”
Did you have any big moments?
“No really big moments. It was really on the limit and I took a lot of risks on Thursday evening, but sometimes when you have a good feeling with the car and a really good flow you feel that you can do anything. That was a little bit the feeling I had on Thursday evening.”
How important was it for you to beat Sebastien Loeb in the same car while he was still driving full-time for the team?
“Did I really do that though? It wasn’t a big fight after he went off...but I’m just happy to win the rally. We were all just going for the win and I managed to pull it off without making mistakes. That makes me feel pretty good!”
Would you have been really disappointed to end the year without a win?
“That was always a possibility. But of course there have been a couple of rallies already that I thought I should have won. As we got closer to the manufacturers’ title I wasn’t concentrating so much on the overall wins: I was trying to make sure instead that we won the title. It was only until now that I could really go for it and it went according to plan. Before the rally I was aiming for the win and I was very happy that we were able to do that.”
How difficult was it to manage what was already a big lead on Friday?
“It was difficult, but I think one of my strongest points is the way that I can manage my speed, especially if there is a big gap. For sure it was a long weekend, but I wasn’t so worried about that. I knew that if everything went well and the car kept working well, we should be able to do it.”
Why do you think so many people went off on Friday? Was it because the championship was over and everyone was pushing hard?
“Maybe that was a big part of it. From Thursday evening I saw that the level of pace and risk was really high, and it’s easy to make a mistake on narrow roads like this. I think that certainly played a part.”
What are going to be your thoughts during post-event scrutineering after what happened in Portugal?
“I’m sure it’s going to be fine, but trust me - we’ve made a lot of jokes about that already!”