RallySport Magazine September 2016

the hybrid system, both of them are
really important and its difficult now to
look back and see that actually at the
start of my career, I didn’t use it.
Also, the safety of the cars has been a
lot better, even though the roll cage at
that time was already really strong. We
have seen the importance of the safety
foam and where this is placed in the car
and things like that, so there has been a
good development on safety.
MH: Do you think SuperRally attracts the
wrong sort of approach to the sport?
MO: I think it has been a benefit, but
I’m not sure if it is anymore, because
now we have a lot of cars and teams.
At that time there were not so many
cars and teams. It was a correct thing
to do to keep cars in the race.
MH: One of the most remarkable things
about you is that apart from (Sebastien)
Ogier, you are the most reliable finisher
on world championship rallies. Is it a
characteristic of you, or that you began in
the sport when people thought more about
reliability than speed?
MO: I think it is a mixture of many
things. First of all it’s probably one of
my characteristics as a driver and a
person.
But also, in the start of my career we
knew that the budget was limited, we
knew that if we had a big accident it
would probably affect the programme,
so that was a big part all the way up to
2011.
Even after we stopped the private
team and continued as a manufacturer
driver, that’s been a part of me.
MH: The sport is building up to develop
rallying into new areas. Do you feel that
the sport should concentrate on being with
the traditional events, or do you think it is
important to have new ones?
MO: Of course it is important to have
some of the classic rallies, events like
Finland, Mexico, Argentina, Sweden,
Monte Carlo. There are a lot of classic
events that I think are really important
for the championship.
And of course you need to develop
and follow the markets that make
it interesting for the promoter and
manufacturers. So, in one way you
need to develop, but you need to keep
some of the basics of rallying, and that
means some of the classic events.
MH: The traditional basics of rallying are
the spectators. Are spectator levels what
they used to be when you started?
MO: No. I would say that spectator
levels, at least in some rallies, is very
Mads with his father,
and manager, Morten.
high, but I see less people on other
rallies. It can depend on the way the
organisers actually lay out the events.
I don’t know all of the rallies so well
but, if you look at Wales for example,
you have seen a lot of spectators in the
past, but the last few years they haven’t
really been that great.
I think in Corsica there were almost
no spectators, but I think on some of
the classic events, like Monte Carlo and
Sweden and Finland, there are a lot of
spectators, and in South America, it’s
obviously crazy!
MH: Coming to your 100th rally, has the life
in the world championship been as exciting
and meaningful as you expected?
MO: Yes, in many ways I would say so.
When I started rallying, I had a dream
of getting into Manufacturers’ teams
and things like that.
Obviously you expect something and
very often when you are there you find
it’s a little different, but of course a lot
of it is like you hoped.
You get to drive a lot of rallies, a lot
of cars and really enjoy it, but of course
there are aspects of all sports which
you don’t really understand before you
are at the highest level. Some of it is
more work than fun …
MH: Is there any country that you found
especially exciting, and maybe some which
were not as exciting as you expected?
MO: I have to think back to the time
when I discovered the new rallies for
the first time. I would say that South
America probably had the rallies where
I got really surprised about the interest
and how they appreciate rally. How
enthusiastic they are and how many
people there are.
Disappointments? Yes for sure. It is
not very kind to mention which ones,
but I probably must say that Australia is
one of the biggest.
I was really looking forward to going
there. The place where the rally is now
based is obviously a fantastic place in
a beautiful area of Australia, but the
interest of rallies is zero, however, I
never went to Perth.
I heard a lot about Rally Australia
before we were there, but it was in a
different area.
MH: Finally, what do you think next year is
going to be all about with the new cars?
MO: For me nothing is clear for next
year yet. Regarding the new cars, I
think that is a really interesting part of
it.
Previously we were talking about
developing different aspects of the
championship, now it is the turn of the
car. And obviously I was there when we
used the 2-litre turbo with fully active
differentials, and then we went to the
1.6 turbo, mechanical differential cars.
Now we are increasing the power
with the 1.6 turbo and in 2017 there
will be bigger turbo restrictors, more
aero and more diffs again. It makes
next year more interesting, next year’s
championship will be extremely tough.
There are a lot of good drivers in the
championship these days and a lot of
good teams, and I think with the new
cars it will be probably very different to
what we see today.
I think the drivers will be more
important, and I think it will be more
difficult to drive the car to its limit, and
the competition these days is tougher
than it has ever been. These days
everything is getting faster, quicker,
competitive.
SEPTEMBER 2016 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 69