Gilbert Bannout speaks openly after the end of Spring Rally

He’s the man who’s not into the rally business, but absolute shear passion of the rallying is what attracts him to this game of speed. He’s also the man of comebacks and never backing up.

We hooked up with Gilbert after the end of Spring Rally and had this amazing chat…

How much did the accident affect your performance today?

I am sure I got over the accident; today morning, when I was wearing my rally shirt of last race I saw a spot of blood from the time of the crash so I’ve put it in a box and didn’t want it to break the jinx. The first stage was very cautious, I was getting to meet Cathy’s notes and she was getting to know my way of driving in a rally car. We were 30s behind we should have pushed more and if this wasn’t the case we would be more comfortable and gained a lead of 10s. However it’s not a problem, but an advantage; you start a smooth first stage and you push for better times in later stages.

You were seeking a French co-pilote according to some specifications? Why Cathy DeRousseau and what are the advantages?

I wanted to move out of Lebanon given that we are not educated enough in rallying and in Lebanon there are two teams, so no matter how much you Improve yourself today if you don’t get a glimpse of what is going on abroad you will not be able to raise your level of skill and of the sport in general. Roger is out of our range, a very fast driver. And Nick competed outside Lebanon with foreign co-pilot and he has an Estonian co-driver now, and was very fast. The way they take notes, and the way they see things, they do it in a different way. For example in some places where we have to cut, they refuse to add it as a cut on their notes. They sense danger more than us given their experience, they even see better flat outs. So to move out, and race 5 rallies in France I need a French co-driver. And through Nasser EL Atiyah and his team we got to know Cathy. And when I go to France I will also check whether she is available. Incase i had no sponsor I will race the Cedars Rally here.

Given that you are well informed about abroad rallies, can you evaluate for us Tony Germany’s team, and rank him according to Motortune?

I can’t rank him with respect to Motortune, given that I wasn’t with him during the preparations today. And see how do they deal with the car in the service zone, you just have to be with them and there is some things that you should take into consideration even before the rally. But we can say that Tony Germany today is making the car from A-Z. Motortune is advanced in a different way. But what Tony and roger are doing in Lebanon is excellent. And here I should point to the importance of the ministry of sport and youth and its support to these two teams because with Tony and with Roger we can get to the IRC championship.

And when we asked more about ATCL and the government role in the sport?

I prefer not to talk about ATCL, and I have never been contacted by the minister of sport and youth, no one congratulated us. But we are very interested in meeting the officials of this sport in the government, contacting them, talk about road safety with them, sponsors, and maybe discussing the importance of canceling tariffs on rally cars.