We met Tony Germany after the 2 official test days in Arsoun on Monday and Tuesday to talk to him about the test, his team and the old days. Yesterday Tony launched his new garage in Nahr el Kaleb and we were there to cover the event too. Before the start of the event we talked to Tony about the joyful moment, his dreams and the future.
The official test in Arsoun and the Cedars Rally?
How do you evaluate the official test in general and how did you find your drivers and car?
To start with we should thank ATCL for organizing this test. It was very good step we all needed. We used to test on our own and we never were comfortable with it. We couldn’t close the roads well and the safety issues were very urging so now with the official test all we have to worry about is the setup of our cars.
We had five cars in the test. We tested 3 cars on Monday and all five cars today (Tuesday). Thank God everything is working properly and we didn’t face any problems. The cars were excellent and we are looking forward for the rally.
We have five drivers. Christian Kurban is a veteran driver and he has been away from the sport for 13 years. We had to give him 2 days of testing and he looked great. Anyway he didn’t race for 13 years so he needs time to adapt. The other drivers all completed their programs and were very good.
– How did you find Christian in the car?
Christian never drove such a car before. The car is much different from what he is used to, mechanically and technologically. I analyzed the data from his car and things are looking good. He is a very fast driver and his steering is amazing. He is adapting to the car since the cars he used to race all had high power engines are completely different than what we have now. I think he is going to be very good in the rally.
What are your targets for the Cedars Rally?
Well we have to be realistic. Our competitors have improved a lot especially after installing R4 kits on some of their cars, and this will give the edge especially that their cars will be lighter. Our fight now is on the group N category and I guess we will be great in this category and nobody will beat us.
The Career:
Tell us briefly about your career in motorsport from the beginning until you founded TGRS.
Well I started in the team of JP Nasrallah in 1991. We were group enthusiastic guys, including Roger Feghali, Ziad Chehab, Fouad[singlepic id=1094 w=320 h=240 float=right] Chehab and other. We started then to separate, every one of us took a road. Roger went to driving and Dado too. Ziad became a co-driver and alongside Fouad I became a team manager.
I worked with Philipe Kazan from 1994 until 1998. We were very good and we worked on ourselves and started improving very fast. I helped Philipe a lot back then and we competed with Roger and were very close to him. In 2000 I helped Nasser Al Attiyah with his car when he came to Lebanon. I was the Unknown Soldier with many drivers and teams like many unkown soldiers in my team know. In 2001 I also worked with Khalid Al Qassimi. He is a close friend now.
After that period I decided to start my own business. I bought an EVO 6 and a driver called Ziad Chalhoub drove for me. I worked with him and he improved a lot but he had to travel and leave the country. I also had a great relationship with MotorTune and Roger. My relationship with him goes back to 1991. I also supported Dado in the years between 1998 and 2000. 2 years ago Dado drove my car to the championship win in the speed test. I consider Roger a friend and I consider him a man who improved the level of this sport in Lebanon through his dedication and practice. I worked with MotorTune for a while and when I got the opportunity to have my own team, I started working alone.
Tell us the story behind TG Rally Skills, the name and the team.
Well my job in rallying is focused on car and driver development. I am not a mechanic and I don’t have a garage to work on the mechanical parts of the car. Starting from this point I called the team Tony Germany Rally Skills and I didn’t use names as “racing” or “performance” or anything else. Our cars may not be the fastest but we work on complete packages including the drivers and this has been translated in the official test were some of my drivers improved their times by 4 seconds.
We know you a lot with Gilbert Bannout. How do you find his improvement so far?
Gilbert started with me like a small baby, soft and fragile. We worked a lot on him and we really invested a lot of time to improve his ability. Gilbert was rallying with people who didn’t give him all the support and attention to improve.
I met Gilbert in 2005. He decided to try to work with me and see how it goes. It went well and we raced in the Rallye Du Montagne since ATCL didn’t organize ROL that year. From there on Gilbert never talked to anybody else.
We worked together a lot and we started achieving. Unfortunately Gilbert was subject to a big accident and this made him fall back a lot. Our target with Gilbert was to start fighting for championship wins, and it started last year in the Spring Rally. In the first stage he was 6 seconds down to Roger in the first 3 Kilometers, and then he didn’t lose any second until the end of the stage. The accident was his fault. He got a little angry on the start of the stage and the accident happened. As I told you it really affected him negatively and we are trying to work to get back to the point he reached. The fact that he is still wounded from the accident, things will take time.
We are seeing your team abroad especially in Qatar with Khalifa Al Attiyah, tell us more about it.[singlepic id=1087 w=320 h=240 float=right]
I went to Qatar as a friend. Khalifa was driving a Subaru n12 in the local championship and he approached me for help. I told him that I have never worked on a Subaru but I will try to help you. We worked on a worn out car and fixed a lot of things in it and we finished the first rally in the 3rd position. In the second rally we worked much better. I setup the car in the way I want it to be and Nasser was with us in preparing the car. I had a little challenge with Nasser on the setup and he changed it ahead of the first stage, and Khalifa lost 6 seconds. In the second stage we went back to my setup and we Khalifa was 16 seconds faster than second place. I sent Nasser SMS telling him we will be around 1 second per kilometer faster and this was the case.
We will be back in Qatar from October and November with Khalifa. We just hope things will be better in the Arab countries so we can start doing rallies with other Arab drivers too.
The garage launching:
Tony we are seeing you today opening your new garage in the presence of the media and friends. How does it feel?
I don’t know how to explain. When a person has a dream and starts accomplishing it, the feeling is great. I worked a lot for this moment in my career and no words can describe how I feel.
We are witnessing a very nice ceremony. The cars are very well branded and the team is all dressed with Tony Germany Rally Skills. What is it like to have all this?
We are a team, a family and we have both the fighting spirit and the fun spirit. When the guys wear the team shirt, they wear it as a form of gratitude and dedication and this is really amazing. You can spot the great spirit. Anyway we are in this business not to become rich but to live and enjoy it.
What does the garage do in full details?
The garage is a Mitsubishi dedicated garage. We deal with cars ranging from EVO 6 reaching EVO 10. We provide spare parts and rally parts. We have Rally Art and other brands and we have decided to provide used Mitsubishi parts too. We are specialized in Mitsubishi.
We will also install an office for the garage and place for the drivers. Things are not completed yet.
When are we going to see pictures from the team’s portfolio on the garage’s wall?
We liked to open the garage with no pictures because I feel it’s a new start and we have new members in our team so I didn’t want them to live in the past. We will start putting pictures of our coming rallies.
[singlepic id=1092 w=320 h=240 float=right]How will the relationship with Jean Liza change with launching of the new garage?
The relationship with Jean Liza is amazing and the garage is an addition and continuity for us. We complete each other now. Jean Liza works with suspension and we have daily work with him. Everything that needs old experience will have to go back Jean Liza. Jean Liza is our bigger brother.
Who do you want to thank at the end?
I would like to thank a great friend and an unknown soldier. He is an engineer in Mitsubishi. Georges Moawad has done a lot for us. He helped us a lot and I can’t thank him enough. I would like to thank Jean Liza, Mansour Zacca, and Youssef and all the guys in the support team. They are all fantastic. We had a lot of difficulties and this raised our fighting spirit.
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