Ahead of the spring rally we met Chafic Bloulos and stood on his preparation for the rally. We also had a flashback with Chafic to his early years in the sport.
Chafic you had 2 days of testing; tell us about them in details.
On Monday we were trying different things on the car. We were working on the grip and suspension setup. We were not pushing hard but we were just concentrating on the setup. On Tuesday we pushed more and we got on the pace we wanted. I had 3 runs with my co-driver and then I drove alongside Chafic Saade of OTV and Nicolas Amiouni.
The testing in general was our first event oriented official test. Last year we did a private test after the approval of the ATCL but this test is the first of its kind. I guess it’s a very good idea especially that everything was secured and well organized. On Monday we saw how they reacted very fast on Raafat’s accident. Hard luck for him and we wish him all the best and a quick return.
I am ready for the rally and we are good to go.
Before the Spring Rally you were targeting a top five finish, but you didn’t succeed. What is your realistic target for the Cedars Rally?
To go back to the Spring Rally a top 5 finish was realistic. We finished 7th, two positions away which was good, but this time around the competition is much more difficult. The R4s will be far away and with Ziad Feghali in the rally, things will be even more difficult because he is a very fast driver. We are looking for a top 7 or top 6 result.
We see that you are self-investing in your rallying, why are you suffering this much in terms of sponsors?
We are finding it very difficult because the situation in the country is not ideal, and in general sponsors are not interested in investing when there is no media exposure and a return value. We hope with new coverage from the new media, things will become better and sponsors will be more encouraged to invest. We practically have very high costs. Its unlike karting or hill climb, it’s very expensive and it’s only my second serious season, so I need time to build my name and reputation.
You are a member of the MotorTune team, with Roger Feghali and fellow drivers like Nick, Nicolas and Tamer.
What do you tell us about your team and their support both morally and technically?
The environment is amazing. The drivers you mentioned are very close. We meet a lot away from rallying and we get along every well. We have a lot of team spirit and we support each other to the maximum. The guys helped and supported me a lot lately especially with the latest ATCL incident and they were really amazing.
Moving to the technical side, Roger has built a very professional technical team. For me as a driver I have nothing to worry about except my driving. Roger is also helping us a lot under the driver development program. I feel that I have improved a lot since last year, and I would like to thank Roger for his huge effort.
Rumors were circulating lately that you were having an illegal test with Roger on your car. Can you please clarify this matter for the public?
First of all this is not a rumor. We were testing and we were not hiding it. ATCL officials spotted us and were available for them to talk to us. I don’t know if it is accurate to say that it was an illegal test, but if we want to talk about the regulations we were breaking them. Ahead of the spring rally we had a driver meeting and we talked about this issue and as you know, we previously had nothing to prevent us from testing, although the regulations stated that testing is illegal so we suggested that we have the official test. Ahead of the spring rally a competitor team was testing and they were open about it. So we were the ones who wanted a solution to this.
We suggested increasing the participation fees so we have proper test days, but we didn’t have a firm reply if the test will take place or not. We were left with 3 weeks ahead of the Cedars Rally with no exact reply and we still didn’t test the car. So we tested our car openly and if we wanted to hide it we could have taken the car to a very far place. Anyway the problem is that unfortunately other teams tried to push a lot for us to be penalized and banned and so on. At the end the ATCL sent us an official letter and we are penalized.
What’s the penalty and is it going to be imposed now?
For sure it will be imposed. But to clarify something, it was me testing and Roger coaching me because he is my mechanic and team manager so this is very normal. If ATCL wants to penalize Roger, it’s up to them but I don’t seriously find this logical. I guess the other teams really pushed hard for this penalty to be imposed. There is no point’s deduction. We have a fine to pay and an official ATCL warning letter. Other teams were testing before and maybe now too but we didn’t protest. I think the real battle should not be in those issues, it should be in the rally itself.
The sad part is that fellow drivers who consider themselves friends are the ones who are pushing for the fines. Well I can’t really understand this. Anyway we admit that we were wrong but the punishment is too big and the other teams really exaggerated it.
Away from the daily details of rallying this season, how did you enter motorsports? Was it a childhood passion or did it pop up late in your life?
Well it’s not a childhood passion because I never used to watch rallies. I started driving when I was 15 years old, taking the car, speeding and drifting. I started following rally on TV when I was around 17 and I watched my first rally stage on the road when I was 18.
My first car was a Subaru Imprezza WRX and after 1 year I had a huge accident and it took a miracle for me and my friend to survive. I wanted to slow down a bit but I couldn’t so after a period driving a normal car I bought another Imprezza, but this time I wanted to do something safe related to motorsports with all the needed safety regulations.
My interest for rallies really grew when I met Roger in 2005 and I started following rallies. The man behind my entrance to the field is Nadim Abboud known as “Elan” who was a Lebanese champion in 2004. He introduced me to Roger and things evolved from there on. I followed rallies for 2 years before I decided to drive myself. 2007 was my first season. I did 1 Hill Climb and 1 rally. The target that year was to do a whole season but we hit many obstacles and especially in ROL.
In 2008 I didn’t participate but in 2009 I got excited and participated in ROL. It was a fun experienced. I wasn’t prepared and I had no co-driver 10 days ahead of the event. I called Tamer and he said he wasn’t participating so I drover alongside Alain Georr. We finished the rally 11th and Roger said that it was a fair result and suggested that we should start planning a full program. In 2010 we started a full program and we had good year last year. For a proper season we had some good results. We were on the course for finishing the championship third but the puncture in ROL really slowed us down. We have prepared a good program for 2011 and we are well on course.
Who do you think are the new talents in Lebanese Rallies?
There are many new drivers with top of the line cars. Yesterday I road in Nick Georgiou’s car and it was really amazing and very fats. When I came back to my car I felt the big difference, so they are right to invest in very fast cars.
In my team Nicolas Amiouni is amazing. We started together last year and look where is he now and were I am. He has much more pace. I know that there is a big difference between my budget and his, but the guy is very fast and talented. Nick Georgiou is a young driver and he has good future. At the end when Roger, Dado and Ziad Feghali retire, a new generation will take their place. There is Tamer, Nick, Nicolas, Gilbert and I guess I’m not far away. I need some more practice to catch their pace but I’m close.
Any last message?
I congratulate you for your efforts. I also believe that with the increase in media exposure we might experience some more sponsors in the sports. We need the exposure to attract them anyway. We need the exposure to attract spectators too. Going back to the issue of illegal testing, in Lebanon we don’t get enough driving mileage to improve our skills. We have small rallies and they are not enough. To be honest we drove more Kilometers of testing ahead of the Spring Rally, than in the rally itself. It’s not normal to finish the rally of Lebanon in September and stay without driving for 5 months. So I would like to end the conversation saying that we should have more events and more opportunities to drive.
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