Nicolas Amiouni made the Lebanese proud by winning the group N category in WRC Jordan. We met Nicolas 4 stages before the end of the rally while MotorTune was doing service for his car.
You are leading your category in the Jordan rally until now. How do you find your performance and the rally so far?
The rally is amazing and difficult. Not just difficult, it’s also very tricky. WRC cars throw big rocks on the road so when you come fast you can break everything if you are not alert. We are being very cautious and we are not pushing to the maximum. Friday our competition was over.
Are you securing the win?
I’m not securing the win; I’m pushing but not the extra push. In the afternoon I will keep my pace, and push a little bit more without risks. I will try to beat Rashed Al Ketbi. It will be nice to be beat S2000 car. I am already ahead of him in all stages today (Saturday). Yesterday we were also much ahead of him in Jordan River. I hope in the afternoon we can beat him and no body get any damage in his car.
We noticed yesterday in the Jordan River SS12, your pace was amazing but at the end of the stage your car was not functioning well. What happened precisely?
We broke the differential in the middle of the stage so we tried to slow down a little. We lost 1:30 min but we had a lead of over 7 min. The closest Group N car to us was around 5 min a drift as you know. We are trying to catch the S2000 car. I really don’t know what the difference with Rashed Al Ketbi is.
-32 seconds-
32 seconds, I hope we try and get that difference. ( As he promised us, Nicolas went on to beat Rashed Al Ketbi and finish 15th overall in the rally.)
This is your first WRC participation, how much experience do you gain from this rally?
A lot. It’s a long rally. WRC Jordan is one of the most difficult and tricky rallies. This rally gives you confidence. It teaches you how to concentrate. It teaches you to work on strategies and wait. Yesterday we started on a slow pace relatively; the guys in front of us broke their cars. We start to push gradually, this rally practically teaches you everything, it’s a school by itself.
With the absence of the WRC group N international participants, how much did this give you an edge in the rally and helped you take the lead?
Ofcourse. We didn’t decrease our pace in the rally because our target was not to beat the group N contestants that are participating in this rally. If the PWRC drivers were in the rally they would have been so much faster than me. They are so much better than us now and we are still in the learning phase. It’s a learning curve and we are on the “up” step by step. My target was to reach the level of the PWRC not just win the group N with the contestants we have this year. The PWRC are the benchmark they are our target.
It’s the first time with Chady Beyrouthy on gravel, how is it?
Everything is great. (Nicolas had to leave and join his team)
After our conversation, Nicolas went on to win the rally.
