February 23, 2015 – An interview with Tony Germany, team principal at TGRS (Tony Germany Rally Skills), ahead of the 2015 Lebanese motorsport season.
Tony, 2014 had its ups and downs, but you ended the year with plenty of positives, particularly with a second place in Rally of Lebanon. How do you assess Tony Germany Rally Skills’ 2014 season after the many changes within the team?
It is true that we made a lot of changes to the team; we dusted ourselves off in 2014 and started a new policy and a new system. All of our focus last year was on Eddy Abou Karam. We prepared very well for Eddy, and thankfully, his results showed his swift progress throughout 2014; his results were great from the Summer Rally to the Cedar’s Rally, and his times in Rally of Lebanon were great, but unfortunately, he faced issues.
We also worked with Rodrigue Rahi at the end of the year, between the Cedar’s Rally and Rally of Lebanon. Rodrigue’s 2nd place in Rally of Lebanon was fantastic, and he took a great result in the Cedar’s Rally despite the low budget.
We also have Emile Abou Karam who’s just racing for fun.
In the Lebanese Hill Climb Championship, we secured 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Sysley (Joseph Bechara) was great, Eddy was very very good in the Hill Climb championship, he set a new record in Falougha and his time was superb. Emile was also good; he wasn’t bad at all. Thankfully, 2014 was a great year for the team.
In 2014, you had a chance to win Rally of Lebanon and a chance to secure several podiums. You finished 2nd overall in the end, a very positive result, but there were plenty of difficulties. What prevented you from benefiting from the retirements, what prevented you from taking the win?
The experience. When Roger (Feghali) retired on the first special stage, I knew that Eddy was going to be right behind Abdo (Feghali). We were very well prepared for the rally and I knew that Eddy was going to be good. I talked to him and I told him: “Roger’s accident is going to put pressure on you; you need to be responsible.”
We then went to the second special stage in Ain Aaya, where Abdo had issues, and it was Eddy who was leading Rally of Lebanon. To him, as an inexperienced driver, to lead Rally of Lebanon is something huge.
Did this put pressure on him?
Yes, this is when the pressure was on. I followed him to the start of the third special stage and I talked to him, I told him: “You’re leading Rally of Lebanon but don’t take it for granted; Abdo is able to catch up and you’re leading because he had issues, so play it smart, and settle for second place.”
Unfortunately, not matter how much you talk to a driver, you’re not in his position and he was stressed a bit. We lost the rally on that stage; we had a problem there.
We started the second day and he was eager to make up for the time he lost on the first day, but he suffered from a puncture after cutting a corner; he then had to drive on a flat tyre for almost 10 kilometers, and it lead to mechanical problems and forced us out of the rally.
Rodrigue secured a superb result, but he had plenty of issues with the car. How were you able to get the car to the finish?
Rodrigue is a very fast driver and he has a lot of experience. Unfortunately, his car is not in a perfect condition and it lacks in many areas. We had a lot of problems, but Rodrigue’s persistence allowed us to get him to the finish, and we did the impossible, there isn’t anything that we hadn’t changed in the car; we had to replace almost half of the car in every service.
We can say that 2014 had many positives. What are the positives that you’re carrying over into 2015 and what are your plans for the new year?
2014 was a great year because we had solid teamwork; we had more drivers, and they were interacting and communicating very well together. We were capable of creating this sort of atmosphere within the team.
Our preparations were great; Eddy worked very well on himself, in terms of physical fitness, and in terms of skills such as racing lines and braking points, so we were able to improve our weak points.
In 2015, we want to take up where we left off in 2014. We want to start with the first rally of the season, and hopefully, we can have some good results there, and we can demonstrate the fruit of our labor to everyone.
Who’s driving for TGRS in 2015?
Due to the tough economic times and the country’s current situation, only Eddy Abou Karam has been confirmed so far, whereas Emile’s situation is still not clear. Rodrigue is complaining about the new championship rules, which aren’t fair for Group N participants, so he’s on hold at the moment. We have Eddy, Emile, Rodrigue and one driver with whom we are yet to finalize a deal. We’ll reveal the driver’s name soon if the deal is finalized.
Are there are any target results for the team in 2015? Is there a target to win the Group N class in the Lebanese Rally Championship or any other specific target?
To be honest, winning the Lebanese Rally Championship is a very tough task, especially when you have drivers like Roger and Abdo Feghali who are highly experienced and skilled. Our hope is to fight for the title, and we hope we can do something, perhaps finishing in the top 3 or the top 5, but we hope we can compete.
Competing for the number 1 and 2 spots is very hard because Roger’s car is always either an RRC or an R5, and Abdo is untouchable in the Group N; he’s very fast. It is hard for us to ask our drivers to push that much in order to keep up with them, but our dream and our work is to help our drivers get close to these two drivers (Roger and Abdo).
There’s a lot of talk about the new Lebanese Rally Championship regulations, but nothing is official. There’s been a lot of delay with the new regulations.
Firstly, what is your stance on the delay? We’re almost at the end of February and there still are no championship regulations. You need to know how to prepare the team and your drivers ahead of the season.
Secondly, let’s discuss the regulations or ideas that are being proposed.
Firstly, we need to thank the ATCL for everything that they are doing. We are the poorest country in the Middle East, but we are the richest in motorsport. If you take a look at our rallies, you’ll see 30 or 35 at the start, whereas the richest country in the Middle East has 7, 10 or 12 cars at the start.
Regarding the rules and the delay, I’ve contacted the ATCL and its officials more than 20 times from mid-December 2014 to this day in order to stay up to date about the rules.
The delay is unacceptable, and their answer was that they are working on a radical change of the sporting code because it has been untouched for the past 20 years, and this is why it’s taking so long, but we appreciate that.
I’m one of the people who, since last December, have been calling for a Group N championship, and the elimination of RRC and R5 cars from the Lebanese Rally Championship, but I think that this is quite a tough request because other competitors have these cars. We don’t want to harm our competitors or harm the sport, but in 1996, when the ATCL changed the regulations from Group A to F2N, Roger Feghali, Abdo Feghali, Doumit Bou Doumit and Sleiman Slim emerged, and we had plenty of competitors.
I want the drivers to be on an equal level; even other big teams claim that they aren’t capable of competing because there are faster cars out there. This is what we would like to change.
The Group N proposal has been rejected by many parties and for different reasons. From a journalists’ point of view, the Group N cars have become a dying breed in the world of rallying. From this perspective, we ask: why don’t you call for R2, R3 or R5 cars in spite of the cost issues?
From another point of view, a different opinion was that it has become too late to ask for a Group N championship and the elimination of other cars. What is your take on the matter?
When I call for a Group N championship, I’m not asking for the removal of R2 or R3 cars from the championship. R2 and R3 cars are Group N cars, and the Group N cars are the maximum. I’m not asking them to implement the rules this year because it’s too late; this is a project that has to be planned a year earlier and teams have to be notified beforehand.
It is true that Group N cars are gradually being phased out from the World Rally Championship, but it is different here in Lebanon. How many drivers contested the 2014 season in non-Group N cars like the RRC, R5 or WRC? Who’s capable of driving one of those? We are with R2 and R3 cars, and Group N cars.
We asked them to notify us beforehand if they wanted to go forward with the new rule, but it is unacceptable to ban RRC and R5 cars now, it’s too late; we are at the beginning of the new season and they are late with the new sporting code, so no, we are against the changing of the regulations; they can change the points system, they know what to do.
The whole point (of the new regulations) is to attract young drivers into the sport. You can’t ask them to drive an R5 car, which costs $100,000 for Rally of Lebanon. We want lower costs in order to encourage more drivers.
Another thing being discussed is the points system; there have been unofficial talks and proposals. What do you think of the ideas being proposed and what have you heard?
I don’t care about the things I’ve heard, I need to wait for the new sporting code in order to make our decisions. I haven’t heard anything official. They were discussing a new points system in which the points gap between every position is decreased, but we didn’t really understand anything. The sporting code has to be published, read and analyzed in order to discover what’s right and wrong, and the sporting code has to be changed, it’s very old. We hope that they can formally show it to us so we can discuss it.
Roger Feghali suggested that the sporting code and new regulations must be discussed with the teams and drivers. Do you agree with him or do you think the ATCL has to decide all by itself and force the new rules?
In 2014, and unlike in previous years, the ATCL was enforcing the rules differently, they tried to be lenient with a lot of people, and it failed. I am with the ATCL making new regulations that are very well studied and calculated ahead of their implementation; everyone needs to respect those new regulations once they are out.
We are racers, we aren’t lawmakers, but if there’s something wrong (with the rules), we give our feedback regardless of whether they take it into consideration or not. They’re the organizers, not us, and everyone needs to occupy his own role.
The start of the new season is drawing closer, and there are some things related to the media, advertising, preparations and financial arrangements that aren’t clear, especially in these financial conditions.
What are your demands from the ATCL and the people concerned in this matter in order to speed up the process ahead of the first round of the Lebanese Rally Championship, which is scheduled in late March? Nothing is clear so far.
Roger and I sat down with ATCL officials we’ve held lengthy talks since last year about these subjects, but unfortunately, the ATCL cannot provide us with everything that we wish for.
The most important thing is to make a good advertising campaign, including TV coverage, TV time for the teams and drivers, a good presenter with good knowledge of the sport. We have a rally coming up soon and not even the drivers are aware of that, if you ask them they’ll tell you that they haven’t read the calendar yet and that they don’t know.
Advertising, preparations for the first rally… the new sporting code isn’t even published yet, what more can we say? Everybody’s asleep.
The best thing for me, and the thing that gives us the biggest push is media and advertising. We want to see if they can implement changes because the sport’s absence from the media is unacceptable.
Thanks you Tony and good luck.