Tour de Corse: looking to complete rally on a high note
Just over a month since a satisfying performance at the Deutschland Rally, marked by a first podium in WRC2 for Eric Camilli and a promising 6th place for Teemu Suninen, the Team ORECA is approaching the upcoming Tour de Corse (October 1-4) wishing to realise their potential. On asphalt and within an atmosphere certainly exciting for a French team, this French round of the World Rally Championship, which returns to the Ile de Beauté for the first time since 2008, could contribute to confirm that both crews are currently picking up momentum. On board their Ford Fiesta R5, Eric Camilli and co-driver Benjamin Veillas, just like Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula, have what it takes to be able to avoid the pitfalls that are awaiting them as part of this difficult rally especially renowned for being very demanding.
“Every single round of our programme in WRC2 is important, but this one is obvisouly very special to us” ORECA’s Chairman, Hugues de Chaunac, confides. “It’s the first time in several years that we will be returning to Corsica, it’ll be a true event and we’re glad we’ll be a part of it. Eric and Teemu have improved rally after rally and what they achieved in Germany was a real satisfaction. The Tour de Corse fits in the line of this development: we’re simply setting our objectives a little higher, we want to complete this rally on high note, looking to take a step further. We know the quality of our crews, we now need to prove their consistency. It’s a big challenge, we’ll be under pressure probably. We, both the team and drivers, need to be on it.”
Last year, for its first Tour de Corse, Eric Camilli had very much impressed everybody in the ERC. Fourth scratch time, 1st S2000, the French driver had also been awarded the prestigious Colin McRae Flat Out Trophy. “The layout is completely different this year and so I’ve never driven on these special stages. Nevertheless I’m very familiar with the surroundings made of these famous curving roads. I hope that’ll help me”, Eric says. Eric is particularly motivated for this rally as, though he was born in Nice, his dad’s family side is from Corsica. “I’m passionate about this rally. I’ve attended it as a spectator many times, so I’m looking forward now to get involved in it as a driver. My family will be there. It’ll be a special atmosphere. What I achieved in Germany obviously very much contributes to it as well. I’ll be really willing to try to clinch a new interesting result. There’ll be lots of adrenaline” the member of TMG’s Junior Driver Development promises.
It’s a slightly different context for Teemu Suninen. The steep roads of Corsica are quite different from the long straight lines slicing across the forests of Finland, his home country. But that’s not enough for the young Scandinavian driver to be worried. He actually demonstrated his self-control when delivering a choice performance in Germany as he was discovering the Fiesta R5. It’s rather the opposite, Teemu Suninen is delighted to continue learning within different settings and playgrounds. “I can’t wait to face these new challenges in Corsica. I’m convinced that I’m going to learn a lot with this rally which I’m taking part in for the first time. My main objective is to gain a lot of experience, while trying to achieve a good place at the finish. My preparation remains the same. But, it’s easier to go to Corsica now that I’m more familiar with the car and more experienced in asphalt driving.”
Heralded as a particularly grueling rally, the Tour de Corse will rely on an unusual format in WRC: nine very long special stages, the shortest one – final power stage – being 16,74km long while the longest one stretches to 48,46km. Crews will drive a total of 332,27km across the Ile de Beauté, from Friday 2nd October until finish in Ajaccio on Sunday 4th.