Adrien Fourmaux is pleased with his performance in Saudi Arabia calling himself as the unofficial winner of the rally.
Fourmaux was fighting for the victory of Rally Saudi Arabia with Sami Pajari, Martins Sesks and Ott Tanak and was leading the event from Stage 7 to 12 as he dropped to second place overall in Stage 13 after an overshoot. He managed to steal Sesks's lead at the end of Stage 14 for 2,4 seconds despite his front left puncture there. Although he was leading Rally Saudi Arabia at the end of Friday, he received a one-minute time penalty for checking early at the stop control, thus he started his Satuday morning from the fourth position. In Stage 16, he managed to get two positions back and to moved from fourth to second overall, but eventually he did the 1-2 for Hyundai Motorsport as he finished behind his teammate Thierry Neuville. However, the second place was his best result so far in his WRC career and feels confident that he will win a WRC round next year. Last but not least, it must be mentioned that he was leading Rally Saudi Arabia for the most of the stages despite the fact that he won only two stages.
"If you remove our penalty, I’m really pleased with how we managed this rally", Fourmaux said.
"We made the decision to take softs at the beginning, against the decision of the others, and we made the right choice in doing that.
"We were managing the pressure of the others catching up with us, and I’m really pleased we were able to and have that self-control inside of the car.
"We are the unofficial winners!
"The speed is there, the management is there and so is the reliability for us, so these are the things I need to keep up my motivation for next year – there is no reason to doubt the steps we have taken forward this year".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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