Kubica: “I need to discover the rally for myself”

Here’s what everbody’s favourite rally noob said about the upcoming Rally Mexico.

“From what I know, the stages of Rally Mexico are contested at very high attitudes. This means that there is a significant reduction in power which also influences the driving.

“This year there will be a lot of long, very demanding stages and I think it will be a challenging rally for a newcomer. It will be my first time on gravel with the [Ford] Fiesta RS WRC and my first time in Mexico so my aim is to finish the event with some good experience – hopefully without mistakes like those in Sweden.

“The approach is exactly the same as always. I will try to gain as much information as I can, but I also need to discover the rally for myself. Hopefully Maciej [Szczepaniak, co-driver] and I can have a smooth recce and enjoy the stages as we look to learn as much as we can.

“From what I can see, some parts of the route are very similar to the stages in Greece. I don’t know how hot it will be inside of Fiesta, as I haven’t yet had the opportunity to drive in such conditions, but last year I did not have any issues on the longer stages.

“Of course they are more demanding then the short stages, but I am used to being in a car for long periods of time and the races in Formula One are much longer then the stages we’ll encounter next week. The approach and the grip levels are different, but from a physical point of view I have no concerns about driving a 50 kilometre stage.

“I’m really looking forward to this new challenge and discovering these unknown stages for the first time. It’s a great opportunity to discover how the Fiesta performs on gravel.”