Adrien Fourmaux is still searching for his maiden World Rally Championship win, and is desperate to achieve it in a Rally1 car.
Fourmaux has achieved 11 podiums for Hyundai and M-Sport throughout his career, but thus far the top step has eluded him.
At least three – four if Rally Saudi Arabia remains on the schedule – rallies remain of the Rally1 era, and Fourmaux is eager to secure his first win in this regulation of car because of how special it is.
He likened that to Group B drivers in 1986, knowing slower Group A cars were inbound for 1987.
“That’s in the plan,” Fourmaux told DirtFish of his first win, “because I don’t want to leave this car with no win, I would say. They’re such brilliant cars that I would like to say I’ve also been a winner in this cars.
“So it’s like I think in the past when they were leaving the Group B, they [the drivers] wanted to have at least one win with the Group B car.
Fourmaux has 11 podiums in the WRC, but no victory yet
“But even if it’s not happening, I will be pleased with what I’ve achieved with those cars and how I grew up with this because it’s a huge step from the Rally2. So, yeah, it’s been positive,” he surmised.
Fourmaux reckons his best opportunity to take his first win is Rally Paraguay, which takes place in three weeks’ time.
“I think Paraguay is probably the best,” he said. “The pace I had was very, very good. So I would say this one.
“I was leading the rally until the puncture. Then I was second. I don’t know if you remember, I had the rain on the powerstage, then I jumped out of the podium by two seconds. So hopefully I had the rain on this event [Finland] and not in Paraguay, and then I’m clear.”
Fourmaux lost 1m29.8s caught in the rain of Rally Finland’s SS7, finishing the event 1m35.9s behind winner Sami Pajari in fourth position.
“If you look at the end, we are 1 minute 35 behind him and we lost 1 minute 25 on the rain. That’s clear,” Fourmaux reflected.
“But that’s the hard life of motorsport, I would say. Sometimes you give everything, but if you miss a little bit somewhere, it’s the full package. Sometimes it’s the driver missing a bit of pace, sometimes it’s the car, sometimes it’s just the luck.
“Because also, by being trapped by the rain, then we had worse road position for the next days so it was harder to fight also, so it’s the full story that you need to explain.
“But yeah, I’m very satisfied, I was very pleased, I have no regrets. I gave everything on the powerstage – again I tried my best to get maximum points we could with what we have, which I think we did well.”
