EXCLUSIVE: Mikko Hirvonen Q&A

Are you worried about what the Citroen drivers were able to do in Mexico?
"I'm really disappointed but I'm not worried. I'm sure we can still get back in the fight. No problems. For sure it’s not going to be straightforward in Jordan either, but I'm sure we'll have more pace over there, and it's not going to be as bad as it was in Mexico."

Mexico is the highest round of this year's WRC season. Do you think the altitude was to blame for your lack of performance?
"I think quite a lot of it, yes."

So things should be very different when the WRC reaches the lowest land point on earth on the next round in Jordan?
"Well, it doesn't make as much difference when we go in that direction - it doesn't make you suddenly go a hell of a lot faster - but I'm sure we're not going to be struggling as much in Jordan."

Could you have done more to prepare for Mexico?
"It’s difficult to say. You can always do more testing, but we should have been doing that in Mexico on the same high altitude roads and of course we're not able to do that."

On Sunday, Jari-Matti had a bit of a eureka moment and said he had discovered a better set-up for his car. Did you?
"Nothing major, no. We tried many different set-up things and some worked, but I don't think that from the suspension alone we could find enough speed to get to where Citroen was. I never had a good feeling in the rally. We were down on power, I just didn't have the same feeling I normally have and I made a lot of mistakes as well. Many things were not right."

What testing will you do between now and Jordan?
"We're doing our pre-event test in Sardinia and it's going to be an important test. As I said, I'm not worried about Jordan so much, but I remember from last time that Sebastien was getting away on Saturday morning before his crash - so for sure we need to work on that one as well"

You'll be second in the start order in Jordan. Will that road position help you?
"It did last time, so we'll see. Maybe there will be a small benefit. Last time we were there it looked bad on the recce but some of the stages were cleaning even after that. And unlike Mexico there's no traffic on the stages after the recce."