Fourmaux rebounds after massive Monte shunt
Adrien Fourmaux has taken plenty of lessons from a tough start to his FIA World Rally Championship season – but confidence is returning ahead of next month’s Croatia Rally (21 - 24 April).
M-Sport Ford’s Frenchman crashed spectacularly at the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo before retiring from round two in Sweden with an engine-related issue aboard his Ford Puma Rally1.
Despite heading to Zagreb’s asphalt encounter with no points on the board, Fourmaux does take valuable lessons.
“I was happy with Sweden,” he said. “It was a good rally for me, it was what I needed after Monte. The crash in Monte was tough, but it taught me to look at the bigger picture for the rally – there was no need for me to be pushing like that, especially on the third stage.
“I probably put too much pressure to myself for that event, I was telling myself this was like my home round and I had to make a result on my rally. I needed to focus more on myself and what I was doing and not be thinking so much to the drivers around me. It was a big mistake.
Video: Fourmaux crashes out in Monte-Carlo
Fourmaux had little opportunity to put Monte-Carlo out of his mind with the WRC’s only pure winter rally coming a month later.
“At the start in Sweden, I was still feeling stressed. In some of the fast sections, I was not so happy, I was tense. When I relaxed a little bit the time was coming and everything was working more,” he added.
“It’s tough to go to Croatia without points, but sometimes this is the way motorsport works. I will keep my head up and take the positives from what has happened. After Monte I needed to take some confidence back in my driving and in Sweden I did that.”
At least Croatia is somewhere with happy memories for Fourmaux. He finished fifth on his world championship debut in a Ford Fiesta World Rally Car last season.