Fourmaux: Points incentive drives us to push on Super Sundays

The French driver currently holds third in the drivers’ championship standings and was poised to secure a fifth-place finish at last week’s Croatia Rally before his fortunes took a dive. A collision with an anti-cut marker in SS18 damaged his Puma’s steering, causing him to plummet down the order.

Reflecting on the rally, Fourmaux confessed that in previous years, he might have been tempted to coast through the final leg. However, with the revamped points structure now offering up to seven points for the fastest driver on Super Sunday, there was no room for complacency.

“In the past, I would not have been pushing so hard in the first three stages,” he revealed. “I would have been trying to stay close to [fourth-placed] Ott Tänak, but that’s it. This year, I’ve been trying to push to get as high as possible.”

Fourmaux made a strategic stop in SS18 to conduct roadside repairs on his car’s steering before soldiering on. He explained that this decision was fuelled by his determination to safeguard the points he had amassed on Saturday evening, which are only secured by completing the rally on Sunday.

“Last year I would have been trying to carry on in the stage with the steering arm broken,” he said. “This year I just decided that, now it’s over, we’re going to lose too much time, so we stop to fix it and go again.

“I wanted to stop to make sure that we didn’t crash again, because it’s easy to make a mistake when the car is broken like that, and I wanted to secure the points that we got on Saturday.”

Looking ahead, Fourmaux highlighted the significance of winning the rally-ending Wolf Power Stage, viewing it as a morale boost as he prepares for next month’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal (9 – 12 May).

“For sure when you finish on a high by winning the Power Stage, you get good confidence for the next rally.

“Now we’re going onto gravel and I really like Portugal. I feel much more comfortable in the car on gravel, so let’s see what we can do.”