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Monte Carlo Rally: Impressive Mathieu Arzeno !

For his first major event at the wheel of the Peugeot 207 S2000 Mathieu Arzeno may have failed to finish the event but he didn’t disappoint. It was only Tuesday morning when he and his co-driver met up with their new car. "SaintEloc Racing Team has done a great job for us to be at the start. But if I only could do 70km with the car I was able to know its enormous potential. Certainly I have a lack of experience in S2000 but I feel very good in the car. I will do my best from the first meters to optimize my progress. "

A l feature of Monte Carlo is tyre choice. The first stage is nearly 37 kilometers long and takes place in all conditions. On this occasion it began with dry roads for the first two thirds before the final stretch was covered in snow and ice. So tyres are always a compromise. Starting with the  "soft" compound for the first stage Mathieu impressed with the 10th fastest time in the middle of the WRC cars and second in the S2000 class,  only 2 seconds behind the last winner of the Rally, Bryan Bouffier, while still 7 seconds in front of Sébastien Ogier.

"I’m the first to be surprised with my time because I am not using my 207 to 100% capacity. At the end of the stage I felt that my tires overheated so I dropped the pace. In any case I have a lot of fun at the wheel. Now we have to face snow and ice with only two studded tires. It will be a first for me but my Peugeot is well balanced so I’m not too worried. I have to be careful. "

At the stop point of stage 2 ," Le Burzet the SaintEloc Racing’s driver gets his first pleasant surprise with 6th fastest time for the stage and 8th overall.

"Crossing the finish we were very happy with my co-driver. It was already a victory to reach the finish line without mistake. But to be honest it’s a great pleasure to make a 6th fastest time in the middle of best WRC drivers! "

Back to service park in Valence and tyre choice is still so difficult. Snow and ice are still present on stage 2 so Mathieu decides to continue with the same choice. Unfortunately a puncture slows them down. "In fact 7 km from the finish I had a puncture on the rear left. I don’t know what I hit. But I think it was a stone output by Kosciuszko who had a puncture in front of me. I lose about 50 seconds. It's a shame because on the split time 10km before the finish I was only 3 seconds behind Ogier and 4 seconds in front of Bouffier. But it's not a big problem because Monte Carlo is a really long event. A lot of things could happen!"

And Mathieu was wrong! On the next stage, the Peugeot 207 S2000 slid off the "track" of snow and hit a rock, fortunately at a slow pace making it iImpossible to restart due to a broken wheel rim. For Mathieu it’s a huge disappointment.

"I am so disappointed! I was at no more than 40km/h when I get understeering. I went out of “track” on the ice and with my "slicks" tires on the back I could not do anything. I was passenger of the car. When the mechanics arrived they released the rim, replaced with a new rod that was in the trunk and the car ran perfectly straight. It's really annoying but this is the Monte Carlo. " The disappointment digested Mathieu looks to the future. "I think my times have not gone unnoticed even if to win you must be at the finish. I hope to be back in the 207 S2000 as soon as possible. I think I can do good performances. If possible in IRC or WRC again. We'll have to work hard but I believe in my chance! "

Following events should be announced in the coming weeks.