WRC Team MINI Portugal Maximum pressure 25.08.2012: 'Hello everyone, 'It's me Maxi - your favorite MINI - again! 'Wow, this was what I call a nice day out on the stages. Chris and I had

  'Hello everyone,

'It's me Maxi - your favorite MINI - again!


'Wow, this was what I call a nice day out on the stages. Chris and I had a fantastic day together - I really enjoyed every minute of it. To be fair I was a bit nervous this morning when we set-off from the Service Park as I was going to compete against the other cars for the first time, but I could feel Chris was chillaxed to the max so I tried to go with the flow.

Anyway, we got to the start of SS1 and I was nervously awaiting our start time but as soon as Chris and Stéphane put their helmets on, fastened their seat belts and Stéphane started the count down for the kick off I could feel the adrenaline start to rush and I couldn't wait to get going.


Five, four, three, two, one and off we went! Corner after corner the feeling with Chris got better and better and even though he had to play football with a loose bottle that was rolling under my pedals we finished the stage with a good time and I heard him saying on the radio that he was very happy with how I did out there. :-)


'With the baptism of fire over I was much more relaxed and I even started to enjoy the view - the landscape here in Germany is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. There are so many vineyards around here - I know Tomo is a proper wine connoisseur so I'm waiting for him to take me out for some wine tasting later in the week. I reckon any time now he'll build up the courage to ask.


'After three stages we headed back to Trier for Service - I love service! I like the stages too but during service I'm the star and the boys pay me some much attention. I've told you before I'm a liiiittle bit of a diva, but you know, this is my moment. ;-) Anyway, Chris and I did a good job on the first loop so there wasn't anything broken and I only had to go through routine checks.


  'Unfortunately my mate (yep, I'm picking up on the Australian) Porquinho Verde wasn't as lucky - Paulo made a small mistake and PV hit a bank with the rear and damaged the suspension. Nothing to worry about though, the boys already fixed it and he's ready to go tomorrow for some more action!


'Chris hasn't competed in a Tarmac rally for three and a half years so he's biding his time waiting to find his rhythm, but we did the best we could today and we're improving together stage on stage. I'm really proud of him (and of myself too to be completely honest!) I heard him saying that his aim for the weekend is being between sixth and tenth position, we're in ninth at the moment so it's all good!


'I love Chris, he's a real professional and a fantastic person and he really knows how to treat me (and if he isn't sure Stephane's always there to advise him!) I feel like I've known them forever even if in reality we've only met last week.

'This afternoon we went for another run in the vineyards and our rhythm started to get better, maybe tomorrow we'll push even harder. After all I'm a positive car and I don't give up easily.

'The day is finished now. We got back to service again and my mechanics ran a thorough check on me to make sure I'm on top form for tomorrow. Now I'm all nice and shiny ready to rock tomorrow on another day of MINI adventures!

'That's all for today, I really need my beauty sleep over in parce ferme (I'm kind of hoping I'll be parked near to either PV or that nice red MINI), but I'll be back tomorrow with more stories from ADAC Rallye Deutschland!



'Bye now', Maxi

'.oh Chris says hello too!' ;-)






Nicoletta Russo , photo Marc Hilger, automobilsport.com

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