After a year of stop, Eric Camilli finished the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2021 with a strong result. As an Official Driver for Citroën Racing, Eric competed with the C3 Rally2 in the WRC2, showing a stronger pace stage after stage. He used Easywrite’s steering wheel cover for the first time, bringing the motorsport brand not only on his helmet, but also on the podium on Sunday.
Eric, did you enjoy your comeback at Monte-Carlo?
I am happy about the result, because we scored very good points for the WRC2 classification. Finishing third in the WRC2 and tenth overall, after one year without driving, it’s definitely a positive result. We couldn’t be more performant than this, also because the start of the Rallye Monte-Carlo 2021 hadn’t been easy for us: the first day we struggle a bit, but then we found a good pace to maintain the third position – but obviously it was too late to aim for more!
Considering that you didn’t race in 2020, how did you prepare yourself for this event?
I tried to do lot of sports, especially when I was sure to take part to Rallye Monte-Carlo with Citroën Racing. I trained every day, trying to do my best… It wasn’t easy, believe me! It’s like a football player who doesn’t train for a whole year, and then has to play an important match.
For me was important to have really good pacenotes, to memorize the road, and to be physically reactive. I’d say it wasn’t so bad, if you look at the result. Then, when you’re racing the hardest part is to find what I call “real limit”, which I mean the WRC cars limit.
The Rallye Monte-Carlo presents always tricky conditions. How was you approach with the set-up?
This is something really not easy, let me tell this first. You do some tests to prepare the car, but in the end, you’ll never know the final condition of the roads when you start your stage. So, with the engineers we tried to be smart as much as you can, anticipating everything. But in Monte-Carlo you’re never with the perfect set-up: some stages have snow, others have dried asphalt, in others is wet… For me, the most important thing is always to be clever, trying to anticipate the possible conditions and to be ahead of your rivals.
How was your attitude, knowing the times of your rivals, stage after stage?
When you are racing in the WRC2 you don’t have many choices: you have to push, always. Also, in Monte-Carlo you need to be cleverer than other rallies, because it’s really easy to suffer a puncture or to crash because you don’t know how much grip you’ll have. Finding this balance is not easy, especially because you have to go the fastest possible. In one word: push!
How much was important for you to take the right pacenotes during your recce?
I was really happy about the pacenotes, there were no errors. I was worried to be a bit to slow after a year not racing, but in the end I caught up, as it’s never easy to take notes at an average speed of 60 km/h, and then to have your co-driver reading them while you’re in “full-attack” mode while racing. Also, my gravel crew did a great job, adding as many details as possible to help me perform at the best.
How has been your experience with Easywrite’s steering wheel cover at Rallye Monte-Carlo?
I think it’s a great product, first because it eases your mental stress while you approach every corner, as you perfectly know the difficulty by looking just in front of you. The most important thing in rallies is to have a base system in your pacenotes, and then on your second pass you can modify the notes, being more precise for example. But you can do it as long as you have a good base, and Easywrite allows you to do it as no one before it. I’m pretty sure that, with the introduction of the new variant that uses degrees, more drivers will join the Easywrite Community.