Fourmaux and Coria were driving at top pace throughout the rally in Saudi Arabia and were fighting for the first victory of their careers in the top class, until a big error crushed those hopes.
Fourmaux and Coria checked in one minute early to the technical zone on Friday, and for this the crew was handed a one-minute time penalty. As a result, Fourmaux eventually finished second in the rally for the first time in his career, but his maiden victory will have to wait.
Fourmaux explained shortly afterwards that the incident was a misunderstanding, and now Coria has also commented on the situation. He described the episode as the most unpleasant experience of the entire season.
“I received a message that contained incorrect information,” Coria told Rallye Sport in an interview.
“We’ve been working (with Pablo Marcos) for two years now, and we have never had any problems – I trusted him completely. Nobody is perfect, we are human. Naturally, we trust the people within the team who handle these kinds of schedule-related tasks,” Coria continued.
Coria emphasises, however, that the mistake has now been learned from.
“But of course, I am primarily responsible myself. In future, I will focus more on such situations personally. The roadbook did not contain this information, but sometimes mistakes happen, so I like to double-check things. And when the connection does not always work for downloading documents, you rely on the last message you received,” Coria said.
Coria revealed that even before checking in to the technical zone, the pair had encountered difficulties on a liaison section. They had been stuck in heavy traffic and had overtaken cars via the pavement – with permission from an FIA official. They received a penalty for that.
“Next time, I’ll film the marshal’s gestures on video and show them to the FIA delegate,” Coria snapped.
