Fourmaux was left stranded at the start of SS2 on Thursday when his i20 N Rally1 car refused to start. The Frenchman did everything he could to get going, but in the end, he had no choice but to retire.
Although only two stages were run on Thursday, Fourmaux immediately dropped ten minutes behind the leaders due to a time penalty. He had set the fifth-fastest time on the opening stage, but that was little consolation.
“That’s the worst things can happen on the rally car. It’s electronic. So I did try to start the car. And the starter went once and then stop. And then after that there was like nothing,” Fourmaux explained in an interview with DirtFish.
“We used the battery of the wheel gun to give a little bit of of energy to at least start it. So at least when we pushed, or people pushed it, we got the ignition. We succeed to start the car. But when the battery is so low, the car is asking also quite a lot of energy to get it. Then we started to get some fire on the left, and the car stopped.”
As seen in the video above, the retirement was a tough blow for Fourmaux. The season had started well with a third-place finish at Monte Carlo, but just like in Kenya, he was forced to retire in Sweden in February. Given the large time gaps in Kenya, Fourmaux still has a chance to fight for points, provided he avoids further issues. However, he wasn’t feeling too optimistic.
“There is still a long, long rally to try to get something, but yeah, our chances are really little,” Fourmaux admitted.
The Frenchman did everything he could to get the car running, but his efforts were in vain.
“When it’s (the car) not working, it’s a shame.”
