Jean-Pierre Nicolas was recently appointed as successor to Corrado Provera at the helm of Peugeot Sport. His style will doubtlessly be different, but his ambition will be the same: to make the French team's final season in the WRC a success...



Q:
Jean-Pierre, how do you intend to approach your new post?

Jean-Pierre Nicolas:
Taking over the responsibilities of Corrado Provera while at the same time continuing to be in charge of the sporting side proper implies a different, bigger job. But I know I will be able to count on the likes of Xavier Carlotti and other members of the team to look after certain domains. We are all prepared to do what it takes for this transition to pass off as smoothly as possible.

Q:
The team has been through some potentially unsettling moments, notably when you learnt that the rally programme was to be stopped at the end of 2005. You must have feared a certain fall in motivation?

J-PN:
To have imagined that would have been an insult to the team. We have effectively been through a troubled period and there was undeniably cause to feel unsettled. But here at Peugeot Sport there's no need for a magic recipe. Everyone pulls together the instant there's a fresh hint of success and everyone is passionate about their motor sport. Their motivation may be momentarily shaken but there is absolutely no getting away from that fact that their sole objective is to win, and to keep on winning. When the 307 WRC is reliable and competitive, the human side of the operation also runs at full song. The team has weathered other storms and, each time, it has proved its ability to bow to the wind, let the storm pass and fight on to merit better days which finished by coming. I am confident in our chances of finding ourselves on an upwards spiral again very soon.

Q:
In sporting terms, has the announced cut-off date altered your approach to this year's championship in any way?

J-PN:
The fact that this is our final season in rallying hasn't changed anything. Our approach is the same and our ambition is to win the world title for Peugeot. We weren't strong in 2004 in terms of reliability and the blame for that is shared between the team and the crews. This year, the 307 WRC is a definite contender for victory. We doubtlessly deserved better in the season's two opening rounds but there are still plenty of other opportunities to score points.

Q:
You have two thoroughbred drivers in Marcus Grönholm and Markko Martin, but is it not going to be difficult to channel their respective energy?