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Meet the teams: Olsbergs MSE

The fifth interview with a member of the FIA World Rallycross Championship paddock is with France's Yannis Loison, Engine manager at Olsbergs MSE.

Q. Describe your job role?

YL: "I'm in charge of all of the engine projects at OMSE. The engines are built at Mountune, but I oversee that from an OMSE side. When I'm at an event I look after the data and mapping, to make sure everything is going in the right direction. I also work with the drivers to get them to do what we need them to do."

Q: How does your role differ between being at a World RX event and being back at base?

YL: "When I'm at the workshop I do a lot of organising for the coming races and working on the development for the future. At events, my role is about making things happen in the best way they can, for us to improve race-by-race."

Q: Do you have to think on your feet a lot at events and react to what is happening?

YL: "If everything is well planned, you roughly know what you have to do. For sure every track and every day is different, which is what makes it interesting. The mapping of the engine is not always the same; you need to adjust it all the time. It's also my job to remove as many things that could go wrong as possible, so we have as few surprises as possible."

Q: What are the biggest challenges with your role?

YL: "To always move the target further away and to not get beaten by the others. To always keep developing and to push the target, which is to get the most performance out of our car."

Q: What is your background?

YL: "I worked in the World Rally Championship for 13 years, with Peugeot on the 206 and 307 WRC, and then through M-Sport with the Ford Focus and Fiesta. The first rallycross engine I did was for Henning Solberg when he bought a car from Andreas Eriksson, that's where I met Andreas. Then, Ken Block asked me to an engine for him, so I did that for several years. Then I worked with Petter Solberg in World RX and then changed company to work for Andreas at OMSE."

Q: Since you first became involved in rallycross, how has engine side changed?

YL: "I would say that coming from the WRC, my own target was to help bring the level of the WRC to rallycross. I believe it's been successful because we are all raising the level. The level is quite high now."

Q: What are your hobbies?

YL: "Enjoying normal life: hiking, nature, family and friends."

Q: Who has best all round package of chassis, engine and transmission in World RX? Which team is pushing the boundaries more than any other?

YL: "I'm not really sure. I think you also need to put the drivers into this package. Different packages have advantages on different track. I feel everybody is very tight on performance."

Q: You know what it's like to win in World RX, that must be a huge challenge?

YL: "It's an interesting challenge. For us (OMSE) this year is more about developing young drivers. We're watching the others a little from where we are. We know where we are and we are aiming for good results, but for sure not the title this year. Before, without making any mistakes in the qualifying races you would be sure you would be in the semis and then perhaps the final, but now every race is like a final. A lot of cars and drivers are on the pace."

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring young engineers looking at World RX as a career?

YL: "I would say just follow what you want to do. That's all I have done, I always wanted to do what I'm doing. Even if its difficult, even if a lot of people are on the list and want to do that, try to be the one to show that you really want it and not just 90%. Show that you want it more than 100%."

Thanks Yannis!

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com