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HENRI TOIVONEN and SERGIO CRESTO celebrating their win at the 1986 RALLYE MONTE CARLO || [x]

Interviewer: Does this win add any extra pressure for the upcoming rallies? Toivonen: No, not for me anyway. For the others, yes. I have 20 points, and others have less.

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But why are the Finns so strong? - An interview with co-driver Sergio Cresto

(Originally posted in Italian on Rombo magazine, 11th February 1986. Archived from henritoivonen.it)

In January 1977, for his twenty-first birthday, Sergio Cresto treated himself to a week a little different than usual. With Claudio Berro and Luca Pazielli, he'd managed to infiltrate the Lancia circle, even gaining permission to help liaise between the Monte Carlo press and the team's performance in the Principality. A small task requiring more legwork than brainpower, but sufficient to gain free access to the two rooms on the first floor of the Hotel Mirabeau, where the legendary Italian team already had its headquarters. For someone who had only a few months earlier begun competing in national rallies, it was already a feeling of being on cloud nine before even starting: imagine then at the end, when it came to celebrating Munari and Maiga's timely victory in the Stratos: "They may not remember it, but I remember very well congratulating them in the hotel lobby before they slipped into the elevator."

In January 1986, Silvio Maiga was able to return the favour, eager to congratulate his winning co-driver: "His was one of the first phone calls I received, and among the many, Silvio's was the one that had the greatest impact on me. He told me it was time an Italian had finally managed to win the Monte Carlo, and he reminded me how this is a fundamental milestone in the career of a driver and co-driver. Hearing him that Friday was one of the things that gave me the most satisfaction."

Cresto began to receive phone calls, telegrams, and pats on the back right away. But it took a few days for him to congratulate himself on his triumph. Time to sober up from the fatigue and hangover of winning the most famous rally in the world. A trip to Milan to be a guest on La Domenica Sportiva (a sports TV show), another to Turin to say hello to everyone at Abarth, then a quick visit home to Ospedaletti before leaving for Sweden. And in front of the most beautiful sea in western Liguria, he took the time to recount his recent past, culminating in the most rewarding adventure of his racing career.

When did you find out you'd be racing with Toivonen this season?

"I'd heard something back in the summer, but it was just rumors, nothing official. The first real approach was during the Sanremo, and it was Ben Bartoletti who asked me what I thought of the possibility; I replied that I agreed, albeit with some hesitation: first of all, I wanted to know Henri's opinion and then evaluate the situation carefully."

How was the first contact between the two of you?

"Good, although there was one thing we needed to clarify right away. Henri was worried about feeling under pressure from the team with me in the car. As long as he was racing with a Finnish co-driver, he knew they'd always be together, but he was a little worried about my position, which might seem like a team member parked next to him and "against" him. I gave him the guarantees he rightly asked for, making it clear that I always start to win, and therefore my support for the driver is always total."

Did you have any trouble adapting to Toivonen's notes ?

"No, Henri uses fairly simple notes, classifying the corners based on their difficulty, dividing them into slow, medium, and so on, as was once done in Italy. The only difference is that since it's in English, the type of corner comes first, and then which direction it turns. An interesting variation that I think everyone could use, because analyzing it carefully, it seems much more appropriate for the driver's mind to immediately sense the corner: ultimately, he can see which way the road goes with his own eyes."

From the inside, what makes these unbeatable Finns different from the others?

"There's no doubt that racing with a Finn has something different than the other drivers, but I can't understand why they're so fast. Frankly, I don't know if it's a question of technique, sensitivity, or courage. It's really hard to figure out their secret, and I've thought about it a lot! Besides, for a few years now, they've been strong on all terrains, not just where there's less grip. So we have an Alén who's already won twice in Corsica, and Toivonen himself was leading on the asphalt in Portugal in '84. One thing's for sure: among those in Monte Carlo, the Saint-Jean-en-Royans stage is the one I like the most, and doing it on a completely snow-covered, very hard surface, between two walls of snow, alongside Toivonen was the best. Afterwards I wanted to ask (Giorgio) Pianta to put headlights on the doors because the front ones are absolutely useless. To see the road I had to constantly turn my head, but there, perhaps, I got a tiny idea of how Finns drive."

Do these "flying Finns" put a lot of effort into preparing for a race or not? "My Finn is working really hard! And before the start he was really angry because, due to some problems with the spare car, we hadn't been able to test for a couple more days. In Monte-Carlo, where testing isn't easy, we missed four or five times on the tests."

How do you get along with a Finn?

"Good! We're the same age and have many common interests beyond rallying; the same passion for music, for example, like everyone else, we talk about everything both in and out of the car. We'd known each other for a long time, especially after the '84 European Championship where I had the opportunity to appreciate him as an opponent. By spending time in the same restaurants and hotels, we had developed a very good relationship. In the special stages we were rivals, but racing in strange places we ended up doing recce together, hanging out very often. In the whole season there had only been two small disagreements between us: one at the Costa Smeralda where he had won ahead of (Carlo) Capone and me, even keeping us behind in the dust when he had a loose shock absorber, the other a month later in Bulgaria when, in difficulty on the snow, we had been the ones keeping him behind, preventing him from winning. One on one, evenly matched and friends as before. This year we found ourselves racing together and the knowledge from previous years has served us well. First of all, we tried, as much as possible, to turn the stages and the race into a kind of entertainment. It's not easy, perhaps not even entirely possible, nor did we delude ourselves into thinking we'd fully succeeded; but we did our best not to get too caught up in the rally atmosphere and the tension that inevitably builds. And perhaps that was one of our winning weapons.