What happens next?
The cars start arriving. Either they’re just filling up and we’ll check them to make sure they’re okay and don’t need our care. Other times they arrive with specific repair requests. Often, during the morning transfer, we are informed that there is a car waiting for us at the station. We pick up the keys at the petrol station and off we go. Just yesterday we were repairing a car that hit a deer. The bumper and mudguards were replaced and sprayed, and the lights were changed. We usually leave the station around eight in the evening, but if we have to we keep working till there’s nothing left to do. The drivers have to wait for their cars, so we can’t just pack up and disappear.
You also take care of the ŠKODA ENYAQ iV cars – what is your experience with them?
I have to say that so far I don’t actually have any experience with them, because there haven’t been any problems. The ENYAQ iVs don’t only drive at the front of the peloton, but also in the caravan for the sponsors, but so far we haven’t had a single one break down. It’s a new model, of course, but we’re ready for it, even its rather sophisticated diagnostics.
How many cars will pass through your hands in the three weeks of the race?
I’ve been doing this job for eighteen years and it’s always pretty much the same. It’s usually around two hundred and thirty, two hundred and fifty repairs.
What’s essential for the team to function well?
Easy-going people. They have to work as a team, which is why I try not to change the line-up too much. Sometimes a newcomer comes in, of course, and then it takes a while for him to settle in and fit in. My people aren’t allowed to look at the clock to see if they’ve worked eight hours or ten. If it’s necessary, the work has to be finished. I want to praise the guys, they’re a very well-oiled machine. It’s a kind of circus on wheels. (laughs)