Shakedown Not Stirred

'It's Cline here again and I'm going to tell you all about the first few days here at Rallye de France with WRC Team MINI Portugal.

'Well, for me and Romain (our chef - pictured below) it was a pretty busy beginning to the week as we had to set everything up to be prepared to begin our service to the team Tuesday lunchtime.

'We left our base in Lyon on Sunday morning and after 450km on the road with our truck, Romain and I finally got to Strasbourg and we immediately started working. We set up the kitchen and the hospitality and since Monday we've been working on preparing the first meals for the team.

'We've been working quite hard everyday to make sure we're ready to give the team little moments of happiness during their busy rally days. For us each meal is like a Special Stage and we run three stages per day (fortunately only one loop!) At the moment we have been doing a good job and we've always nailed our Time Controls. ;-)

'Everyday we prepare a selection of cold starters and salads, one pasta dish (what else for an Italian team!) with a different sauce and a hot main course with sides. Also we do a couple of desserts and a selection of cheeses - actually we're particularly proud of our cheese board and everybody in the team seems to appreciate it.

'Our job is pretty straight-forward until the proper beginning of the rally when we have to start taking care of our beloved crews as they all have different tastes and follow specific diets.

'I have to say Chris eats very healthy food and likes to stay light - especially at lunch when after he has to get back in the car quickly. He is a fish-lover, his favourite meal when he's on event is fish and veggies - which helps him get the energy he needs to tackle the stages without being too filling.

'I still don't know what Glenn's tastes are but I'll be soon discovering that. By the way if you want to know more about him, check out the Q&A he did before the rally on Motorsport Italia's website.

'Paulo's diet isn't very complicated but - as I mentioned before - he has a one particular culinary predilection which is nice, succulent, well cooked fillet steak. He also enjoys an 'omelettela franaise' the way Romain cooks it with the eggs still a tiny bit raw. He's very specific on his favorite drinks too - he drinks a lot of mixed fruit juices and his breakfast is always a cold chocolate milk drink.

'Edu is quite easy-going, he eats pretty much anything - and I hate to say it, but co-drivers are generally easier to please than drivers. ;-)

'We now know all the different tastes so it's quite easy to make the crews happy and Romain is always prepared to anticipate the drivers and co-drivers needs.

'Romain is great to work with, he's been my colleague for a year now and despite being very young he's a very talented chef. I trust him 100% and the team seems really to appreciate his cooking which is very important!

'As far as Rallye de France is concerned I'm hearing that weather conditions are crucial here - if they are bad like in 2010, the roads will be wet and dirty and they will become like those on some of the gravel events the team does during the season - which explains why the Finns came through so strong that year. The weather forecast for this weekend says there's a chance of rain (and boy has today proved that!) so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens on the stages. I'm sure Chris and Paulo will have great rides and they'll make the team proud.

'The drivers went through Shakedown this morning to make the final touches to their set-up for the event. After lunch they had a quite busy afternoon of official PR activities. The competition itself also started this evening as the crews went through the first Super Special Stage here at Rallye de France - a 3.63km test in Strasbourg's city centre.

'We're now ready to serve dinner, tonight the chef's proposal is Aubergine lasagna, gnocchi with blue cheese, 'diot' a special French sausage and chocolate and banana cake for dessert. I really hope the team will enjoy it! :-)

'I'll be back tomorrow with more updates.

'Stay tuned anddemain!' Cline