"The drivers' title is still open, whatever the result here, but a non-finish obviously makes it more difficult. The accident was similar to the one in Australia last year when I went off the road and hit some tree stumps. That cost me the title so I hope it works out a different way this season."


Petter Solberg [Subaru WRT]: [retired from leg 1 after SS5 – gear selection problems]

"I can honestly say that I've tried my hardest today, I did everything I could and, of course, it's very frustrating that I haven't been able to get the result I wanted - especially here on Subaru's own rally - and I'm really sorry to all the Subaru supporters for that. We struggled with the balance and the handling of the car pretty much from the first stage today, and this badly affected the amount of grip we had. Even though we made a good tyre choice I just wasn't able to push at all. After the first service things still didn't feel 100 per cent, and we were lucky not to stop after we went off on SS5. But in the end a gear selection problem meant we had no option other than to retire. We'll be out on the stages again tomorrow, and I sincerely hope I'll be able to give our fans something to cheer about.”

[Speaking in service A] “This morning the stages were very slippery, and we experienced difficulties with grip. I couldn't push as hard as I would have liked, but believe me we were still pushing. We were third fastest on Rikubetsu, the last stage of the morning loop, but I cannot push any harder. We will make a few small changes for the afternoon and just keep trying as hard as we can here.”


Chris Atkinson [Subaru WRT]: [retired from event in SS6 – went off the road]

"I'm not entirely sure what happened yet, we'll need to have a look at the on-board camera and the data to find out for sure. What I do know is that I was pushing hard through a sequence of bends when the car drifted wide and slid into a ditch. We were still going pretty quickly when we ran out of road, broadsided and took out a tree with the back door. The impact was heavy and there's no chance we'll be able to restart tomorrow. The accident was the end of a pretty frustrating rally for me. We should have been faster this morning, especially as we had a good road position, but the pace never really materialised. We came here with high hopes and expectations, but we've let ourselves and Subaru down.”

[Speaking in service A] “We had a good start and were third fastest on the first stage, but we had some problems on the second one and lost some time. We were trying hard and had a spin on a slippery corner after about 7km, which was a shame. Okay we lost some time, but I think it would have been difficult to go at the same pace as the leaders anyway. We still have some work to do in that area, it's not perfect unfortunately, but we'll keep trying. There's no massive change of plan for the afternoon - we'll change the set-up a little and see if that helps us go faster and we'll push as hard as we can.”





Team principals:

Malcolm Wilson [BP Ford WRT - team director]:

"We've had a fantastic run this season but the team is obviously disappointed for Marcus. It was unfortunate the roll cage was damaged because otherwise the car was fine. It was a great drive by Mikko and I hope he and Jari-Matti Latvala can work to keep our title hopes on course."


Guy Frequelin [Citroen Total WRT - team principal]:

"Both cars are in a strong position to secure a good result here. The misadventure of our rival also gives Sébastien a chance to turn the tables in the Drivers' championship. For that, we will first need to cure the slight understeer problem he had this afternoon. Dani had a good day, too. He has learnt a great deal and we're still in the fight, although this event is far from over."


Malcolm Wilson [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT - team boss]:

“It has been a really outstanding performance by Jari-Matti today. He has again led another WRC event and has shown a fantastic pace. This drive really has put the Stobart team in a strong position to move ahead of Subaru in the manufacturers' championship and obviously we are also hoping that he can help with Marcus' quest to win the drivers' title as well. Henning has put in a solid drive to be fifth on his first attempt at this event and Matthew has been showing some good pace on these difficult stages as well. It's a great position to be in going into the second day tomorrow and hopefully all three crews can repeat their strong performance tomorrow.”


Richard Taylor [Subaru WRT - managing director]:

“Overall it has been a disappointing day for the whole team. We feel particularly sorry for all the Subaru fans who are here to support Petter, Chris and Xevi that two of our cars are not on the leader board. After a reasonable start, Petter and Chris both experienced problems with the balance of their cars which is very frustrating. Xevi finished the day in seventh place on his first visit to Japan, and Petter will take advantage of Superally rules to put on a show for his fans for the rest of the rally.”