“It's a pity that we had this setback so early, but at least now we have a chance to get our car back to service and fix the brake pipe properly, so that we can continue to work on our testing programme for the remainder of the event. However, even during the short distance we have run, I can feel that the fundamental balance of the car is very good and that is an extremely positive sign for the future.”


Jari-Matti Latvala [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]: [retired from leg 1 in SS6 – went into some logs]

“In the last stage everything went wrong. The visibility was really bad and my wipers were not working properly. The rain was so bad I couldn't see anything and then I hit a bank quite hard on a very rough part of the stage which damaged the bumper and made the wipers stop working completely. I really couldn't see anything at all and had to stop and get out of the car a few times to clean the mud off the windscreen. There was so much water coming up over the screen that I had no option but to stop in places. It was a really frustrating end to what was a very encouraging start to the rally.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “It was difficult in the fog and I could have done better but I just couldn't find my rhythm driving in the fog. We started off slowly but I really want to concentrate and improve my driving. Things did get much better on the next two stages though but I am still making some small mistakes and sliding too much in places. I don't want to play a risky game so early in the rally.”


Henning Solberg [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]: [retired from leg 1 in SS6]

“I was not happy this morning which started off with a puncture but that is a part of the game. I couldn't really find my rhythm today and then on stage 4 things got worse when the heater started playing up and I couldn't see anything for the whole stage. This got worse over the final two stages today and in the end Cato [Menkerud] had to use a stick with his hat on the end to try and clear the windscreen because the mist was just too bad to see anything. I just couldn't see a thing at all when the screen was misted up. Then it was even worse in the dark and I had no option but to crawl through the stages. I am so disappointed with today as we were hoping for things to start off well here.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “I am really not happy with what happened this morning but that is a part of the game. We had a puncture on the second right-hand corner of the first stage and it really did lose us a lot of time by the end of it. It has been ok by the end of the loop but I just didn't find a good rhythm this morning. We will change some things with the suspension and hopefully find a better feeling for the next loop.”





Team principals:

Malcolm Wilson [BP Ford WRT - team director]:

"They couldn't have done better. This was exactly what I expected of Mikko. He has a good lead and Marcus is in the ideal position if anything happens to Loeb over the next two days."


Guy Frequelin [Citroen Total WRT - team principal]:

"This is never an easy event. How could I not be anxious? We have a chance of winning the Drivers' World Championship and the outcome will be decided here in the forests of South Wales which probably pack more potential pitfalls than any other rally! The stages are very complex. They are very fast and the amount of grip available changes all the time. You need to find a rhythm that enables you not to get caught out. Sébastien and Daniel did that very well today, but there are still two days to go."


Richard Taylor [Subaru WRT - managing director]:

"All our drivers started this difficult event at a steady pace, as planned. Every competitor has experienced horrendous weather conditions on the stages, and with two days to go we are happy to see Petter in fourth place with Chris and Xevi also in the top ten.”


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

“Matthew has done a great job today and has put in a very solid and impressive drive in extremely difficult conditions; a very good start to his home event. The weather conditions, fog and extreme rain have led to atrocious driving conditions but he has coped remarkably well and made no mistakes today. Jari-Matti was also doing well and in a strong fourth position until his problem on the last stage. Hopefully tomorrow both Henning and Jari-Matti will be able to salvage some manufacturer points for the Stobart team. They are not out of the fight yet.”


Nobuhiro Tajima [Suzuki WRT - team principal]:

“This is what testing is all about: identifying potential problems and solving them. Our objective at the start of the rally was to bring our car safely back to the finish with plenty of valuable information and this remains unaltered. Thanks to Sebastian's experience and his sensible approach, I am sure we can still get a lot out of the Rally Great Britain in these very difficult conditions. What we have suffered from today was just pure bad luck: we start again tomorrow!”