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Marcus: Anything could happen in these conditions |
Marcus Gronholm has revealed that conditions on day 1 of the Wales Rally GB were the some of the worst he can remember in his illustrious career.
The double world champion, who is making his 150th WRC start this weekend and who will retire at the end of this season, finished the opening leg 39.6 seconds off his BP Ford team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen, who leads and 18.3 seconds up on his arch championship rival, Sebastien Loeb, who is third.
The Finn is currently six points behind Seb in the battle for the 2007 drivers' title and if he is to stand any chance of taking the crown he needs the Frenchman to finish outside the top five.
"I don't know who I'm battling with – the other drivers or the weather. It's all about staying on the road at the moment, and that's hard enough," reflected Marcus post-SS6.
"In this event anything can happen – the key is to make sure it doesn't happen to you."
Asked about the day more generally, the 39-year-old added that he was a bit too careful early on, especially on SS1, the 17.41 kilometre-run through Port Talbot.
"I was too cautious at the start of the first stage this morning because it was uncomfortable in the fog and I couldn't see much," he explained. "I don't have to take risks though and I didn't drive flat out.
"I didn't try to catch Mikko, I was just trying to control my pace, but my confidence wasn't so good because the weather this afternoon was some of the worst I can remember in my career. There was water on the car, under the car and all around the car – there was even water in the car!"
BP-Ford team director Malcolm Wilson meanwhile described Gronholm's and Hirvonen's performances as simply 'perfect'.
"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 Sebastien over the next two days of the event," he summed-up.
