“Being a new rally it can be difficult and it really required a lot of experience of the roads but our notes have been working fine and we managed to get through every stage which is the most important thing. Saturday and Sunday were a lot more fun for me and I think I improved my driving quite a bit. We had some trouble with the lights on the last stage on Saturday as they were probably too high for me. It was definitely a new experience all-round but I am happy to finish and looking forward to next year's season.”
Sebastian Lindholm [Suzuki WRT]:
“We've done a lot of useful work throughout this event, and gathered a lot of information that will be crucial for the future. Our objective from the beginning of this rally was simply to get to the end: we weren't even looking at the stage times or taking any risks. The conditions throughout all three days were very bad, but this is typical of Wales so it was a very good learning experience for us.”
Notable retirements:
Sebastian Lindholm [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from leg 1 after SS2 - mechanical - re-started on day 2 under SupeRally]
“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 - re-started on day 2 under SupeRally]
“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 - re-started on day 2 under SupeRally]
“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.”
Luis Perez Companc [Munchi's Ford WRT]: [retired from leg 3 in SS14 - went off the road]
“This has been a very difficult rally but I was told it was going to be like this so I knew what to expect. It is very fast and very muddy and one little mistake could mean a big accident. Leg one's stages were very muddy and there was lots of fog which made it even harder for us because this is a brand new event and the notes are very new; but to drive in fog you need very precise notes to give you confidence. Saturday was a much better day for us and it was great that the weather was nowhere near as bad as Friday; this made things a lot easier.
“I was first on the road on Saturday which was not the best over the first pass of stages because I had no lines to follow. The second pass over stages however was much easier because I had the lines to follow and the roads were not so rough.
