Present: Sebastien Loeb (Citroen Total World Rally Team), Malcolm Wilson (BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team), Matthew Wilson (Stobart VK M-Sport World Rally Team), Petter Solberg (Petter Solberg World Rally Team)

Press conference:

Q:
Sebastien, after five wins already this season you lead the Drivers' Championship by 20 points. You have been first on the road on the opening day at every event this year, but would say this one is the trickiest for road sweeping so far?

Sebastien Loeb:
Maybe. I hope not, but I know here it can be very difficult to be first on the road. I have no choice, I have to accept it. Maybe we will lose some time and that will be the most difficult to accept: to say: “Okay, I'm losing time, I can do nothing about it, I will wait.”

Q:
It seems that tactics could once again come into play this weekend. Your thoughts?

SL:
In my position I cannot do a lot. I cannot decide. I'm the first to finish the first day, so the other drivers can play with that. There is no plan at the moment.

Q:
You have won six consecutive events dating from Rally GB last year and if you win this that would be a new record of seven in a row. Are you losing count of all the records you are breaking and how much do they really mean to you?

SL:
The record is still mine, so it's not so important to beat it. I will try to beat it, but it's not the main motivation. I will just concentrate on my rally and the Championship. If we break records it's nice, but not the main motivation.

Q:
In terms of sheer speed on the stages, who is your biggest concern?

SL:
If you look at the starting order, Jari-Matti [Latvala] is in a very good position. He's seventh on the road and this can make a big, big difference.

Q:
Do you like the stages here?

SL:
They're very difficult. The roads can be very twisty and narrow, very technical. You don't have good grip and the car is sliding a lot. You have to be very precise, which makes it very difficult. For example, the new stages are very difficult. One of them is very narrow and very technical in the trees and the other one is not so nice.

Q:
Malcolm, let's start by talking about Markko Martin, who has been helping out the team at the recent test. What was the thinking behind getting Markko involved again?

Malcolm Wilson: