[Speaking in the mid-day service] “The rally has started off well for me and I have been pushing very hard this morning. I would say I am not in full control at times but it is going OK. I know I have been a bit untidy in places, especially on the last stage which was quite slippery, but I need to drive hard here nothing else is an option. This will be the plan again this afternoon.”
Gigi Galli [Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT]:
"I am extremely happy with everything today we have had a good run and the Pirelli tyres have coped well as there has been a lot of gravel in some stages. This is only my second rally in the car and we must be happy with our performance. I have made no mistakes today except one small slide where we lost about five seconds. The car is feeling really good and tomorrow’s stages we did last year so hopefully we can maintain the pace."
[Speaking in the mid-day service] “I am very happy with how this morning went and I can’t expect much more. I am trying to enjoy this rally and the stages this morning were very fast and I like these types of conditions. We had a small overshoot at a junction on stage 4 and lost about five to eight seconds. I’m not pushing to the maximum but trying to understand the car first and find a good balance.”
Petter Solberg [Subaru WRT]:
"I’ve been driving to my pace all day today, going as fast as we can in these conditions. They’re very strange as the first few stages this morning were good and icy but this afternoon was full gravel with lots of water in the ruts. If you go one hour north there’s 1.5 metres of snow, but in the stages there’s not that much. I think tomorrow will be warmer as well so we will see how the conditions in the stages are. Grip is very very tricky so it was very tough today. We’re going flat out, so we will see what happens tomorrow and Sunday."
