[Speaking in the mid-day service] "It was a great, great feeling to win the Superspecial last night and lead the rally! We are focusing on today though so we are not thinking about that. We always knew today would be tough though and we are losing a bit of time with the grip, but we are still on the way to our target for this rally so this morning has been ok for us. The stages are a little bit icy then a little bit of gravel, so grip is very hard. We’ve seen a few mistakes and cars going off the road – it’s so easy to do here. So we stick to our plan and drive our own rally. This afternoon the second passes will be very tricky as they are almost all gravel and there will be big ruts from all the cars that ran after us, but we will keep fighting and see."
Mads Ostberg [Adapta Subaru Impreza WRC]:
"We are very happy to end the day in sixth. We had some problems in the morning, but our times are good. We will see tomorrow if we can push and catch Petter now."
Matthew Wilson [Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT]:
"Seventh is a great position to be in after day 1 and our performance today has been really positive. We started off well on the first stage this morning which gave me more confidence for the rest of today. The car has felt good with no problems at all and we have maintained a constant safe pace all day. I’m happy to be safely inside the points."
[Speaking in the mid-day service] “I am pleased with the first few stages this morning and the only problem we had was with the intercom on Scott’s helmet halfway through stage 3 I just couldn’t hear the notes at all. After the stage we had to swap helmets which solved the problem. The last stage was very slippery and we had a small overshoot. The car feels good everything is comfortable and I feel we have made a positive start.”
Toni Gardemeister [Suzuki WRT]:
"The road conditions have been far from easy but we have been learning more with every kilometre and this is all useful knowledge for the future. After we softened the suspension the car felt better, but then we had the hydraulic problem. I’m quite happy to be in eighth place at the end of the first day, as we are now in a strong position to improve from here."
Khalid Al Qassimi [BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT]:
"Today was an unbelievably tricky day. We began by taking things very carefully, as it would have been all too easy to make a mistake that would have stopped our rally. We had a few small moments but nothing too serious. For me, there is no pressure as I am here to learn and that is exactly what I plan to do. I feel that I learn more with every corner and with this experience comes the ability and confidence to push harder when I feel comfortable.
