Khalid Al Qassimi [BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT]:
"This has been an incredibly difficult rally for me, the first time on snow and ice. It was made even harder as in places, we were running on gravel and this obviously isn’t the ideal situation for the studded tyres. I was quite pleased with my pace as the experience grew, as I saw myself becoming closer to the front-runners, in terms of speed. However, with the mistakes I made yesterday and the time lost when we went off the road, it’s a shame the result isn’t better.
"Again I have to express my thanks to the team for the hard work they carried out this weekend, in making sure that my Ford Focus RS was in perfect health at all times. I also have to thank the Swedish rally fans. Not only did they welcome me to their country, they also kept me in the rally when they helped to get the car back on the road twice yesterday. My next event is the Jordan Rally, which for the first time in my WRC programme, I will feel at home in the conditions. I won the event last year as part of the
FIA Middle East Rally Championship program with Team Abu Dhabi, so I hope that I am able to demonstrate what pace I can set in familiar terrain."
Notable retirements:
Per-Gunnar Andersson [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from event in SS4 - engine]
"This is not what I was hoping from my home rally, but with any new car you have to accept that problems can occur. This was only my second event with the car and I’m happy with the pace we were able to show, which I think was good enough to finish in the points. Now we have to get to the bottom of what happened in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again - this is all part of the learning process."
![Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07. Swedish Rally. February 7-10 2008. [PIC CREDIT: FORD / worldrallypics.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405528.jpg)
