"It's annoying when your young team-mate is beating you, and it wasn't the car or my road position that was the reason why Jari-Matti is so far ahead of me. He's driven very well. The time gap between myself and Loeb is what I expected but the difference to Jari-Matti is far more than I thought. I need to find more speed tomorrow. This morning's conditions were as I expected. It was difficult in the braking areas and the loose gravel meant there was no traction accelerating out of the bends."
Henning Solberg [Munchi’s Ford WRT]:
"The afternoon has been okay. My times are not so bad but I could have done better if there hadn’t been so much dust in the car."
Matthew Wilson [Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT]:
"The speed this morning was very good for us despite being held up in Toni’s dust on stage 2 where we lost around 50 seconds. The first two in the afternoon weren’t the best for me because the roads had cleared up which offered more grip that I didn’t quite use to full effect. The final proper stage before the super specials was really good though and had if it not been for a couple of silly little mistakes we would have been well under a second a kilometre off the fastest guys. This was a good way to finish the day as we head into tomorrow which I know will be another challenging leg. We had a small problem with the ignition coil at the end of the final super special but my mechanics did a super job in flexi service to bring the Focus back as good as new for tomorrow."
Federico Villagra [Munchi’s Ford WRT]:
"All is okay. We are still discovering the rally but having a lot of fun! The stages are very nice."
Sebastien Ogier [Citroen C2 S1600 - JWRC]:
"At the start of the day, we experienced a small problem. The spare wheel strap was broken, so we had to change it on the road section on the way to the first stage. Then at the end of that first stage we had a front-left puncture. On the following stages we decided to slow down slightly in order to avoid another puncture, and that worked well for us. We’re pleased to have set nearly all the fastest times on our first rally so far, but we’re keeping our feet firmly on the ground. We cannot take anything for granted, and the finish is not until Sunday."
Jaan Molder [Suzuki Swift S1600 - JWRC]:
"It's been a very good day for us with no problems at all. We only had a very minor thing with the alternator on a hairpin in SS6. Apart from that I've just been concentrating on keeping a clean and tidy line. The Swift feels very good to drive, and it's clearly had some more development compared to the car I drove last year."
Michal Kosciuszko [Suzuki Swift S1600 – JWRC]:
"I drove carefully today; maybe a bit too carefully in places. Everything went well but I didn't really feel at ease in SS2, which was repeated as SS5. Maybe my notes were not quite right or something like that. The stages are very beautiful and I'm really enjoying them but I need to push a bit harder tomorrow."
