"That's so frustrating! To get through all of the day's stages, but then not to be able to get back to service is such bad news. The morning was tough, but we didn't have any major problems. On the second stage, I tried to shut my door, but it wouldn't close properly. This was 10 seconds before we were due to start the stage, so in the end, I just closed it as best I could and got on with it. Unfortunately, this meant I hadn't put the car into launch mode for the start and it was playing on my mind a little bit, wondering if the door was going to fly open on the first corner. After that, it was just the changing grip level which caught my attention. I was quite surprised, I thought it would be more constant, but we were finding good grip in the braking area, but as soon as I turned into the corner it was loose again. I lost about 10 seconds with the spin in stage four. The car started to slide and I thought it was going to be set-up nicely for the corner, but as soon as I leaned on the car in the corner, the back came around.
"The afternoon was really tough, though. There were a lot more rocks out in the road second time around and with the damper broken, it was hard work for the car. The problem with the clutch didn't come until the end of the stage (SS8). We'd completed the stage and then tried to drive off up the road, but there was nothing [from the clutch]. There was a steep uphill section straight after the stage, so there was no chance of us getting up there. It's so frustrating, but we'll get the car sorted tonight and make another start tomorrow."
Sebastien Loeb [Citroen Total WRT]: [retired from day 2 after SS11 – head-on collision with Rautenbach]
"We decided to push hard this morning to try to move into the lead. Our Citroën C4 WRC was very competitive and I was feeling particularly comfortable. The road section between the end of SS11 and the start of the following test though was very narrow and there were lots of places where we couldn't see much of the road. Coming out of one such corner, we were unable to avoid running into another competitor coming in the opposite direction. It really is an enormous shame: we were in a good position with regard to both championships, but this is only the fifth round of the season and such a lot that can still happen."
Conrad Rautenbach [PH Sport-Citroen C4 WRC]: [retired from day 2 after SS10 - head-on collision with Loeb]
"I'm really sorry for Sebastien [Loeb] and for
Citroen, both of whom are fighting to win this event and the championship. Sebastien had pushed really hard to get into a good position and to build a good lead. It's really unfortunate. I'm pretty fed-up myself – I'm out of day two as well. It was an accident, nobody's fault."
Petter Solberg [Subaru WRT]: [retired from day 2 in SS16 - crashed]
"We had so much go wrong today. We knew we had a brake caliper leaking, and in the last stage I braked and the car just didn’t slow down enough. It’s so, so frustrating and just boring, you know. I want to be able to push and drive properly but we just haven’t been able to this weekend."
Team principals:
Olivier Quesnel [Citroen Total WRT - team principal]:
"I think we've seen it all since the beginning of the year. Up to the end of SS11, everything was going so smoothly for us. We had both our two cars in first and second places, Sébastien had passed Dani and he was beginning to pull out a gap. He was totally in control of the situation - and then the accident happened. It's so hard to swallow and we went from a high to a big, big low in a matter of seconds. But that's motor sport; you've just got to accept it."
