"We managed to move ahead after SS10. However, along with the team, we worked out that 4.2s wasn't a big enough lead to take into the final day if we were first on the road. We regretfully let our rivals pass us again, although that's not really my vision of rallying which should be about driving faster than the others and not having to lift: There are nonetheless rules we have to exploit. We'll see tomorrow whether we made the right choice."
Daniel Sordo [Citroen Total WRT]:
"Running fourth on the road today was an advantage. It was nice to see my times get closer to those of the front-runners. The gap is coming down, although I continue to lose time on the slower, more technical portions because I still lack experience of this event. However, if I compare my times with those I posted here in 2007, I can see that I am improving, and that is very encouraging. This afternoon's two stages went very well for us. We really enjoyed ourselves after making some small modifications to the set-up of our C4. I pushed as hard as I could and that paid off. We will now keep a close eye on the scrap that's going on in front of us. It could all work out in our favour…"
Francois Duval [Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT]:
“I have been learning the car a lot more today and things have gone OK without any problems. The stages were a lot faster which I prefer and I had a much better feeling especially on the two long stages this afternoon. I used too much left-foot braking in the last 10 kilometres of the long stage this morning and lost the front brakes but apart from this the car has been going good and we haven’t made any mistakes. I am in a good position and I want to finish the rally tomorrow because I can take a lot of experience, with the car, from this event.”
Urmo Aava [PH Sport-Citroen C4 WRC]:
[No Quote]
Petter Solberg [Subaru WRT]:
“The car was a lot better than yesterday, but it’s been another tough day. A lot of the stages were very narrow, and when you struggle for confidence it really shows in the times. We made some adjustments to the dampers for the last stage and it wasn’t bad, but we still have more work to do. I’m just driving, saying what I feel, and letting the engineers work on the car and come up with the ideas. We’re just lacking overall grip here, that’s what we need to find. On the fast and flat stuff, like the last stage, we’re not bad, but on the twisty it’s very difficult to push and that’s where we’re losing time.”
Per-Gunnar Andersson [Suzuki WRT]:
"I am in the points and am really happy for that. I'm not going to take any risks to try and catch the car ahead. At the same time, I have a nice gap to the car behind. This morning was quite hard work, though. The stages were so full of gravel, it was hard to find a line and to get any grip. We tried to soften the car through the morning. That helps with the traction, but it means the car loses precision in the faster sections. For the afternoon, where the stages were faster, we stiffened the roll bars, which worked quite well. The confidence was not so bad this afternoon."
Toni Gardemeister [Suzuki WRT]:
"This morning was okay for the first two stages. It was slippery, worse than yesterday - there was more gravel around. But then we had the brake trouble in the third stage, caused by a loss of the brake fluid, which unfortunately also affected the clutch. The afternoon was good again. I had driven these stages before and like them, they're nice and quick, like the traditional Rally New Zealand roads."
