"It's been a taxing day but it's behind us now. Everyone in the Citroën team did a remarkable job to keep clear of all the potential pitfalls and to enable us to figure in first and second places this evening. Both crews put in superb runs and showed how competitive the C4 is. They are currently ahead of Marcus Grönholm which is a good thing in terms of the fight for the championship. I still prefer to be cautious, though, because we're not even halfway into the event yet."
Malcolm Wilson [BP Ford WRT - team director]:
"We knew the penultimate stage was dry and there was a risk of showers on the final test. We took a gamble, knowing that if the last stage stayed dry we would make a big time gain, and if not we would not lose position. If we had opted for the same set-up as Loeb we would have gained no time."
Richard Taylor [Subaru WRT - managing director]:
"Following our recent good pace on asphalt in Germany and in tests here in Spain, today has been disappointing for the team. The results have not been what we expected, so tonight we will check all our data very carefully and start tomorrow afresh with a view to getting all our drivers higher up the leaderboard.”
Malcolm Wilson [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT - team boss]:
“It's been a great performance from Jari-Matti today and indeed from all the Stobart team. We have all three cars in the top eleven places and they have had a strong first day in this tough event. All this is after a very limited amount of testing on tarmac this year and the drivers have adapted well to extremely difficult surfaces and weather conditions that this rally has already produced. They have driven with their heads, made sensible decisions with tyres choices and learnt how to cope with the tricky surfaces. It's been a great team start and a solid foundation that they can build upon tomorrow.”
