"I'm very pleased with our result – it goes to show that consistency pays! We were able to manage our rally and the way in which we drove the car very well," he noted. "The C2 Super 1600 proved itself to be very competitive and resisted the heat very well, just as we had to.
"The last leg was not at all easy. On the longest stage we had no grip at all and the important thing was to keep up the right rhythm in order to complete the 135 competitive kilometres of the day. This second place is the result of some excellent work from our team, and we sincerely hope to repeat it on the events that are still to come."
Renault Clio R3 man Gilles Schammel completed the top three, albeit another 2.5 minutes further back: "This is incredible for us. The last stage was the longest of my career - it felt like it was never going to end," he stated.
"We had a few problems during the rally but in the end it was good - it's our first J-WRC event of the season so to get six points here is a great start to the season. The car is very good even though on gravel the difference with the S1600 is very big."
Florian Niegel was next up in fourth and he turned in a faultless drive on his first ever round in the JWRC and the first for the '
Suzuki Rallye Junior Team Germany'.
"I am so happy to get to the end of this event. I can't tell you how tough it has been. The sun and the heat have been incredible," he noted. "The car has worked so hard and been really reliable. I wasn't going to push too hard this morning. I didn't want to make any mistakes.
"Really, with the finish and points on my first time out in sight, I did not want to make any mistakes with the car, but to be able to push a bit harder and get into fourth on the final stage was amazing."
Of the rest Renault Clio runners locked out the remaining points' positions, with Stefano Albertini and Simone Bertolotti fifth and sixth, split by less than 20 seconds, followed by Andrea Cortinovis and Milos Komljenovic.
![Sebastien Ogier (FRA) / Julien Ingrassia (FRA), Citroen C2 S1600 [Junior WRC]. Jordan Rally, April 24-27th 2008.](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/433667.jpg)
