"I'm not too concerned about the way we're using the tyres. Having come from the Junior World Rally Championship, one of the things driving a reasonably powerful front-wheel-drive car teaches you is to look after your tyres. On every gravel rally we did in the
Citroen C2, we could have scrubbed the fronts in no time. Juniors has, actually, been a really good grounding for learning to look after all aspects of the car, but I think maybe I have been looking after this C4 WRC a bit too much.
"In Sardinia I was starting to give it a bit more abuse and starting to use the car properly. When I first drove the C4 in Mexico, I'd never have believed what we were doing with the car four rallies later – I simply didn't think the car would take it. It's things like really chopping through the corners and putting the car off the road if the line takes you there. In this car, you see a rock on the line and you go straight over it. The Pirelli tyres and the suspension on a modern World Rally Car are just incredible. It really is a different world in a World Rally Car.
"Driving the car as hard as you need to get the times out of it doesn't always feel that nice; there's not much margin for mechanical sympathy. The car needs to know who's boss. I'm learning more about that all of the time and as every event passes and I've spent longer in the car, I feel more confident.
"What would be great in Greece is three days of consistent performance from the car. We struggled a bit with that in Sardinia. But, on the last day [in Sardinia] I was in a rhythm and feeling good. If we can put together three Sardinian Sundays on the Acropolis, that would suit me fine – and it would give us the chance to be right up there."
