J-ML:
I am very pleased. Now we climb to third on the Drivers' Championship and we got some very important points for the Manufacturers'. The first half of the year has been up and down; the speed was good, but there were a little too many mistakes. We need to work with the consistent level and get more victories.
Q:
The first half of the season in a works team with some great results – has it lived up to your expectations?
Miikka Antilla:
Already last year we were in the
Stobart team, we were with professionals in a proper car. The only difference this year is that we have proper tests. This is the biggest change and not so many days at home!
Q:
How have you seen Jari-Matti improve this year?
MA:
That comes with the kilometres we have done in testing. In one day of the test, you can do 250 kilometres. Doing that in a World Rally Car cannot make you go the wrong way.
Q:
Seb, third overall at the end of the rally. That final stage was incredibly exciting for us all to watch. At the service earlier, you seemed resigned for third, but you were chasing down the Ford boys on the final stage, what made you push on that stage?
Sebastien Loeb:
We all knew it will be difficult for the tyres in the stage. My position, I was 25 seconds behind Mikko and 13 behind Jari-Matti, I had to try. It worked well in the start of the stage, but in the middle I feel it's too much for the tyres and we destroyed them. It's the same for everybody. We had to give up. I only had one spare wheel. We wanted to be light. For me it was really important not to have two punctures because I wanted to make it back to the finish. So I understood that it's finished and I drove to the end.
Q:
When we had a finish like this, would it be good to finish with a super special instead?
SL:
Sometimes the long stage is just before the super special, so the final super special will be just for fun. If the gap is more than five seconds then it's not important in the super special.
Q:
It's been a tough event for you having to sweep the road clear on two days, the Ford boys played tactics on Friday night to ensure that. How did that make you feel?
SL:
It feels like, for sure, it's not nice to clean the road, but I think if you look at the tactics it's really good. They are first and second. The regulation is not completely right. For the sport it's not so nice to see that, but it's normal for Ford to use it. Everybody is talking about the tactics - it would be nice to talk about the speed. Something is a bit wrong. In this race, Ford played it well and we lost. It's normal.
