"Okay, we had some de-laminations and things like that, but the tyres really did have to work hard on this event - and to have no punctures is amazing. The surface was hard to read all of the time, especially on Sunday, where I found the roads a bit more slippery than expected.
"The big thing I take from here is more confidence. Our times have been getting quicker and quicker through the weekend and this is coming from the set-up evolving to exactly what we want. As I get to know and predict what the car's doing, so the confidence is coming and coming. One small problem is that the more you get from the car, the more you want."
Asked if he had any problems, he noted that the only issue was on day one: "We didn't have any technical problems with the car at all in Turkey, but the only minor thing was an over-heating issue," he explained. "The PH Sport team worked really hard to get this sorted and a change of some parts solved it on Saturday. As you will know, though, one way to get rid of the heat out of the engine bay is to put the heater on in the car.
"When it's already close to 40 degrees outside – and a lot hotter than that inside the car, whacking the heater up on full is not really what you need! David [Senior - my co-driver] and I felt like we were sitting in a sauna in some of the stages. It was so hot, just incredible. You can feel that kind of heat zapping your energy, but it's for those kind of times that I do so much training."
Rautenbach's focus now shifts to the ninth round in the World Rally Championship and prior to that he will do the South Estonian Rally in July, as a 'test' for the Rally Finland.
"Having enjoyed driving the car so much, I just can't wait for the next rally in Finland in August," he added. "In fact, our next event is in Estonia – a test for Finland. That's going to be great. We can go there with no pressure and test the car under rally conditions. That's just what I need. Finland is a big confidence rally and an event like this is just what I needed before we get to Jyvaskyla."
