Leg: 1
Flash No: 7
Special Stage: SS6 Rheola 2
Distance: 27.91Km
Weather: Heavy rain, fog
Road Conditions: Slippy, muddy, wet

1: Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
“I’ve had a major problem with my lights. In some parts of the stage my fog lights didn’t work, usually in the bits with fog. I had full lights on and that was all. That’s why I dropped some time to Marcus.”

2: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
“The conditions are very difficult, but it’s all good experience for me.”

3: Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen
“I don’t know who I’m battling with – the other drivers or the weather. It’s all about staying on the road at the moment, and that’s hard enough. In this event anything can happen – the key is to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.”

4: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
“The conditions were terrible. I was unable to see even on the straights. I couldn’t see a thing. For me it’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it. You just can’t see at all.”

5: Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor
“It is unbelievable in there. We are having to deal with everything: mud, fog and rain. The people who come out of there will be very happy.”

7: Petter Solberg/Philip Mills
“It’s all part of the fun, these conditions. I’m not setting a goal – just seeing what happens tomorrow.”

8: Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot
“My tennis forehand is better than my driving at the moment. I’ve been having real problems, and they’re not helped by the screen fogging up in the last few stages.”

9: Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Antilla
I had to stop maybe 20 times in the stage to clear my windscreen. We went off into a hole and hit some logs, causing damage to the front and side of the car. We will have to SupeRally tomorrow now.”

10: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerund
 “I couldn’t see a thing. I don’t know what the problem is. We stopped four or five times in the stage to clean the windscreen. We were using a hat on the end of a stick to clean the fog inside the car.”

11: Luis Perez Companc/Jose Maria Volta
“I actually stopped in the stage to get my bearings, the conditions were so bad.”

12: Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc
“I’ve had problems with fog and low cloud all day. You don’t learn in these sorts of conditions, you just drive as best you can.”

16: Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr
“It’s quite dangerous in there to be honest. The fog got worse as we went through the stage and then we caught Henning, who was stopping. We had a huge slide as we went by him. He was slowing and we just couldn’t see him.”

17: Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo
“I have never seen conditions like it.”

18: Jan Kopecky/Filip Schovanek
“I’m glad to get out and back to service tonight. The weather is ruining everything.”

20: Mads Ostberg/Ole Kristian Unnerud
“It’s madness out there. You cannot see one metre in front of you.”

21: Andreas Mikkelson/Ola Floene
“That’s the worst stages I’ve ever been through. Still, it was good. Yes, I’m enjoying it. I was a little scared at the beginning of the stage, but I got through. I just couldn’t see beyond the end of the front bumper.”

24: Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior
“It’s a bit of a job in there because of the fog. That stage was the worst of the day. I tried full lights and it just reflected off the fog, so I tried dipped lights and I couldn’t see a thing. You have to trust your notes absolutely. It’s hard even going in a straight line.”

34: Mark Higgins/Scott Martin
“We’ve had a puncture on each of the last two stages. The first was after 12km of the stage, and the second 3km from the end of the stage. We had caught and overtaken the car in front, but when he recaught us he kept his beam on full.”

36: Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula
“You have to keep your driving cool when you are in conditions as testing as these.”

45: Mirco Baldacci/Giovani Agnese
“The car coped really well with the conditions.”

47: Andreas Aigner/Klaus Wicha
“It’s really difficult. It’s so strange – sometime the fog lights help, sometimes they don’t. We are driving blind for a long time, and sometimes you have to stop to find where you are going. I’m just glad to finish.”