Wales Rally GB : Stage Flash

Stage Flash - SS4

23 October 2009, 3:40 pm

Quotes from the end of the fourth Special Stage

STAGE FLASH
Date: 23.10.2009
Day: 1 Flash No:
Special Stage: SS4, HAFREN 2 Distance: 32.14 Km
Weather: Dry with some cloud
Road Conditions: Smooth but slippery in parts. A faster stage this afternoon but rutted in places

3: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
"I am trying as hard as I can. It's a bit drier but much slippier than this morning but hopefully I can keep the pace up this afternoon and fight back."

1: Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
"I couldn't have done better but it is getting very slippy in there. The track is a lot worse than this morning now and the car is understeering in some corners."

2: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
"It is much slippier than this morning with some stones on the surface. But these are typical conditions for this rally, y'know."

4: Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla
"We have got full brakes now but only three driveshafts which makes it difficult."

11: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills
"It's not bad, I am quite happy despite a few mistakes but I am happy with my times. It's all about the little details and we have more to come this afternoon. This is definitely the way forward now."

6: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud
"The stage is OK but I am driving my best. There is something wrong with the engine - maybe electrics not spark plugs."

5: Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin
The car is absolutely undriveable. We have understeer in one corner and snap oversteer in the next. It is impossible to drive. Maybe we need to change the gearbox."

8: Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt
"Everything is OK and it's drier now with some grip. We are still battling with understeer after changing some settings this morning but it's better than it was. So far so good, although there is still a long way to go."

12: Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
"Not bad, but still slippery. I tried to do my best in the conditions."

16: Aaron Burkart/Michael Kolbach
"We hit a big rock and I hurt my hand a little bit. But the car is OK and that is the main thing."

17: Steve Perez/Paul Spooner
"I prefer this afternoon's run. It's drier now and that suits me."

47: Armindo Araújo/Miguel Ramalho
"We have some real problems with the electronics. The car seems to run on either full throttle or nothing and ther water temp is sky high."

31: Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek
"It was more slippery than in the morning despite the weather being better."

46: Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson
"It was good and I am finding a better feeling with the car. We have made some small changes and there is more grip onm the front."

39: Eyvind Brynildsen/Denis Giraudet
"It was extremely slippery in there but all is OK and the car is perfect. The driver is trying to do the same."

33: Toshi Arai/Glenn MacNeall
"That was a lot drier this time and but car seems a lot better in the wet."

63: Jarkko Nikara/Jarkko Kalliolepo
"I lost some time with a spin at a hairpin but we will keep on pushing."

37: Fréderic Sauvan/Sebastien Capanna
"We had a half spin right at the finish and I couldn't restart on the ignition. This is only my fourth rally in this car and it is a hard training ground."

65: Mark Tapper/Jeff Judd
"We went off at that last corner. Nightmare!"

32: Bernardo Sousa/Jorge Carvalho
"The clutch isn't working..."

64: Martin Semerad/Bohuslav Ceplecha
"It was a little better this time. We made some adjustments on the rear which improved things. Just need to improve my confidenmce."

40: Dave Weston/Ieuan Thomas
"The boost pipe came off and we lost some time in there."

38: Gábor Mayer/Robert Tagai
"I don't understand what I'm doing here. Horrible."

61: Nico Thomas/Angelos Loizides
"Nice and neat through there, we are improving our pace but we want to keep the car in one piece."

62: Jon Williams/George Gwynn
"We are pacing ourselves now. It's a long rally and we're taking things smoothly and bit by bit."

66: Dennis Kuipers/Kees Hagman
"Fabulous! We are 13s quicker but there is more to come. I can definitely go faster."

62: Jon Williams/George Gwynn
"That was definitely better and warmer due to it being drier. But where it is muddy it's still very slippy and we have been pushing a little bit more."

68: Rene Kuipers/Erwin Mombaerts
"That was very good, a nice stage, much drier and more predictable."

71: Eamonn Boland/MJ Morrissey
"Not too good because the brakes have gone. They burnt our halfway through the stage..."

69: Peter Stephenson/Jim Burns
"Fine so far, we had a small problem with the car - the back is out of alignment."

72: Wug Utting/Max Utting
"That built up a sweat!"

73: Egon Kaur/Erik Lepikson
"I was stuck behind Stephenson for three kms. It was like Rallycross."

70: Daniel Siguroarson/Andrew Sankey
The exhaust is hanging down and the car is full of fumes. This is not good and we're both suffering."

74: Trond Lyseng/Pål Iversen
"That was better, and I enjoyed it a lot more in the dry."

76: Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts
"We are leading by a minute now but there is no need to push too hard."

77: Giuseppe Dettori/Marco Corda
"At this moment we have no problems so thats good."

49: Giorgio Bacco/Nicola Arena
"All OK

78: Paulo Nobre/Edu Paula
"It is good! We go better second time through and feel a bit more confident. It takes a while to get confident with the car."

80: Burcu Cetinkaya/Çiçek Güney
"It's my first rally in this car and we are still trying to bed outraselves in

81: Patrick Anglade/Hans-Peter Loth
"These WRC cars destroy the roads so it was a lot rougher this time through."

84: Bader Al Jabri/Stephen McAuley
"No problems with the car, the stage was better that time."

85: Ahmed Al Mansoori/Killian Duffy
"I lost a lot of time behind the car which was not good news."

86: Majed Al Shamsi/Allan Harryman
"That was very rough. At one point I thought I had a puncture but it was just the road being so rough."

79: Emre Yurdakul/Burak Erdener
"Much better. The roads are OK and we changed the set up on the suspension which is now softer."

83: Tomaz Kaucic/Peter Zorenc
"As we get used to the car the road is getting worse and worse but we are enjoying it."

82: Davide Catania/Antonello Moncada
"I am still having problems with the brakes. I think the pads are glazed or there is oil in the system."

88: Atte Alanen/Teemu Horkama
"The car is still understeering."

89: Tom Haines/Dai Roberts
"We are getting better on each stage."

92: Mattei Loic/Julien Vial
"That was really hard and I am not sure we are enjoying ourselves at the moment.

93: Jean-Thierry Vacheron/Sylvain Trombert
"We had a little moment at a very quick right hander, but got away with it. Apart from that no problem at the moment."

94: Kenneth Treacy/Martin Comerford
"We are enjoying it immensely."

95: Kit Leigh/Tim Leigh
"We had a puncture right at the start which cost us five minutes."

Sebastien Loeb has won Rallye Monte-Carlo for a sixth time following a dominant performance behind the wheel of the Citroen DS3 WRC he shares with Monegasque co-driver Daniel Elena.

Of the 74 starters who began Wales Rally GB in Llandudno on Thursday 10th November, 40 were classified at the end of the four-day,1860 kms rally which featured 23 timed special stages as it wound its way from the North coast to the ceremonial finish in Cardiff.

As this year's Wales Rally GB - the final and deciding round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship - draws to a close, Business Minister, Edwina Hart has announced a funding package of £1.4 million for the 2012 event.

Useful Contacts

Welsh Government

World Rally Championship

Information on Cardiff

Conwy and Llandudno

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