Wales Rally GB : Stage Flash

Stage Flash - SS6

23 October 2009, 5:47 pm

Quotes from the end of the sixth Special Stage

STAGE FLASH
Date: 23.10.2009
Day: 1 Flash No:
Special Stage: SS6, MYHERIN 2 Distance: 27.88 Km
Weather: Dry with some cloud
Road Conditions: Smooth but slippery in parts.

1: Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
"I thought I was much more slower than that, I found no grip in the middle of the stage but I was determined to be first on the road tomorrow."

3: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
"We are trying to fight back. It is getting very exciting and it was slippy towards the end when the rain started falling. It looks set for a good fight tomorrow."

2: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
"The rain made it difficult towards the end but I am happy with my pace. We are having a big battle with Petter but the other two have their own pace."

4: Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla
"It has been a character building day. It has been very frustrating what happened on the first stage wiped out our chance of victory. We just have to accept it and carry on."

11: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills
"Very very happy. It has been hard but we have been getting better all day and we are really close to the two in front of us. They are fighting for the World Championship, but we are very happy to be in third."

6: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud
"We still have a misfire which comes and goes. We hope we can fix it for tomorrow."

5: Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin
"Very frustrating. The car doesn't have the traction out of the slower corners."

12: Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
Damaged rear passenger side due to a puncture. "The suspension seems OK and we are changing the tyre now."

17: Steve Perez/Paul Spooner
"My God the pace is hot, hot, hot! The Cambrian last week set us up nicely and I notice others here who did the rally did well today too."

47: Armindo Araújo/Miguel Ramalho
"More or less OK. In the penultimate stage today we had overheating problems and now we don't have full power. But that's why we are here - to develop the Evo X."

31: Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek
"I am trying to drive as fast as possible and so far it is going OK."

46: Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson
"We lost intercom in last stage so could not hear anything. It was not good"

16: Aaron Burkart/Michael Kolbach
"The second loop was quite rough but less exciting this time. We had a small off this morning but we are very happy. Good fun!"

8: Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt
"This morning I wasn't keen on this rally but maybe I was a bit grumpy. It is really challenging and always hard. You can be sure tomorrow will be interesting."

39: Eyvind Brynildsen/Denis Giraudet
"Unbelievable day. We are flying through the forest!"

33: Toshi Arai/Glenn MacNeall
"It has been a hard day with stages that are new to me. We have lost some time today."

63: Jarkko Nikara/Jarkko Kalliolepo
"We have an understeering problem and can't push any harder."

37: Fréderic Sauvan/Sebastien Capanna
"We are having an OK day but we are still fighting the slippiness"

61: Nico Thomas/Angelos Loizides
"I don't know what happened in there but we lost power in the stage. We are still in the rally and hope to get to Service and fix whatever the problem is

38: Gábor Mayer/Robert Tagai
"We have no power steering and the engine power is low. My arms are really aching now."

32: Bernardo Sousa/Jorge Carvalho
"Very hard day. The engine is fading and I can't find neutral or reverse. I think it's a clutch problem. It is the same problem I have had on all rallies this season."

64: Martin Semerad/Bohuslav Ceplecha
"I damaged the front left of the car by hitting a hole on the inside of a corner and am not sure how much damage we have done."

65: Mark Tapper/Jeff Judd
"Unfortunately we had a small off on the first corner of SS4 and have been struggling for grip all day."

66: Dennis Kuipers/Kees Hagman
"Fantastic! Enjoying it here. We start to push harder and hope to go quicker tomorrow."

62: Jon Williams/George Gwynn
"Frustrated. We blew a turbo yesterday and the car doesn't seem as good as it was. I am still learning the car."

67: Mattias Therman/Janne Peräla
"We have struggled this morning and I am not happy to push any harder yet as I am still discovering my limuts."

68: Rene Kuipers/Erwin Mombaerts
"We dropped two seconds on this morning's time and will have to be more careful tomorrow."

71: Eamonn Boland/MJ Morrissey
"The last two stages were better, especially Myherin. IT is much easier to drive now."

72: Wug Utting/Max Utting
"It has been more fun here than in a circus! All was fine except the puncture this morning. We are here to enjoy ourselves."

73: Egon Kaur/Erik Lepikson
"SS4 was very rough but this has been very nice second time through."

74: Trond Lyseng/Pål Iversen
"We took it easy this morning and we got better this afternoon. If it is dry tomorrow we will try and push harder."

77: Giuseppe Dettori/Marco Corda
"There is a problem with the car, which started on the last stage. We are not sure but it could be a broken manifold."

76: Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts
Stopped on stage with a fuel pump problem, lost six minutes.

81: Patrick Anglade/Hans-Peter Loth
"Very good, 16s faster than this morning.Looks like we are in the lead with Craig having a problem. I look forward to the rain tomorrow!"

87: Tom Cave/Craig Parry
"We are pushing back now but there is a long way to go after our roll."

91: Siim Plangi/Marek Sarapuy
"We were slow this morning but we are pushing on this afternoon."

95: Kit Leigh/Tim Leigh
The last couple of miles we had trouble with our pacenotes - just lack of concentration."

80: Burcu Cetinkaya/Çiçek Güney
"I have not been as fast as I wanted this year but it's better than last year's performance! I am still getting used to the car."

88: Atte Alanen/Teemu Horkama
"Everything is fine and it is good to make it through the day. Tomorrow the tactics will be the same. I don't care about the rain - we are used to it in Slovenia."

84: Bader Al Jabri/Stephen McAuley
"Amazing! Just two days left now. I am not used to the rain!"

85: Ahmed Al Mansoori/Killian Duffy
"My first time rallying in such wet weather and I am slowly getting my confidence up and getting more on the pace as a result."

82: Davide Catania/Antonello Moncada
"It has been a miserable day and we have lost a lot of time by having to use the engine to slow the car."

86: Majed Al Shamsi/Allan Harryman
"It is exciting and we are glad to finish the first day. IT is our last rally of the season and we will be going for it tomorrow."

89: Tom Haines/Dai Roberts
"Of the six rallies I have done so far this has been the most enjoyable. I think I am going quicker than this morning."

92: Mattei Loic/Julien Vial
"It has been hard because it feels like something is broken at the back since the start of SS6."

94: Kenneth Treacy/Martin Comerford
"We haven't had many problems today and although I don't look forward to the rain tomorrow we've had a crack today."

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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