Wales Rally GB : Stage Flash

Stage Flash - SS7

24 October 2009, 9:50 am

Quotes from the end of the seventh Special Stage

STAGE FLASH
Date: 24.10.2009
Day: 2 Flash No: 8
Special Stage: SS7, RHONDDA 1 Distance: 35.72 Km
Weather: Wet, low cloud
Road Conditions: Slippery, standing water in places

1: Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
"It was a great fight today but it's raining a lot and we had problems with our wipers with them sticking after we had a small branch stuck in them - we couldn't see for a long time."

3: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
"A good start but very difficult. I had a good rythmn there and I just kept on going. I'm just going flat out and seeing how it goes."

11: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills
"I had a problems with the wipers at the start - they didn't work at all. It was raining so much so I couldn't go flat out and because it gets hot inside here it made for a real problem with mist on the inside of the windscreen. We'll get the wipers looked at in Service."

2: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
"I was happy with my drive in there - it was a good run and I'm back up to third place after that. The car is moving round a lot and it gives you a lot of feel."

12: Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
"Very bad in there. This is not fun to drive and you don't want to have a reason to have an accident."

6: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud
"I try my best but it's very slippy and hard to see the road. I can't do anything more. The water is very deep in some of the ruts."

5: Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin
"The car is much better today and this is one of the hardest stages I've ever driven - my heart was in my mouth a lot of the time because my wipers stuck half way through. The grip is surprisingly good and hopefully we can get the confidence to push a little bit on the next stage."

8: Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt
"It's not easy in there. The stage is a real challenge in conditions like that. I stalled in there too which didn't help."

4: Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla
"I have all wheels working this morning, and my God I need it. The grip is quite OK but when you hit standing water you have to be careful, especially if it's lying in the braking zones."

16: Aaron Burkart/Michael Kolbach
"This is the worst rain I've seen. It is scary fast in there and the grip is good but sometimes it's nothing at all. I missed a junction two thirds of the way through and lost a bit of time but I don't know how much."

14: Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
"We are back here on SupeRally and I enjoyed that stage. These are typical Welsh conditions and I love it."

15: Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr
"So difficult. The stages are so wet and slippy. Some sections are smooth and some have standing water. The cloud is low and the visibility is quite hard in places. The car feels better this morning after yesterday."

17: Steve Perez/Paul Spooner
"I'm hoping the rain stops soon because our wipers have been playing up."

39: Eyvind Brynildsen/Denis Giraudet
"It is really tricky and hard to find the rythmn in there. It's my first time through this stage and the conditions are really bad. I don't think I do too bad I think."

46: Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson
"I don't know what to say. I tried very very hard but I'm not sure if it is enough. I just do my best and keep on going."

31: Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek
"It was crazy in there. It is hard to find the consistency because of the water in the ruts."

64: Martin Semerad/Bohuslav Ceplecha
"Good so far but the conditions are terrible. We just have to carry on and keep on track."

45: Patrik Flodin/Göran Bergsten
"It was really fun there. A really nice stage and very long. Some corners are so slippery and full of surprises but I had a really good feeling and was happy with my time."

33: Toshi Arai/Glenn MacNeall
"We have more wiper trouble, hoping to fix it before the next stage."

73: Egon Kaur/Erik Lepikson
"This stage was really tough. We had a spin and lost all our confidence after that."

50: Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini
"A good first stage. Today we try to check the pacenotes for next year. We hope to be here again. I have to speak to my sponsors."

63: Jarkko Nikara/Jarkko Kalliolepo
Reported off in stage.

65: Mark Tapper/Jeff Judd
"Very slippery but we found something overnight - the front rollbar was broken and it's been replaced and we lowered the front suspension. It's made an improvement."

67: Mattias Therman/Janne Peräla
"What a start! It was not easy but amazingly I actually enjoyed it in there."

62: Jon Williams/George Gwynn
"We changed the ECU and it's better. A tricky stage but I liked it."

68: Rene Kuipers/Erwin Mombaerts
"We had new pads fitted this morning and they didn't get a chance to bed in with weather like this."

74: Trond Lyseng/Pål Iversen
"Very very wet. It was terrible but we took it easy and stayed on the road."

61: Nico Thomas/Angelos Loizides
"It is a bit slippy and quite hard for us. This is my first rally in the mud."

77: Giuseppe Dettori/Marco Corda
"We had a little problem - it's called the rain!"

48: Hermann Gassner Junior/Katharina Wuestenhagen
"Our problem is the starting order - I have to overtake two cars which is really hard today."

38: Gábor Mayer/Robert Tagai
"We had no powet steering like yesterday."

49: Giorgio Bacco/Nicola Arena
"The stage was really hard. It seems to be that way for the whole stage."

72: Wug Utting/Max Utting
"That was really wet in there and we enjoyed it."

83: Tomaz Kaucic/Peter Zorenc
I don't know where I am in relation to the others, but that was good."

89: Tom Haines/Dai Roberts
"We left the car like it was from yesterday,. It went well and it's the same today."

88: Atte Alanen/Teemu Horkama
"We spun five kms in and lost maybe 25s."

81: Patrick Anglade/Hans-Peter Loth
"To me that a good stage, very fast and flowing."

71: Eamonn Boland/MJ Morrissey
"That was very difficult but OK."

91: Siim Plangi/Marek Sarapuy
Reported out on stage with a lost wheel.

79: Emre Yurdakul/Burak Erdener
"We had no problem with traction even though it was slippy."

85: Ahmed Al Mansoori/Killian Duffy
"Very wet but a good stage, although rough in the middle and muddy through the log sections. My confidence is up from yesterday."

78: Paulo Nobre/Edu Paula
"After the recce I just wanted to go home. I was missing my wife and my house. But with the rally car it was better. Still dangerous but good."

76: Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts
Ridiculous. I couldn't get past the car behind for 6kms. It ruined that stage for me."

84: Bader Al Jabri/Stephen McAuley
"That was good. Enjoyed it immensely."

80: Burcu Cetinkaya/Çiçek Güney
"Simply difficult."

70: Daniel Siguroarson/Andrew Sankey
"Just an amazing experience in there. Such a long stage, with so many things happening to catch you out."

95: Kit Leigh/Tim Leigh
"We changed the hub and reset the tracking this morning and the car is OK now."

86: Majed Al Shamsi/Allan Harryman
Arrived at the stop point with all glass missing. Big roll in stage. "I missed a note and went straight on and we went over a number of times. I think we can get back to service."

90: Sander Pärn/Ken Järveoja
Arrived with no front bumper. "We had to pass several cars and in the rain and mist I hit one of them in the back."

87: Tom Cave/Craig Parry
"It was tough, and we were trying very hard. I am looking to improve my road position."

93: Jean-Thierry Vacheron/Sylvain Trombert
"It was awful and not good for me at my age."

82: Davide Catania/Antonello Moncada
"Still very hard for us, and our brake are not good. I don't have experience in the mud and it's hard to get traction."

94: Kenneth Treacy/Martin Comerford
"That was desperate in there. We changed a driveshaft overnight but nothing could prepare us for that."

LAND ROVER CHALLENGE

206: Alan Paramore/Gari Hazelby
"With these tyres you have to keep it out the ruts otherwise it drags you around. And this old girl is a bit top heavy so it can get a bit exciting."

201: Ewen Christie/Ross Cookman
"That was very good although it's like a Turkish bath in here because the heater matrix isn't working and there's more water on the inside than on the outside,"

202: Steve Partridge/Adam Entwhistle
"It was quite challenging. We had a couple of moments and seem to be jumping and bumping quite high on the bends. It was hard to take those corners when you're up in the air."

205: Duncan Lilwall/Craig Teasdale
"Very good, that was ace. These conditions suit a Land Rover but it's very hard work in the slippery ruts."

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

Further Information

Audience Statistics