STAGE FLASH
Date: 24.10.2009
Day: 2 Flash No: 10
Special Stage: SS9, HALFWAY 1 Distance: 18.37 Km
Weather: Wet, cloud, strong winds
Road Conditions: Slippery, standing water in places
1: Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
"That was really good. I thought I made a mistake somewhere but I was flat out. There is a lot of grip compared to yesterday. So far everything is OK. I didn't know if Hirvonen had made a mistake, I'm driving flat out but the gap has been even better than I thought."
3: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
"Something is wrong, I'm not sure what. It's just not happening for me; the times aren't there. In some places it feels like I am oversteering. I need to get this checked in Service."
11: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills
"The first stage was impossible with the wipers but this was better. We just have to push on and try to make some time up. I am really pushing for a podium place."
2: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
"At the moment I like it more than yesterday. No problems in the stage and so far everything is OK."
12: Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
"Seb is very fast for sure. Maybe with the conditions it is better to be first on the road. We are fighting as best we can."
6: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud
"The wipers stopped again 10kms into that stage. I try my best, what more can I do?!"
5: Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin
"It was awful. Would have been lovely if the weather had been better. The standing water on the inside of the bends throws you out a bit."
8: Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt
"The wipers are working intermittently. It's really hard in this weather and I'm not happy in these conditions but that's rallying!"
4: Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla
"I overshot one junction and lost between 5 and 10s. It was a silly mistake."
16: Aaron Burkart/Michael Kolbach
"It was so wet and slippery in places. We are learning in these conditions although we lost the rhythm in some of the corners, but we are quite happy and still having fun."
14: Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
"It was quite good there. There is no point for us to push as there is nothing to push for, so we are using this opportunity to test and get more confidence in the car."
15: Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr
"The conditions are harder than yesterday but I am trying to keep a good pace and keep it tidy. The rain is bad and visibility is severely restricted."
17: Steve Perez/Paul Spooner
"We lost the wipers in Rhondda and managed to cobble the two together to make one. It's like driving my old Stratos with just one wiper."
39: Eyvind Brynildsen/Denis Giraudet
"I have started to take it a bit slower and easier with this car because I want to look after it. It is so unbelievable in conditions like that and I am really enjoying it. I can't remember when I last had so much fun."
31: Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek
"We are trying to do our best and keep the car on the road. It is crazy conditions but we like it."
47: Armindo Araújo/Miguel Ramalho
"Nothing special, but we are improving."
33: Toshi Arai/Glenn MacNeall
"Not too bad, I'm not sure how well we are doing."
64: Martin Semerad/Bohuslav Ceplecha
"We are taking it steady and learning all the time. What a way to learn!"
45: Patrik Flodin/Göran Bergsten
"Hopefully I can do a whole season with no mistakes next year. It was really bad in there."
32: Bernardo Sousa/Jorge Carvalho
"On that stage the demister wasn't working but now it is. Something is loose. For sure this is the best way to learn."
65: Mark Tapper/Jeff Judd
"Not too bad. We made some big changes to the car last night and changed the front roll bar. But I drove like a pussy in the first stage this morning so am upping my game now. I'm grabbing the car by the scruff of the neck."
62: Jon Williams/George Gwynn
"It is really tricky but the grip levels are not too bad. We had two spins in that last stage thought. We are trying to use all the road and we're learning a lot from this experience, that's for sure."
68: Rene Kuipers/Erwin Mombaerts
Emerged from stage with damage to rear valance. "This morning was so slippery but the second stage today was a bit better. It is still a total challenge."
46: Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson
"I have been driving without power steering since this morning and had an off in the last stage which cost me some time. It was impossible to keep the car on the road without power steering. I am really disappointed."
66: Dennis Kuipers/Kees Hagman
"Small moment after a jump but we managed to keep it together."
67: Mattias Therman/Janne Peräla
"Starting to enjoy it despite the rain."
74: Trond Lyseng/Pål Iversen
"It rained very hard at the end and I couldn't see very well."
38: Gábor Mayer/Robert Tagai
"Very hard, no power steering again today..."
48: Hermann Gassner Junior/Katharina Wuestenhagen
"The tyres are better now and I am happier."
69: Peter Stephenson/Jim Burns
"Fixed demisters now so it's much easier for me to drive and the conditions are getting better"
78: Paulo Nobre/Edu Paula
"It takes a while for your confidence to build in this sort of weather. I was really scared last night and this morning but I have a good car and tyres and now I believe that I enjoy it more than I do when I rally in Brazil"
83: Tomaz Kaucic/Peter Zorenc
"Fine, more grip in that stage than in the other two this morning, maybe I was too cautious at start, but when I found more grip I started to push harder and make better time"
89: Tom Haines/Dai Roberts
"I've cured the problem I had earlier this morning and isn't it amazing, we get visibility and it stops raining so we are going faster"
49: Giorgio Bacco/Nicola Arena
"Going good, the weather is difficult but that's an extra challenge."
72: Wug Utting/Max Utting
"That's a lovely stage and it's beautiful when it runs that way. Just a shame there is no pub halfway through it or I'd have stopped for a pint!"
81: Patrick Anglade/Hans-Peter Loth
"That was not too good, there is too much uphill for our car, we just don't have enough power for that sort of stage. It's not as slippery now, but there is less forest on that stage so less mud around."
79: Emre Yurdakul/Burak Erdener
"Good and fast, no problem with the car, I'm just not fast enough"
85: Ahmed Al Mansoori/Killian Duffy
"Great and fast, but the stages starting to cut up on tighter corners, a little rougher than I expected"
84: Bader Al Jabri/Stephen McAuley
"Having loads of fun! Our first Rally GB - I'm really learning a lot, stages drying a little"
80: Burcu Cetinkaya/Çiçek Güney
"Not so good, my notes are not so good, having to change them as we go along and losing time"
92: Mattei Loic/Julien Vial
"Very good, very fast, very good stage"
76: Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts
"Caught the car in front, behind for six kilometres but still fastest. Our priority is to win stages and look at the championship"
70: Daniel Siguroarson/Andrew Sankey
"No brakes, we popped a brake pipe in a stage. It has been an experience, maybe a fantasy. I just want one clean stage.."
90: Sander Pärn/Ken Järveoja
"That was a good stage" The car came in with a lot of damage on the front left hand wing. "Although we have body damage, it is not having a noticeable affect on handling"
93: Jean-Thierry Vacheron/Sylvain Trombert
"That one was much too fast for me!"
95: Kit Leigh/Tim Leigh
"I had a few overshoots in that one, maybe I was trying too hard. One was on a hairpin near the start, the other on a square right near the end."
87: Tom Cave/Craig Parry
"The lads worked well on the car overnight. However on that last stage we began to lose fourth gear, I have to go from third to fifth now. Its frustrating catching people up."
82: Davide Catania/Antonello Moncada
"I'm having a problem with the engine all through the last stage, its revving at 4000 maximum. I think it maybe an electrical problem as it cleared once towards the end of the stage. I hope it returns to normal to get back to service and perhaps we can sort it out. If we don't fix it, I try and finish the rally with the problem rather than do SuperRally"
LAND ROVER CHALLENGE
206: Alan Paramore/Gari Hazelby
"Great stage, but my bonnet has been flapping all the way thorough and I was worried it was going to come up. I was more worried at times about seeing where I was going rather than where I was going to land"
205: Duncan Lilwall/Craig Teasdale
"Brilliant, I just love this stage, so many people were spectating which makes it special"
201: Ewen Christie/Ross Cookman
"Really good. We had a wee off but everything was fine."
202: Steve Partridge/Adam Entwhistle
"Cracking fun"
203: Paul Wright/Tom Aldridge
"We rolled onto the side, just cosmetic, spectators helped us back on our wheels. We went too wide and got our wheels in a ditch which put us into a light roll"
204: George Morrison/Curtis McKerlie
"They (car 203) had just got it back on its wheels as we came through. These are nice stages, shame about the weather but it looks promising for this afternoon."
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