57. Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2024
WRC #5 • WRC2 #5 • WRC2 Challenger #5 • WRC3 #5 • WRC Masters Cup #5 • Portugal #4 • Portugal 2RM #4
9. 5. – 12. 5. 2024, Matosinhos • Automóvel Club de Portugal • gravel 337.04 km • total distance including road sections - 1690.12 km • Other years
Info
SS22
"Thank you, we've been working quite a lot and we are slowly getting there. We need to improve much more, we want to see what we can do for Sardinia. It's been a long week and very tough, but a great result considering everything."
"I am a bit disappointed, for sure when you can fight for the win and you finish fifth it is not easy to say in your head 'it's a good weekend', but it is a reference weekend for me and the car on gravel. Sometimes we are good on the first day and not second, but now we can fight ultra fast. I think I am a bit behind Oliver but we need to work for more and we will see."
"Nothing being tied with Markku Alén, he is a legend. Not a great weekend for the team, but good rally for us."
"We improved the pace and everything."
"I tried to push hard, but my tyres weren't the best. Thanks to the team for a reliable car."
"Good points in the bag. Really happy, the pace is coming every day."
"We were really out of pace. I'm happy to be at the end."
"Yesterday was a huge disappointment. I lost a very important person in my family on Monday, it was difficult to focus. I wanted to achieve a good result for him."
"Not possible to win powerstage, much more loose than I expected. Big sorry to the team for yesterday."
"A first WRC2 win for me and for Toytota, thanks to everyone."
"Incredible weekend. For me it is like a win."
"A first podium in WRC2 is definitely something to celebrate."
"I was doing smooth driving, no super risky."
SS21
"You can get excited for a Wolf Power Stage battle, but we will try and control the gap obviously."
"Need to see the times. Still foggy in places but not like this morning."
"The rally is not over, one more stage to go. We are trying to get maximum points from today. I feel okay in the car today, I'm trying to keep the rhythm. A bit of attack on Wolf Power Stage, we will see."
"Let's see, it will be tight on Fafé. I felt a bit better this time than the previous time."
"Hopefully the next one we can get the hybrid back, it's okay. I'll try to push on the Power Stage if I have a hybrid."
"I am happy with the pace in that stage. Definitely it was quite demanding this morning with the weather and it was really sandy. There was bedrock in the road and it was rougher than expected but it is quite nice."
"It was okay, the middle part of the stage was rough on the tyres but the last part was quite soft. Nothing too big of a surprise, but all good."
Overheated engine
Off road
SS20
"t's always one of the most special stages of the calendar. Unfortunately we had a rear right puncture on the previous one so it was quite tricky."
"No not perfect. It was still so foggy, I was a bit careful and I could've been faster over the jump. We'll see for the second pass."
"Quite tricky because of the fog. Same engine problem as all weekend."
"I've done this stage many times and it's still beautiful. I have good memories from this jump, once I did it twice in a stage! Good stage."
"It's not easy for sure when you're fighting for nothing. There is a lot of fog, so not a lot of visibility. This morning there was a mistake from the team. It's like that. It is difficult to keep positive. If you said before the start we can fight with Škoda and I am positive because it is a first gravel event, but it is hard."
"It was a nice stage, we did an okay jump so there was fun for the spectators. In the middle there was a high level of fog so we had to slow down but otherwise okay."
"We need to be clever, we are in a good position for good championship points so we will try and keep it like this and see what happens."
"I didn't hit anything, I need to check. I made a few mistakes, I like this stage but I am fighting with the car a bit on this stage. I did my best but I feel that we are not fast enough."
"I think it will be very difficult. I am pushing as hard as I can but today we only used two new tyres on the rear. I am pushing flat out but we will see. We will push to the end."
"It's good racing now. It's been a good mornings work for us. The second pass is gonna have to be nice and tidy. We started with four new tyres, he started with two. It's WRC Portugal, you have to play the game sometimes."
"It was getting surprisingly difficult at the top, but it seems as though it is moving at the moment."
"With the fog it is not completely relaxing to drive so let's hope the second loop will be better."
"It is difficult when you can't see the road on the fast section, and in a small corner when you need to go on an exact point. This is how it is."
"It's not easy with the fog. We know the stage quite well but we were missing some distance, generally a good run through. I had no time to watch out for people but I guess there are plenty!"
"Very tricky, very thick fog. The stage before was very new for everyone so it levels the performance."
"I didn't take a risk at the end to avoid a mistake."
"We need to try and get what we can today."
"Still no hybrid, but we have to push."
"We are just saving tyres for powerstage."
SS19
"It's not a perfect weekend, but it is like that. On the last rally I said we are a team and that doesn't change after one week. I think we are very strong, we need to keep focus for the rest of the events. It is sad for the championship, but we had a good rally, a good team behind me. Stay smiling."
"I don't know what McErlean is doing, we are trying to push hard. I have a strange noise in the car, it is a bit disturbing. We need to push and keep going."
"Race on! It was okay, I thought we struggled in places. Seems like a tricky stage. We keep pushing on. It is quite difficult, especially the high speed into the slow speed sections, there isn't much braking points."
"It feels good on the first part, but when the last part came with slow corners and the slippery part, we tried to push but the car was going sideways too much."
"Seb is quicker. Nothing I can do, I finished the stage already. Let's carry on. All OK."
"I tried to do a good stage but lost a lot of time at the end because we had an issue with the intercom and I couldn't hear Alex Coria. With the weather we have, I should've gone mushroom picking!"
"It's so narrow, you don't have a much different line to the others. You're just trying not to get too close to the edge but I saw sometimes they were going near the mountains and the barriers. It's what you need to do when you are fighting for tenths of seconds."
Puncture
Puncture
"I was thinking the fog would be better for us but there is more fog now."
"Very foggy, I was bad, difficult to see and drive."
"At the end we lost some time with intercom issue."
"After the yesterday I didn't expect to be so good."
"No hybrid."
"A lot of fog in the beginning."
SS18
"t was a big jump, we were not expecting that."
"In the afternoon we probably had better rhythm, especially in the ruts. Quite a solid day compared to yesterday. I'm not sure we have the tools to match Toyota but generally, I don't think we did a bad job today."
"It's fantastic. Yu can see all the people love rally. It is fantastic to race at home."
"We were discussing with Armindo Araújo it is just like old times - we were fighting together in 2009 for the PWRC title. It's a good feeling, you see so many fans and it is great."
"It's been a good day, a tricky one. We didn't expect so many things happening today, on Toyota's side it was not the perfect day. We have to try and finish the job tomorrow now."
"It's really good to finish the day in a super special like that, with the atmosphere, the crowd - it's so unique. It's been difficult for us to sweep the roads, but it's good to get the experience. Really positive."
"If somebody would've told us on Thursday that we would be third on Saturday evening, I wouldn't have believed it. It feels great to be honest, after a difficult day. Was really enjoyable here so many people around. That's what we like to see."
"Tomorrow is another day, we need to continue pushing and driving. I'm trying with some hard tyres and I didn't expect that grip but it's okay."
"I have to be happy about today, we had a puncture on Amarante but we didn't lose so much time. There was a huge atmosphere. Thank you to every Portuguese fan. It is always a pleasure to drive."
"The stage is quite nice, a different kind of engine in both cars but still lots of fun. We tried not to lose too much time."
"This was a good end to the day. Long and difficult day."
"Yeah tyres are absolutely done and our setup isn't too suited to these asphalt stages. Reset tonight and big push tomorrow."
"It's been absolutely amazing, we are leading WRC2 and it's been really consistent. It's been a perfect day and tomorrow we need to keep pushing because it is still a long way to go."
"The stage is nice for the spectator. It's okay for the driver, for the atmosphere and to finish the day with that is good."
"Pretty incredible atmosphere, great to see so many people here supporting the rally. Was always going to be a difficult day, we'll see what we can do tomorrow."
"We had an issue in the previous stage, at least we end the day and tomorrow can be better. Amazing to see the atmosphere here, I never did Lousada so it's great."
"Next day will be completely different, I am still trying to keep pressure on the guys behind to help Rossel. This stage is difficult, we do not have the setup for asphalt."
SS17
"The entry list was huge, I have to say that I saw so many drivers that could win this rally. I think the key for us is we have been really clever, we have no mkistakes and a good tyre choice and now we are here in this position."
"I would say if it is a clean day tomorrow, we have a chance."
"It's good to be in the lead, so far it has been a clean day for us, so we need to finish well on the super special now."
"Not easy for sure this afternoon, let's see for tomorrow, we'll keep up the pressure. The plan is to fight back but the guys are very fast today, tomorrow we have very tricky stages. Fafé a lot of people know very well, but the first one is very tricky. We'll see what happens with the tyres tomorrow, we think we'll stick with the softs."
"We are changing the car all the time, also changing driving style. Sometimes it is working, sometimes it is not. There are different philosophies and I need to understand how they all work. For now, the position is quite good. Let's see for tomorrow."
"So far it has been a good weekend for us, today was a bit more challenging. One more stage to go, hopefully we end up on the podium and we can score a couple of extra points."
"Very bad..."
"I have dust in the car because we have a problem. It is not fun to drive. We're driving road mode."
"We've got to see what is possible, the confidence isn't as high as we'd like it to be after the first couple of days but we have to try and see whats possible."
"We wanted a good push on Sordo today, but we have lost too much time this morning. We wanted to stay close in case anything happens we can take a position. We have had a good day to be fair."
Rolled
SS16
No power steering
"No, not happy. Every time we change something. On this stage I expect better feelings but the road changed from the first pass. Every time I tried to push somewhere I made a mistake so I cannot find the feeling driving on this stage."
"It looks like the strategy is working now, we crossed with two hard, two soft tyres. I have to say thank you to my engineer and team. We need to see for tomorrow, we have better tyres now. It's a long way to go."
"We tried to take it easy in there especially over the rocks. We've had a good day so far. You have to use your eyes because if you hit a rock you're as good as gone. Today has been awesome there's no doubting that."
"I want to keep my tyre, it's too soft for this one. I have six soft - it's completely crazy."
"It's very hot, we need to run. Sounds good."
"For some reason the engine was pushing so hard this stage, so I was not able to protect the tyres so it was a difficult stage."
"The tyres I was looking at because I was driving clean, I don't want to break any tyres. It's a very difficult job for the weather guys to predict the weather. At the end, it wasn't a bad choice to have the soft at the rear."
"It's far too hot for those tyres. We were expecting rain, but there is no sign of any rain. I was punishing these tyres all the way to the end of the last stage. It's not good."
"Pretty sandy, lots of trepidation with the rock face coming through. It's very difficult to tell if the stage required all hards, the stage didn't feel too hybrid."
"It's not enough to catch Sordo, I just wanted to push a little bit to let him know we are here. We definitely needed four hards for that stage, but it's like that."
"We were longer in the car and the heat builds up. Again, there was a problem like this morning so at least we got to see Portugal. When you are slow it seems so rough."
SS15
"It's great, we are enjoying the new stuff. Every stage is better and better, the tyre choice was not the best this morning but we are back on the softs so it's getting better."
"I don't think I've ever tried as hard in my life, I shouldn't be doing it at my age! Amarante, the last time I had three or four perfect stages but I was still 17sec off the pace. I gave everything."
"A few too many mistakes in the first pass, don't think the car turned in very well."
"I hate to say 'what if this happened or didn't happen', but the pace is there so it could've been a really good day for us."
"It was quite an okay stage, a bit rough rut, the next one is the longest so we have to drive clever but still fast."
"Car works better now, but still we lost some time in some places."
"The level is quite high, we are trying to be clever. We have a very long stage so we are trying to save the tyres and catch up a bit of time."
"After Greensmith's crash the plan is to come back to P2, but now it's completely different, we have to push. Let's see, the next one is quite challenging."
"It's better but it is still slippery. We changed the setup, but let's see for Amarante. Better, but I struggled on this one I promise. Also, in the same place where Solberg went out I almost went off, but I just kept it."
"We're trying to do our best, we'll see. Hopefully we can fight for the win but I'll do my best and we'll see if it's enough."
"There's no point panicking at this stage. We had a clean stage, nothing crazy, we're looking forward to the big one."
"The position we are, we need to get through and carry on driving without making mistakes. There's nothing to push for so it makes it very challenging."
"Better! I enjoyed a little bit more, the car is moving a little bit more. The places are quite clear. At the moment it is an amazing result for the team so this is the target for the end."
"We didn't do anything special, we've been clean. The grip is quite low."
"Amarante will be an important one, we have to push. In this stage our car is not working super well, I expect a lot better in this one."
"It's still so loose, good improvement from us but the road condition is getting difficult for the car. At least we improved the time and the feeling is good. The problem earlier was fuel related but it is sorted now."
"I'd say we've made some good steps at least. It's difficult to find the ultimate rhythm in this situation, but it's feeling better. We're playing with a few general aspects of the car, but nothing too special."
"I've been enjoying that stage a lot. There is still some slipping but we know that so all I can do is enjoy, it's really nice to drive this car."
SS14
"Unfortunate for Greensmith as it's a simple error, he probably lost his braking on the overshoot. It's a big afternoon ahead, we have to keep on pushing."
"Greensmith is stuck in a corner. Sorry for him. We do our jobs, still need to work. I was expecting this to be more easy. The ruts are not hard but quite deep."
"The line of WRC guys is not the same and we lose a lot of traction at the end of the corner, but clean stage. This race is completely crazy."
Off road
"You will see if this is our maximum. There was a lot of sweeping in there."
"The road conditions are really perfect. Nice ruts and everything. I'd like to do much more. It's a sandy road."
"I was okay, better on the first pass with the car in the line. I don't know the time of others."
"You know Sordo, he will try get past us anyhow. He will try to push and beat us. It's not working as well as yesterday, I don't feel so well today."
"It's still a bit of cleaning, not always the ideal line but better than the morning. It is quite rutted, so if you have the confidence and can hold the line you can have good pace but as we are first on the road, we cannot go faster."
"Wasn't the best stage. It's quite a bit more rutted than I expected."
"I think everything is possible in Portugal especially on Saturday afternoon. I am trying but we're not at 100 percent so it is difficult to find the balance. The conditions are very different now, the road is rutted. It's quite sketchy sometimes."
SS13
"I hit a bank twice, almost stopped in one place. I go outside [of the line] and go over the bank somehow. SOmetimes the grip is there but in some places it is difficult. If I try to push more, I will do a mistake so I need to understand how to drive safe and fast. It's mentally difficult but it's rally."
"It's too tight! This one was very difficult, the grip was very low and this one was difficult to manage. Lets try and keep a good balance and get to the finish line on the podium."
"The entire stage I was in the dust, I maybe got 2km of clean air before the dust."
"It was a right corner, there was a big rock."
"It was a big push on this one, it hasn't been so easy since the beginning of the rally so not easy for us. It's going to be very hot in the second loop so we'll see for it."
"The last one was really tricky. The car is not in perfect shape but there is zero grip in there. Plenty of surprises."
"Very slippery, cleaning is also high in there. It will be demanding and difficult."
"Slow puncture for the last 8 km, we lost maybe 20 sec.
"The morning loop seemed fine, nothing really special. Exceptionally slippery in here, probably the slippest of the loop. Lots of cleaning."
"This morning Sordo wasn't too fast so my plan was to fight with him. We lost too much time in Amarante but we still want to stay close. We are fifth right now so it's positive."
Slow puncture
"Car fixed itself on road section."
Changed a puncture
SS12
"We're trying to do our best, I'm trying to drive as best as I can but trying to stay on the line. You need to keep clean but also push hard."
"Same. Tried some changes, but this stage the rear was out everywhere. I tried to go slower, but still not keeping the line. We will change something else. Clicks, rollbars.."
"Horrible. The car was sliding everywhere. Tried to be clean and minimalize sliding. Oversteer mostly."
"It's good. Very good stage for me. The car works very well. It's perfect! Long time since we last had this feeling on gravel. My team is like my family and we work together every day. Last year we had a hard time on gravel, but we kept the focus."
"Game on, for sure!"
"Let's see! Like I said; I try all I can so.. I guess that's the way it is. Just try to maximize. Some places are so surprising so.. I never know where the limit is. That's the tricky part."
"I am disappointed; in some stages i'm good and others not. But I enjoy this. I like them, but i'm just less faster in them. I can't set the throttle when braking into slow corners."
"Lots of understeer, I can not make the car rotate. I was using the handbrake a lot. I did what I could! Was an okay stage, quite tricky grip changes and a lot of cleaning in non-humid places."
"Normally I prefer this one, but this time I was struggling."
Stopped at 10.7km. Broken rear right suspension.
"We have an engine issue, I thought it was the alternator. I have no clue what it is."
"It's a bit disappointing, not the feeling we were hoping for. Not the direction we were working on. Just the turning isn't as we want it, it's coming far too early."
Stopped again 33.3 km into the stage, restarted
Stopped for a couple of minutes. Continued. Looked under the bonnet of the car.
SS11
"We were driving quite well at the start, but near where Rovanperä and Solberg went off we lost a bit of time. We will improve and keep trying to do our best."
"I did this stage earlier this year. We're struggling this weekend. We're a bit of a sword to a gunfight. Our car is very heavy and we're having suspension trouble. We survived, just trying to enjoy it today. I did this stage three months ago in thick fog and black mud. It's rally and it can catch you out any time."
"It was slippery, so we did too carefully. It's great we didn't lose that much time. I saw there were a lot of cars on the road. That's rally, the next one is a very long stage so we'll save our tyres for this one."
"I lost control of the braking and we spun. Same engine issues as yesterday so not good."
"To be honest as soon as I saw Oliver Solberg off I struggled to find a rhythm because it would be stupid to push after seeing that. Very long day to go but now it's a two way battle."
"I see one car outside! A lot of lines which are not on the road, just on the outside. I struggled with the grip, but I had a feeling like on the previous stage. The car feels nice but I struggled with the grip. It's step by step."
"It looks like now we wake up. In the first stage, the feeling was OK but I decided to push on this one. It was pure fun driving the car on this road but let's see if we can push on."
"That stage was quite tricky, the traction is not so high. The next one is Amarante which is the big one. We did the Amarante one two weeks ago so I hope we'll be alright."
"It's crazy. One minute you have two guys leading... it's crazy. It's a short stage but it's so fast. The grip is very low and the stage is very narrow."
"On the first one it looks like we lost a lot of time. kalle much more awake than us this morning, we have to keep fighting because all the gaps are super close. There were many difficult areas with lots of braking, tricky stage."
"Spin and I stalled in an other place. Quite frustrating but all OK. Bit more slippery than the first one but some surprises yes."
Rolled two corners after Rovanpera
Accident
"I try my best, I'm pretty sure it's not the fastest but I look forward to doing it again."
"I don't know the time. It's not bad, 2.8 sec down. Really bad at the end, braking, throttle, braking, throttle. I was not on the pace."
Spin
"I misjudged the grip with the braking so I went a bit wide, and then on a hairpin I misjudged the grip again. Two mistakes in one stage is not good."
"I made some changes today and it made it easier. Is quite a lot, ride height, dampers. Anything I can do for now."
"Just at a slow junction, got caught in the inside line and it spun the car at slow speed. Time lost but no damage."
"Sweeping, sweeping, sweeping! Never experienced that before.."
small off, lost front bumper
Spin
SS10
"It's a nice stace, not much room to make a mistake. Being clean is good through there."
"I tried to push but I don't know if that is a good thing on these conditions. The grip is not the same, but I am here and the plan is to continue like this. It is not easy because we don't have full confidence. The car is not bad, the driver needs to adapt to the conditions."
"It was a clean run, pushed a little bit more towards the end as I was a bit careful at the beginning. It's quite slippery and loose, there's no clean line to follow but at least the car is working today and we have power."
"Just drive faster than the others. Let's see, it's only one stage. When the car and setup in better far me, it's quite easier."
"it's a fun road but very narrow. It wasn't wasy and I was a little bit too careful in places. I need to push more. There is no room for slipping."
"Big day for sure, I expected this one to be quite slippery but it was very good grip. I tried to push yesterday. Just need to focus on this rally and each stage, need to push as much as I can."
"Trying hard for sure. Let's see how it works out. We try all we can."
"It's a fun road, but very narrow. Not a 100% easy to start the day. A bit too careful in places. In this fight there is no room for sleeping."
"it was okay, really narrow stage and a difficult stage for me."
"We have a bit better road position, but it isn't good enough. It's so easy to lean into ruts and it will get deeper faster. We will see."
"We're gonna try to stay as close as we can to the others but try and enjoy also. Quite different with soft stages at the beginning and then Amarante which will be quite hard."
"Some places it's OK, some places there's still a lot of sand around. It's pretty clear."
"Not my favourite stage, lots of downhill."
SS9
"retired after Leg 1 (end of portugese championship)"
"Same problem, in the middle it cut out completely and I thought I lost 10sec. I tried to push in places but I lost a lot of time."
"I don't know what to say, I want to fight. We will change the settings - maybe tomorrow is the day."
"I had a high speed spin, I almost caught it but it just caught the front bumper and took us round. Little disappointing, but we've had a good run. Fortunately I have some mechanics coming to fix starter motor at lunch."
"It has been great fun all day, unfortunately the pace has not been where it should be. I couldn't do much more in there, the tyres are very worn. It's only fun if you are winning it, so we'll see for tomorrow."
"We learned plenty of stuff, first with the pace notes and improving my setup. Tomorrow we will be opening the road but also part of the learning curve."
"It was okay, we lose position, it was never high. I did my best. The road position tomorrow is better than we expected so we can look forward to the day. We are here to drive, so we need to keep going with what we have. We don't like excuses, we just need to drive."
"I think it is not an easy day, but a very good day for us. We work a lot before the rally and to fight with a Škoda here is fantastic. We have two rallies in one tomorrow, it is very loose but I can fight."
Spin
"Not nice to lose a position for tomorrow."
"I think it is nice to finish the day like this. We hace some issue with hybrid before the stage, fortunately working on stage."
"The roads are much better than previous years. Not able to push more."
"We have to pay the price for a bad Friday. We will try to get points on Sunday."
"I'm happy with my pace today, unfortunately tomorrow we will have the same starting position as today."
SS8
"We have enjoyed our day, really challenging stages. But we have enjoyed it still, especially the rough conditions."
"Puncture after puncture unfortunately. Seems like we can't get through this rally without problems, but it's part of the game so we have to continue."
"Long day! Unfortunately all day we've had some engine issues. Stages were quite good, the problem is not so good. Hopefully the guys can fix it."
"I didn't lose as much in here, but I had three cylinders also. When the stages are faster we don't lose much time so that's good."
"Difficult, but now I have a good tyre choice because the first few stages they were not working. We have better choices for tomorrow, we have a whole spectrum to choose from. We have a setup change to make. I'm not trying to push to make stupid mistakes, but trying to get good times also."
"This one was the one I ws trying to save my tyres in, not an easy one for sure. I needed to save my tyres on this one. Maybe flat out on the next one."
"Quite slippery in the middle of the stage, but for the rest it was okay. I tried my best."
"I pushed on the limit. All the time. It's not just the last stage, I tried to take a soft tyre for this one. I think it's not the best choice."
"It was quite rough and rutted, we were a bit too low in ride height on this one so sometimes we were hitting and thrown out of the line. At least we know for next year."
Stopped
"I can not be faster with this car."
"I'm pushing for better position tomorrow."
"No hybrid for half the stage."
"I tried hard, but altogether it is not working."
"I'm starting to kill my tyres."
"Nothing is going our way."
"We're gonna lose a lot of time here."
SS7
"On this stage I gave it all, the car was working like hell. Every part of my body was working."
"A little bit better this afternoon."
"It is a very rough stage, not easy to drive. Had to be careful quite a lot."
"It's tough, we are definitely nowhere near where the car should be. I am fighting all the time, we have understeer and everything so it is making tyre wear worse and worse."
"Depending on what Sordo is doing behind, we are getting closer to him. We have quite a lot of grip so we can push a lot. We did more, but with the cleaning we can do more."
"It was a really nice stage to drive, the feeling with the car driving in the stage on the downhill is really unique. I am doing my best to stay fighting with the others, so we need to keep going."
"It was a clean run. No there's been no over-driving at all, it doesn't bring any speed."
Puncture
Pacenotes from mobile phone
SS6
"It's not bad, I tried to keep the tyre. It's crazy afternoon for them, let's see. All hard tyres, two soft as well."
"We are trying now, not the best tyre choice. We are using the old tyres to have a better solution for tomorrow."
"It's a very abrasive stage so we're saving tyres maybe, that might be part of it. It's like 32 degrees so I think you can guess which tyres are on."
"I'm trying hard, I was quite happy with my run. I tried to push, in some places it was bad. We have hard tyres in the front, two soft on the rear. I think we did an amazing time."
"It's cleaning quite a bit, we were really flat out. We forgot some changes in the lunchtime."
"The tyre is helping, but we made some little changes. I feel a bit better now, but we've had better days. I made a change to the setup to stiffen the car control. No risk, no fun!"
"The feeling is a bit different on this one, there is a lack of grip because of the tyres."
"With all the conditions, maybe our car is a bit better setup-wise. Still not 100% especially on the rough places I have a lot of understeer. We'll do our best."
"It's a bit better, in the beginning I had an impact on the second corner. We had to switch on the engine mapping, but we're improving."
"We have some issue with engine, sometimes only 3 cylinders."
"The lines are really narrow after the cars before."
"Hard to get a good feeling."
"There is no line after 2wd cars."
SS5
Lost wheel
"The hybrid system didn't come up before the stage so I did the whole stage without a hybrid. The rear tyre was damaged so I replaced it."
"It's good to finish the run, for everybody it's going to be really tough, but we have to keep pushing so we'll see. Missing a bit of confidence so I could push more but I was making a bit of a mess too much so don't want to change much."
"This one was very difficult, I was hesitating a lot. Less good than the previous one. The guys in front will go faster but let's just try and improve and see the times."
"I can tell you one thing, black car and this heat equals sweat!"
"No idea, intercom cut out somewhere in the stage. We need to change tyres."
Intercom issue
"I'm happy with the loop. We known many things happen on Friday afternoon."
"Feeling is not good in the car."
"We were excepting more grip, but still I did a good run."
SS4
"It was a good stage, nice and clean. The softs were overheating at the end of that stage but we had a different kind of tyre combination to Solberg, so maybe that helped."
"Very abrasive, you want some tyres left for the next one so it's difficult to say if we're too slow, but it is very tricky to manage the tyres."
"It was different to the previous one. The tyre wear is different, we've done some changes to the car. It feels more fun."
"My driving is good on this one, but sometimes on the long stretch we have no power. Like a pop-off or something like that. We lost the fight for the victory as the time is a big difference."
"I enjoyed this stage a lot! I can do these two stages all day. I am happy with the car, honestly on the first stage it was me. The car is great, I have a good feeling. Hats off to the guys at Hyundai."
"It is a really fun one with a very fast section on top of the mountain and the downhill which is very twisty. It is difficult to hold so much speed in one corner, because then you set yourself up badly for the next one. Let's see for the second pass."
"It was better in these conditions. With the hard tyre I am struggling with the balance of the car, quite a lot of understeer."
"A bit surprised. Driving was not good. Quite a mess. Could be much more clean, but yeah, not bad."
"I tried to be honest, not happy with the car this morning. The car feels a bit ,,lazy''."
"I had a good stage, happy with my drive this morning. Sometimes I struggle with the line, I go out of it. It's not easy, but it's good practice. For sure we've done a good tyre choice for now."
"Very difficult for us, couldn't get the car rotated at all."
"It's okay. It's more about the tyrewear, I was surviving. I did what I could, the tyre was moving too much in the end. I still need good tyres for the next one. I think it will be okay, it's overheating and I don't know about the wear."
SS3
"First stage was really bad for me, I never liked it. It was to come back or stay home and I needed to come back. I just need to drive and enjoy."
"It's the stage where we have about 3km knowledge. We are getting a bit closer to the front. We need to learn."
"I don't know, just driving a bit better. Still not so good, not feeling happy with the car. Tricky. Let's hope the rest of the loop is better conditions wise."
"In the beginning I made a big mistake, I lost a lot of time there so I pushed at the end. Still missing a bit, but it's enough and I will try to find some more confidence to push."
"It's a bit better in this one, but not good enough yet. Here it's a bit more technical."
"This one is definitely cleaning so it's worse for Thierry."
"I had a really good downhill. Sometimes you think you are fast, but you aren't. I had a good stage, i'm happy."
"It's more loose in here than the previous one, that's clear. Very different character stage."
"It's too dry in there, no chance. A lot of cleaning, specially uphill. Downhill a few humid brakings. A little bit better, but this stage is different profile. We had a really good stage."
SS2
"I was struggling a lot in the car, I lost 15sec but I'm sure we'll get it back."
"We think it is not bad, the feeling is quite good. Just have to be cautious on the fast part. My driving is not perfect for sure but it is the first one and it's still long."
"It feels okay, I am trying to experiment the driving in some places because the car is good but I am trying to understand the car itself. I am trying to be more smooth, in some places we were doing mistakes. Maybe we need to change the setup, but the car is good."
Accident. Stage blocked.
"A few unexpected moments made it tricky for us to trust our notes but we still managed a good time - a long day is ahead!"
Rolled
Stopped. Changed a puncture.
"Slippery. Little bit damp, really difficult stage to start the rally. Okay with the car. It's like this, we will try our best."
"First pass with pacenotes is always tricky. Some corners the note is too slow and then it's too optimistic."
"I just felt the driving was okay, but having one hard tyre on the car is not easy. It's damp and we're suffering."
"I felt quite bad in the car, I didn't expect it to be good. Need to change the style and the car, some surprises in the stage."
"I was not really on it to be honest. Need to find more confidence. I think it's me mainly, I didn't find the confidence to push between the trees."
"Really damp and no loose at all - this way is nice. I struggled to work with the car, I will try more. Not a good time."
"Was a really nice stage to drive. Quite happy with my drive. Can't get it in some places. Quite tricky in the trees, not seeing much."
"Not the best feeling, more damp and slippy than I expected."
"The start felt good, the I lost a confidence a little bit."
SS1
"Lots of spectators around and I hope they saw something."
"Long day tomorrow."
"It is important to get into the rhythm, start to feel better and have more flow."
"It's nice to have stages like this with the fans."
"I tried to be careful on the tyres."
"We love to drive for the fans but we need to save the tyres for tomorrow."
"It was a big surprise how slippery it was but lots of fun."
"For us it's just about grabbing experience, didn't have a lot of mileage previous years."
"Tomorrow is a long day and we need to do tomorrow with the same tyres."
"You want to have fun but you need to think about the tyres."
"I will never put that side of me behind me, I'm a showman."
"This stage was fun but not for the tyres."
"We are always on the limit to do a good show for fans."
"It was not the fastest time but at least it was fun for the spectators."
"I hit the concrete, I couldn't see where the front is going."
"I couldn't see the front. "
"It was quite a good stage, let's see tomorrow."