1. BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia 2023
7. 7. – 8. 7. 2023, Karlstad • Royal Rally Scandinavia AB • gravel 182.60 km • total distance including road sections - 861.17 km • Other years
Info
SS16
"I have to say the competition has been incredible against Hayden and the others, this is one of the best wins, it is 1 hour from my house! So rough on the last stage, so many rocks! It's a great feeling to be here with my family and my best friend Reiersen winning the Juniors. It's gonna be a party tonight!"
"So far so good, we have to be keep building on it, can't say I'm the biggest fan of being 2nd all the time but it's working well, thanks to the Kiwis and the team that came out here and fair play to Oliver he's done an excellent job. We've picked up some Power Stage points so that's good."
"Friday morning was very frustrating but we worked hard with the MRF engineers and with my physio, all the guys did a fantastic job. Thank you!"
"I am sure it isn't enough to catch Sesks, I made 2 mistakes and almost spun, the ruts are hard to get out of. Sesks will not do the big mistakes, but I tried at least."
"Yeah we went flat out and it went well, it has been a really long rally, my co-driver has done a very good job and thanks to the team and all the supporters."
"It's been the best gravel race I've done to be honest, I'd like to thank the team and all my sponsors that supported us for this race, we have improved, made progress and this is important for all of us."
"I am so happy to be here, really nice stage to finish the story with this car, lots of memories and lots of winning with this car, I love you! We need to switch to tarmac mode now, but thank you my team and please take good care of this car in the garage!"
"No scares! We only touched one barrier there, we had a blast in there. I want to thank everyone that makes this come true and my father, we do this together and we love it."
"Yeah I was fully flat out, I don't think it was that good, but now when we are talking about the most important thing in the rally, I missed the left hander, I was a bit too wide in the right hander. We did our best, I am glad to be at the end. Maybe, we can bring this home as a big positive."
"It's been an amazing week to get this opportunity, lots of fun to hop in a Rally2 car with Julia on the notes, thanks to MRF Tyres and to all our sponsors for getting us here."
"I tried a clean run, I had a bit in the line where we lost something. I don't really know what to say, it's bad luck again. Our difficult season carries on, sorry to all our sponsors and team that we did the mistake. Thanks to all that we have the experience to drive here."
"I'm getting emotional, it was a great day yesterday, we got a puncture today and we made up time. It feels so good... YESSS!"
"I think it was good to get the confidence back after yesterday. but big thanks to the team and the academy as well. It's good to get to the finish."
"I don't think it's enough to win, we didn't really get a feeling in there, pushed a bit too much but we're happy to be here."
SS15
"I've been stuck in minds of points for the Championship or go for the win since yesterday, we've taken a bit out of the tires recently so let's see how we go on the Power Stage and hopefully we can get the win."
"I think now when he realised he couldn't catch me he backed off a bit, but a nice clean run in there."
"I don't think I'll get 5 points in Power Stage, there's no point in taking risks."
"At least it's nice to drive on the Power Stage, we changed some things in the car again but it's getting better. We need to focus on the last stage."
"The plan is to drive. Drive fast. This one was a different rhythm so lets see."
"It's a real throwback to be fighting with Sesks. I don't know whether this is enough, but we'll see."
"I love this stage, its very difficult because its very narrow and very fast. I don't think about the result because I just want to enjoy."
"I'm not sure on the best tyre choice for the Power Stage. After yesterday it was hard to get back into it, but lets see what we can do in the Power Stage. We'll give it a bit of a go."
"I can understand Mareš being up on the splits."
"I would like to say that despite the result, it's really nice to be here and I'm enjoying these super fast stages, I would like more of it like this, it's brilliant."
"I think just trying to clean things up [for the Power Stage] is important, some corners aren't perfect."
"We will try our best in Colin's stage now, we took it a bit carefully in here."
"We are trying to enjoy it and keep the pace, we will see for the Power Stage."
SS14
"Went a bit wide in 5th with a high speed corner, unfortunately there was a stone and it broke the rim, so we had to change it. But this is life."
"It's a long way to go for victory, we need to watch out for punctures so."
"We're just looking to preserve the tyres, as said before. We want the Power Stage points."
"I had big moment close to the finish. Lets hope that everything is fine!"
"Actually this stage was really fast, it's much better but there's no grip, it's good fun though."
"It's a bit better for sure, it's really fast in the forest section, but I'm just trying to enjoy and see some points in the stage for next year."
"We've had an engine issue all day, we have two issues. One is fixed, but the response of the engine is not there as I need the angle on the car and need to floor the power, but it creates a lot of understeer so it's hard to get the rhythm."
"For sure it would be nice to go faster in the stage, I like these kind of stages but without any experience on these roads it's difficult. The pace notes were difficult too."
"Just trying to find a rhythm to be honest, it's difficult to try and get back into it after the roll. If the rhythm is alright in the next one, we'll push on in the Power Stage."
"I was a bit scared at the beginning because it started to rain, in the first few kms I kept too calm, in the 2nd part you can push."
"There's a km of damp gravel in there, not a bad run but we just need to check something with the car and see if its ok, but all good here."
"My main target is to be the best Ford! We are pushing as much as we can and I'm really happy with that stage."
SS13
"I'm not happy with my driving this morning, I feel confident and the car is working well but I need to be better. Some nice short stages."
"We're just taking it back a couple of notches now, making sure we have tyres left for the last stage, bringing it back and focussing on the Power Stage. A little boring."
"I don't feel pressure, I just enjoy the competition. In the morning this stage was better than others, hopefully we can keep this position."
"It's different to the morning - the road is fantastic. On the second loop it gets better and better and faster and faster - AH this rally is CRAZY!"
"It feels okay, but tyre wear was not good. Trying to fix."
"It was a good stage for us, of course there is a place to get more spped. It is the first time I felt like driving in the rally."
"It was better than this morning, but it's good because it's better. We need to continue this fight."
"There's a lot more grip than the first pass, it's got a lot warmer now. I think we can trust the changes we made and go for it now."
"Our position is good, I don't know if Østberg is faster than us, but we have to keep the pace and try our best. This situation to be fighting [with Østberg] is good for us."
"It was a clean stage, not too many big risks, tried to understand the gravel roads a bit more so let's see for the last 3 stages."
"It's not so bad, quite a lot better in terms of grip in there now, a couple of ruts but quite nice, a little bit rough on the edges but it gives a good line for the guys behind."
"It's difficult to say why I'm faster this time! It's drier than the morning, a bit looser too. Just tried to clean a bit more, we could do a little bit more but we've had a decent weekend so far. The MRF Tyres are working well!"
"We had a good stage, did our best and had a nice feeling in there. A full send!"
SS12
Off road
"We got a puncture 2km from finish in SS11, but good push in here and we'll do our best to get the lead back and win."
"Difficult day, we're struggling."
"We had 2 spins in one stage, maybe I was frustrated because of the big jump after my Fafe crash, but we'll see."
"I tried to reset my mind and approach it in a different way, I've tried to have fun and I had it in this stage. The jump is not as bad as in my mind so I will try to jump more in the next pass."
"It's up and down and flowing, made a few mistakes as I was pushing very hard. Not clean but a great push!"
"I didn't manage that so well and it's so slippy. We get caught in ruts too, it shouldn't be that difficult!"
"You'd love to win the rally, but I want to win the championship more. We're not driving slowly, we're just pushing. Had a couple of moments as the road here is so sandy!"
"The morning was a bit better, we're starting to lose a bit of momentum, but a proper service, readjust and go again."
"I was not really watching what I did in the snow before here, the jump is sick!"
"I'm pushing hard but it was really slippy, there's so much loose gravel but a really enjoyable stage."
"It's difficult for the driver and co-driver as well, everything is not in order so we need to work on it. This stage was difficult stage and it was hard to do this magnificent jump. The time was not so good."
"If we go to service and do some changes, why not get points on the Power Stage."
"We're trying to maintain a top 10 position, I was struggling to find the rhythm this morning. We need to finish the race with a good feeling and we will try to improve the feeling."
"We had a crash course just before the start that everyone was listening to. At least I did what I told everyone else to do, because there was lots of spectators and it was fun."
"It's okay, but this stage is very cool. I need to thank Mads cause he told me not to worry! He wrote small jump on his pace notes!"
"It's an amazing experience and a really cool stage. I thought we did really good but seems we are a bit slow."
"Good fun, I was chatting to Østberg before the stage and he said it's easy to land, the stage was quite clean and a little wide in some places but still a good run. Cleaning the road isn't the best thing but you get to choose the lines so the drivers have to follow where I go."
SS11
Puncture
"No flow in the driving, I can't find the rhythm whatsoever."
"We're just trying to keep the pressure on, anything can still happen. We're not gonna do anything stupid, but we possibly underdrove a bit there with the loose gravel."
"I need to improve. It was really slippy and I was losing the front a lot, a couple of times I was concerned we could go off!"
"It's easier for us, normally it means if you can see the line you can expect when to brake. Where it's mostly darker is where people brake harder!"
"Sometimes we've been cautious, sometimes there has been too much sliding. You have to think about where you will end up in these roads, but it's amazing."
"I tried to push hard but in this kind of road, it's very hard! It is so slippy."
"We are really slow."
"The stages are really fast and the rally is new for everyone, so we need the pace notes to be perfect on the first pass. This stage was very difficult to what we know on other stages, I was struggling a lot and took the stage very carefully."
"We have the power to do it but now we don't have the brakes to do it. The brake problem is back, we tried to solve it but we couldn't. It's quite slippy, so for the first pass on Colin's the winter is better, but we'll see."
"There was a 2km straight in there where I thought Julia could take a little break! This stage had some loose spots, but some sections were really bad! We did our best though. Some corners have some loose gravel bits on them and when you get onto them it's like driving on loose marbles because of how compacted the road is."
"There is a LOT of loose gravel on this one so there will be a lot of cleaning, especially towards the end. It's fun!"
"This one we found a lot of spots of rain and bits of loose gravel, maybe sometimes I was a bit too careful, but some guys already went off the race so it's better to think about what we're doing."
SS10
Off road + spin + stalled engine
Stopped
Stopped
Accident
"I didn't see Frank, I didn't see anything like that. I think I have a front right puncture or something. Battery from finish photocell is in the road."
"We have stopped at crashed Larsen. I hope we will receive fair time as I felt we did a good stage."
"We are trying to push but probably a bit too much on this one, at the beginning I had a small moment I would say, but we have to keep going."
"The pace notes were not good, but from my side I was super slow. I have changed the setup and I improved on the entry to turns, but on the exit there were lots of close calls!"
"This one was really crazy! Really fast, you can lose control in some places, but other than that very fun."
"I don't know what I can say."
"This was not the stage for us, very gravelly, but otherwise OK!"
"We need to test some things as we have a lot of fast rallies coming up, so it's good for moving forward."
"This stage was better than the 1st, I would say I could go faster but I will try to improve."
"The grip is not there and it is difficult because we are doing a lot of cleaning. However, I feel I have power in the car again. We are starting in front but it is a penalty for our speed yesterday."
"I hope this one is a bit better in terms of times, it's a bit more difficult today as we are 3rd on the road so we will see in the next stages."
"1st stage was really good, tyre worked really well in there, I'm not sure there was a lot of cleaning to do as it was quite damp and compacted, but in this one there was lots of loose gravel so it was difficult to keep the line. The 1st stage and this stage were different to each other, this one was much wide whereas the 1st one was much more narrow. The tyre wear isn't too high here, but as the temperatures get warmer we'll see what we can do then. You can practice on an eSports setup to help prepare you for a car change, so that really helps."
"We are going to my limit now, so we can push from here."
SS9
Rolled
"Amazing to have fans out here! It's great to have their support. I want to also wish a happy birthday to my partner, I'm sure she'll be celebrating tonight."
"Really slippery, no flow whatsoever. That was not good."
"It's still a long day, but what a way to start the morning! It was a proper stage and as long as we are on the pace, I'm happy."
"That means our speed was good, a bit steady some places! Actually, we have more experience because this morning was more understandable regarding service, so it's all good."
"The car feels a little bit better, but still slippery in places, like the beginning there where the grip is okay, it feels better."
"Of course I will try to catch Larsen, but this one was not so clean, bit too many slides! The grip was changing so it's easy to slide."
"I'm not a boring person, but I tried a bit more to push today. It's really slippy!"
"Small issue in service, the team did a tremendous job after our roll yesterday. Let's enjoy the day and have fun."
"It was not so good but at least we have power again which is very nice and not shocking, but very difficult to drive yesterday, so I need to get used to power again!"
"Let's see, it will be a long day for sure, I was expecting more cleaning with this stage and I tried to be fast but lets see."
"We are doing our best, car is working perfectly so we just need to keep focussed and stay trying."
"I tried to push a bit but quite slippery there, had a bit too much angle over the crest and didn't manage to save it. Just says everything about my weekend!"
"Yeah Julia is getting on really well, this stage was really nice to be honest, the cleaning was more pronounced towards the end of the stage but we've put some interesting lines in there for the other guys. We had a moment at the end there where we were in a hedge but all good."
SS8
"It's just stupid! Come in the corner, turn in, front goes out! When it's so fast, it scares me I'll tell you that!"
"It's so fast in there. It feels good in the car, but I'm scared if I go to the limit I will go overboard."
"The car has got a lot nicer to drive, we made some changes to the setup so. Unfortunately we used the first day more for testing, but it is what it is. Let's try and push tomorrow."
"We're a little bit in no mans land which we need to manage, we're trying to keep the pressure on and we'll come out fighting again tomorrow and see what we can do."
"We look at it stage by stage, we cannot do anything else. We can get a bit more confident with this kind of road. We keep going and we have to try to do our best for MRF."
"Tomorrow is a long day, it'll be fine. Thank you!"
"Many feel it's right to push, but we rely on the grips. Today was okay, in terms of the grip and the feeling from the car."
"I am happy, the time is not so bad, for sure it was a good loop for us, this morning wasn't so good though. Not the best pace notes! It is good to discover, it's completely new for the Frenchman."
"It is different here, I feel more comfortable than in Liepaja, then tyres are working really well, thank you to the engineers. We have to be consistent, flat out and then we'll see."
"It's a pleasure racing against these guys, I tried until the end but I don't think we'll reach the top 10 for the moment. We will see tomorrow."
"We tried to push, but this is not the best I've had for today. Hopefully the start position for tomorrow will be better but I hope that tomorrow we can push."
"It's nice to have fans from Czech Republic here, it was quite successful for us today, we can be happy with our pace and we didn't leave too much time in their for Mathieu Franceschi so tomorrow will be interesting for us."
"I have an idea of what is going on, there is nothing we can do. I have been in this situation before, I am really on the limit and enjoying it. If you are losing more than a second a km, then it will be difficult. It has been a difficult rally from the start of the rally week and it hasn't gotten easier."
"I will rewatch footage from today and I will see if I can do something, it is a constant fight with my mind and I can't decide whether to go on or not."
"It has been quite easy to adjust from RallyX, but I struggle a little bit especially with going back to gravel, it's been a while so. It's been a difficult day but big thanks to the guys for never stopping the push. We're gonna try and work with the car a little more."
SS7
Accident
"I made a small mistake in the last corner, I drove a bit too wide and lost a couple of seconds. Our target is to stay with our teammates."
"The weather is moving a lot so the grip is constantly changing, so it's hard to build speed throughout there. Good clean run from us though."
"It's super fun to be in a tight fit with many talented drivers, so we're excited to be here."
"The car is going left and right on its own, its incredible. I am shaking because I am pushing like hell and the car is going everywhere. It's not a victory, not yet. I am trying my hardest."
"We had some small drizzle during the stage, but no drama. At the end it was quite wet!"
"It's getting better and better, I said it would be fine, but it's obviously getting better and better."
"I will try to push harder, but the guys behind will be pushing harder, maybe next stage will be wet, maybe not, but we'll see."
"It's really difficult, there is a lot corners and it's so narrow, you can suffer damage!"
"It's started to rain! Maybe it signals change."
"We have a lot of rain 2km before the end, it was very strange. We find some confidence and some speed so it's good."
"It's bad to be honest, I don't have any power so I guess that's it."
"We are happy that we are only a couple of seconds from Mathieu Franceschi. Unluckily in this stage I hit some rocks and I have some doubt in this stage about a puncture, but we are here and that is what is important."
"I'm really happy, we're improving with every km."
"Bit better than last time, it's still very loose outside of the line, it can be very challenging but the rhythm and confidence is coming back."
"It was good, the stages are beautiful - my driving not so much! I'm trying to understand myself - it's a long way but we're doing our best."
SS6
"Something is wrong with the car, last 3 kms, something is wrong on the front. It doesn't turn and there is no puncture."
"It was really really slippy, I can't do much more on this stage. I have no idea what to change, I have tried something but nothing helps. We can't go fast."
"It was a good stage to be honest, really clean all the way and no mistakes or punctures, I'm quite happy with that one."
"It's enjoyable and similar to Finland without the jumps, but you equally have to be skeptical of the jumps."
"I have enjoyed this stage, it was a bit sore on the previous loop and everytime I was checking it was okay in the first part so I lost a few seconds cause of confidence, but at least it's okay."
"We had some little problems with the throttle pedal, but it's alright. We have to check."
"Different compound tyres and maybe the road is making it work better, the feeling is good but the pacing is hard to find. It's enjoyable."
"There is too much rain at the middle of the stage, it is completely crazy. Can I return to the start?"
"Its tight! There are a lot of corners where you can't be loose, the tyres are working very well!"
"It is much more fun, easier to drive and you have much more grip. We're starting to know how to drive the car, we try to keep the pace and the time and we're going to keep an eye on the big guys behind."
"It's nice to drive when there is more grip, I don't know how its enough but we try!"
"It feels not clean and effective! I feel like I'm lacking a lot of power, I felt really low on power in there. I did some cuts, so maybe I took some bushes!"
"This stage I really enjoyed, we can be happy and the pace notes are working, so I am enjoying."
"We've improved the setup a bit, now it is much better, the start was very good, but towards the end I felt a bit of overdrive. Good stage, looking forward to the next one!"
"Did some changes that helped, still a little bit to go and these stages are absolutely fantastic! It is a mini Rally Finland so it is really nice."
"I'm trying to enjoy it and we're cruising, I'm trying to understand how to push but it is difficult, so we will see what we're doing."
SS5
Steering.
"I pushed a lot, there was a lot of sliding towards the end, a more awkward feeling than before but let's see for the next one."
"Maybe a small moment there! There were some proper rocks in the line that I underestimated and we had a lot of understeer. Other than that, all good."
"Difficult stage, a lot of loose rocks everywhere and tried to be careful driving around. Lots of grip, so I was quite surprised how clean it was."
"Too early to be thinking about this at the moment, the stages are still in immacculate condition so, need to keep pressure on Oliver but long way to go yet."
"I was expecting it to feel easier, but it wasn't. Something is wrong that I need to find."
"A few mistakes, but it feels a bit better."
"Now the car is good, everything is fixed and the steering wheel is great, now we have to remain focussed on my driving."
Rolled
"Little bit cleaner now so it's easier to find the grip, it seems to be okay, we're trying to keep this pace for the afternoon."
"It was better! This time I kept both wheels on the floor."
"We are trying, we are in a completely different position to this morning because now the corners are more tight, so it's a bit tricky but we'll see."
"The grip is quite high, so it was a pleasure to drive but I don't know about the time, we'll ask the top guys, but we try."
"I was quite lost in the first loop, so if our time is bettee than I can be satisfied."
"There is something wrong here."
"We did some significant changes in service and it seems to work a lot better now, I made the mistake of putting hard tyres on the car, with the rain it didn't help so hopefully the stages don't have much rain on and we can push."
"No changes in service, just tried to have a different approach. It's still quite hard but we're just going to keep it safe for now."
"There's so many anti-cuts in that stage and occasionally you get a bit close and unfortunately I clipped it, we just need to keep going."
"We did a lot of changes, the road is very different to when we came in the first pass. I need to get some more grip!"
Broken power steering after hitting an anti-cut barrier
Puncture
SS4
Double puncture
"The two last stages are getting better, it's nice to get into it. Best stage I've done in my life, the stages are beautiful."
"I was aiming for top 10, I was hoping we could fight within it, so I'm getting goosebumps talking about it, it makes me so happy."
"Bit too soft on the tyres this morning, I think this may be the reason for lack of grip."
"It's about trying to race and get going again, good to get back to service and get it checked over because it's been going at the road at all angles."
"We've got our pace and we're sticking to it, we have a strategy to stick to and we like to stay within touching distance of the rally."
"It is better to have beachwear on this stage in case you can fall in the lake!"
"The problem is if I do not know the times from behind! I tried to find some grip in the car, it's getting better but timewise it's still not really what I want. It can be difficult when you don't have the grip."
"I don't have experience in these kind of roads, so it was completely different and we were comparing for something different."
"I am not happy with my package, I am driving badly and my pace notes are bad, it isn't my day."
"The MRF Tyres work very well, this stage I didn't feel quite good with driving, it's very difficult to know how to put the car into the corners. It's a different job here, it's totally different to other races."
"It's our first time in this type of stage, here it is crazy compared to Spain. I think we are doing a good job, sometimes we need to go flat out. We can keep fighting."
"That was our target, to fight for the Top 10, maybe 7th would be nice. It is difficult to set some competitive times, this stage was quite clear from my point of view, it is very flowing. In the corners we lose some time every time, but we'll find some time in the second loop."
"We're doing what we can, but this stage was very slippy compared to the other one but as I said here, we have to try that again!"
"We have to do something, so we'll have to search a bit and discuss with the team what we can do. We try to have fun and the stages are beautiful, would be nice to drive how I want, but every corner I feel I cannot drive properly so I'm losing a lot of time in places."
"I have tried to change the setup, but not succeeded. I hope for big changes in setup. It's quite low."
"Really nice stage, this last section is so fast so you need a lot of trust which I don't have! We're enjoying, but we're not near where we want to be."
"I will try to find some confidence for the afternoon, I'm not too sure how to do it but I will start from the pace notes."
"This stage is the fastest of the loop, really fun with fast corners over crests as well, it's like a rollercoaster! There will always be a bit of cleaning in there but we just have to have fun and keep going this afternoon."
SS3
Rolled
"Wasn't the best run, so narrow and technical and difficult. Done a little adjustment on the car now, but still very difficult."
"It's difficult to know what to expect. The roads are fantastic, the pace notes are great. I'm aiming for a top 10 so."
"During the stage, we still have no grip, it was quite fun but we have absolutely no grip!"
"We had a clean stage, for the last stage it's getting to service. We'll race then it's time for service."
"Driving with a little bit of reserve, there are so many ditches to avoid. We were not on the limit but naturally trying to avoid any obstacles."
"As I said before, in SS 1 I hit a block in the tighest corner and we broke the steering arm. I am so thankful to the Swedish fans and they offered to change the part. We had a bit more time to make it and we had to stop and stay behind to fix it. But we are on the road."
"Nothing good to be honest. But it was alright, we'll keep the pace and still be fine at some time."
"Its the more difficult stage of the day, the pace notes are not perfect. We need to work during the service!"
"It's nice to drive fast stages but it's difficult to find the proper pace to be honest, it's slippery and sometimes we went outside too much."
"I am happy withj this stage, I tried to be fast but it's really narrow and really slippery! We are still in the fight."
"I think the surface is a bit different from the previous one, it is a bit slippery. The timing isn't so bad, better than the stages before. I think I need to change my driving style."
"I think 'a bit uncomfortable' is maybe not the right thing. I don't know what to do. I'm just driving with what I have. We agree in the car that rally is normally fun, so we try and have a fun. We also agree that something is not right."
"Really difficult to concentrate, there are lots of places to do a mistake, especially the last part of the stages which are very slippery."
"Quite the same as Finland, but a little bit more narrow so we need to keep the line!"
"I feel like I'm under a rock, still driving very badly and it's very difficult to keep up the pace and forget everything that I've done wrong in the last season. Some day I will be back again."
"It's fun, I did a restart and some setup changes, the stage was very fun and there's still some improvements to do. I improved the rear to make it stop sliding in the corners, I made it harder."
"I don't know what to say, I went a little bit too fast in a junction, but there is not much too say. I made too many mistakes and have no trust at all."
"Very hard to know, we're just concentrating on ourselves and find the best rhythm, there's some wider moments than what we wanted, we just need to keep enjoying and see if we can improve now."
SS2
Double puncture.
Driver ill.
Engine problem.
Oil leak
Accident
"I was awful in there, say much understeer. I missed the braking many times - DIFFICULT!"
"It was just about to get tough, I thought I had a puncture at one stage but we got through it without any issues so I am happy."
"It was really, really slippy! We have no grip, I don't understand why it was so slippy! It was a difficult stage for sure."
"Very slippery still! Makes all the pace notes too fast, it can make it tricky. This one didn't flow as nice as the previous one!"
"Big moment towards the start, spun in 5th gear. Not the way we wanted to start, but we move on."
"I am struggling a bit to be honest actually. Just need to get on! We'll be fine."
"This stage I was not happy with the pace. It was too soft and I slid too much. We need to find small adjustments to fix it. I lost confidence on this stage but I'm trying to still be in the pace. It's good but it is slippery."
"It's really really fast! Crazy one. Never ideal as a Frenchman to discover this and go flat out. We're going to check the pace notes."
"One of the most difficult stages I've done in my life, you have to be clear with the pace notes, but we are watching our speed. I was not happy about this."
"A bit better but to be honest, but I need to find some speed, especially the 2nd part because it's wide and flowing. I wasn't so confident though."
"I felt quite good! It was the kind of stage you get in Finland so it was very nice to drive, but I think it was cleaning car by car."
"We are happy to be here, it's a massive moment. I hit a massive rock with by front left, the tyres have served me well though. The time is not bad and we are happy to be here!"
"I'm scared to death to be honest. I have never been this scared to drive before. I have nothing to say, I do my absolute best, but something is very, very strange."
"Still I have to understand where I am, apparently it is a lot faster and very slippery, it can be quite frightening for the mind. I have to battle a lot with myself!"
"I'm speechless about what a disaster this is. I don't know really."
"I don't think it will be as much cleaning on this one as there was on the first one. A bit better, I am still way too slow on the last section. We're getting there though."
"It's been going quite well, still getting to grips with everything, this stage is a bit more fast than the first one so it's about keeping the right lines and everything. We're happy with how it's going, going to continue like this and hopefully improve."
"We had a spin in the stage and stalled the car. I can't drive this car - I don't know what the problem is."
SS1
Rolled
"It was a bad stage to be honest, no flow whatsoever, lots of loose rocks! I was bad, but start of the first stage and I am here. Very rough, more than I expected."
"First of all, big thank you to the mechanics who stayed up all night so we could be here today. The main goal is to have fun, enjoy and do them proud."
"Maybe a bit too much sliding, but difficult to say! It was fun, but we lost some time so we can improve."
"Quite challenging, it's okay. We'll get the rhythm up in the next one and see how it goes."
"When you drive on roads like this, it's hard not to push the right foot a little bit harder! Hard to gauge the grip but a nice warm up for the next one."
"Really steady sometimes, sometimes sliding too much! Need to find the rhythm now. Crazy."
"I was not trying to push the limit, I was trying to keep the flow, the grip is low but the steering is good."
"When we saw Campedelli on the road I lost my focus a bit, but we're okay. The pace notes were okay too. We will see for the next one."
"We did a great stage, I tried my best and it is not easy to keep the pace, you have some flowing and very fast sections, but some nice easy ones too so it's okay."
Stopped with broken steering arm. Continued.
"Soft tyre is working very well, it's competitive so I'm happy with that. Lots of traction and lots of braking in this one. Maybe we could do better, but it's all working."
"It was quite slippery, I think the guys behind are going to push harder but at the moment it's good!"
"The penultimate corner of the stage, maybe we were too fast. I am okay, luckily we're here. Let's see how the rest of the day goes for us."
"Quite slippery! Some moments we were in the ditch, we might have dropped a bit of time but we tried to push a bit."
"It's slippy, I can say that for sure! It's tricky, there are some anti-cuts on the road and they are difficult to see. We have started so that's good, we can build."
"Was really slippery in there, quite a tricky stage actually, I am not feeling the need to push at all but I can build on this."
"I think a short stage is okay to keep good measure, I enjoyed it, it is fast! I think we saw more of the grass than the road, but I think we can keep up!"
"You have to find the balance of the car, it moves around a bit more than the Rally3. The stage was okay, could have gone a few places, but you also have to enjoy it."