Car 1. OGIER/INGRASSIA
“I comment after the stage that there was nothing more I could do. I am happy with the gap. We did the best of what we could this morning. It’s nice to start in front of Thierry and beat him three times. Still a lot to do this afternoon. Tyre choice is not so easy.”
Car 2. EVANS/BARRITT
“It’s not bright sunshine anymore. The amount of wear on the tyres took everyone by surprise this morning. It’s a bit disappointing not to make more from the start position this morning. We will look at any video we need to check for this afternoon.”
Car 3. SUNINEN/MARKKULA
“Seven out of 10 today. Some sections are good and others I am losing a bit more. Driving in the slow corners, I am losing time.”
Car 4. MIKKELSEN/JAEGER-SYNNEVAAG
“We had a good run. The car feels nice. We lost valuable time on the first stage this morning, but I am happy with the car. It will be rougher in the afternoon and the last stage will be deep ruts. There is a risk of rain on the last stage.”
Car 5. NEUVILLE/GILSOUL
“Seb did great and so did I. I always was one or two tenths behind. I was not 100% happy with the handling of the car. On the throttle I got some understeer. We have to be a bit more aggressive.”
Car 6. PADDON/MARSHALL
“Quite varying road conditions but we are happy with that. We are not quite at the level we want to be at. It will be pretty rough this afternoon. There will be a bit of looking after the car and there’s sure to be some big rocks.”
Car 8. TÄNÄK/JARVEOJA
“We had an engine issue. I hit a rock and we had a leak in the radiator and we were not able to continue. It was very strange. Unfortunately the engine is broken...”
Car 9. LAPPI/FERM
“I drink a very healthy smoothie…I think Ott was really unlucky. I saw some spectator video. There were some rocks and there was some damage. With Jari, I guess he was quite unlucky. I don’t know which rock he hit. I need to find out. We struggled. The driving itself was okay. I was really using the road on the last one. It felt like a Power Stage push but the time was not there. We change dampers and pre-load springs and then away we go.”
Car 10. MEEKE/NAGLE
“Happy with the morning. The long stage, I struggled. Second place is not to bad. The organisers have repaired the stages, but the ruts are getting deeper and the stages are slower not faster. On the second pass it could be bedrock between the ruts.”
Car 11. BREEN/MARTIN
“I would have liked to have a bit more speed. But it’s nice to be back on it. The last stage got rough and slower and slower. The cleaning will not be so important on the second pass.”
Car 16. SORDO/DEL BARRIO
“Honestly I feel good. It is only the beginning. I need to try and fight like this. It will be difficult for the tyres. We will see now the second pass. Soft tyres maybe will be too soft, hard tyres not so much grip.”
Car 21. AL-RAJHI/ORR
“It is Ramadan and everyone sleeps in my country. No Snapchat! It is difficult this morning. It will come very rough and we plan to give car harder springs and make the suspension higher. Our car is narrower. We make our own lines.”
Car 32. GREENSMITH/PARRY
Lost intercom on the third stage. “It’s been tricky. The first was okay and then we had engine problems. The second stage we managed to change some settings and then the intercom went before the start of the third stage. I did it all from memory.”
Car 34. KATSUTA/SALMINEN
20-second penalty for arriving two minutes later at TC4.
Car 36. ANDOLFI/SCATTOLIN
40-second penalty for arriving four minutes later at TC4.
Car 42. LEFEBVRE/MOREAU
Leads WRC 2 by 27.5 seconds after SS4.
Car 62. FRANCESCHI/COURBON
The WRC 3 leader retired in SS3.
Car 64. FOLB/BRONNER
Did not finish SS3.
Car 69. FERNANDEZ/RIQUELME
Did not finish SS2.
Car 81. ARAÚJO/RAMALHO
“We were on a defensive tack this morning. There were a lot of loose rocks from the WRCs. In these circumstances the important thing is to manage everything between speed and caution. That’s what we are trying to do.”
Car 82. MEIRELES/CASTRO
Retired at TC3 with engine issues.
Car 83. BARBOSA/MAGALHÃES
“It was not an easy morning. We did not have a good set-up.”