Date: Friday, September 14th
Day: 1
Flash N°: 2
Service: B (Asparan)
Car 1. OGIER/INGRASSIA
“We expected the dust and it was there. We need to be ready to face rough conditions for
this afternoon. Grip should be better for us now. It is going to be a tricky afternoon.”
Car 2. EVANS/BARRITT
“Not great. We lost the intercom momentarily. Dan was fiddling with the cable and then we
got caught out in the dust and we had a spin. I could not see anything. Then, on the stage
after, we had a transmission problem and we lost drive. There were certain settings we
could have to get through and we did that.”
M-Sport Ford’s Richard Milliner said:
“We saw the car pull away and we knew there was a major problem. There is quite some
severe damage to the rear differential. We should be able to change that in the 30-minute
service. He was able to nurse the car back. I guess we were the first team to fall foul of
the new event. We will change the whole of the rear assembly, cross-members and rear
corners. We will then strip down the parts that are okay and we can use them again.”
Car 4. MIKKELSEN/JAEGER-SYNNEVAAG
“It’s a good feeling. It feels good. After two rallies where we were struggling it’s nice to be
at the front. We will try and foresee which corners will be very rough. We also have to use
our eyes. Rocks can pull out.”
Car 5. NEUVILLE/GILSOUL
“They will change the tyres and we will work on the pace notes in the corners where we
were optimistic this morning!”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JARVEOJA
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Tommi Mäkinen said:
“It seems to be tough. I am a bit surprised the tyre wear was not what we were thinking
before the rally. Of course there is a long way to go and it will be rougher and more rocks
in the afternoon. I think it is okay at the moment. We struggle a little with the grip level. We
did good work with cooling package and that seems to be no trouble any more. I would
say we need to concentrate more on suspension behaviour in rough conditions.
Car 38. BOSTANCI/VATANSEVER
Retired confirmed on SS2 with broken front left suspension.
Car 74. COOK/DAVIS
Stopped in SS2.
