Car 1, Ogier/Ingrassia
“Not a bad start, still a bit of humidity, more than I expected. We have the lead from Tanak but it looks like he has the rhythm. We’ll push this afternoon, but nothing too crazy.”
Car 2, Latvala/Anttila
“Fantastic job from our team, it’s nice to be back on the rally stages. Great work by the guys at service. I think the target is to try to enjoy and to try to get the feeling back. We’ll drive the stages and see where we are then.”
Car 4, Ostberg/Anderson
“We tried to continue the same way and increase speed and find the confidence on the mud. Speed seems to be not so bad, we need to carry on and try to understand how I drive on the mud. There’s not many places with the very slippery mud.”
Car 5, Hirvonen/Lehtinen
“It was okay, it was good and we were two seconds down. It just took me a while to wake up. It’s flat out in there. If he [Tanak] pushes I guess we’ll have to push a little bit more too.”
Car 6, Evans/Barritt
“It’s a massive credit to the team, they’ve done an incredible job. The car is absolutely perfect. Mixed stage, some bits slippery, some bits dry. It’s still quite greasy out there.”
Car 7, Neuville/Gilsoul
“Right setup, at the beginning of the stage it was okay with my tyre choice, two hard on the front, two soft on the rear. It’s quite damp out there. There was a lot of understeer. The tyre choice worked well though.”
Car 9, Mikkelsen/ Markkula
“Trying to build on what we did yesterday. Still not very fast but we’re getting there. Taking small steps, nothing too big because that’s when it goes wrong. It’s easier today than it was yesterday.”
Car 10, Kubica/ Szczepaniak
“It’s okay, yesterday was very strange accident. The corner we hit the tree I thought we could cut, but the tree was suspended. Today I hope to enjoy it, have fun and learn a bit. There is a line there, it’s cutting quite a lot which I wasn’t expecting. But after yesterday it’s better to give some margin.”
Car 11, Tanak/Molder
“The pace the was good. It’s getting quite slippery in there.”
Car 12, Al Qassimi/ Patterson
“It’s good in the fast section, but there’s a lot of mud in the corners. I can see I’m losing a lot of time. You put your foot on throttle and it just spins. Up to now the car seems okay, but we’ll look at changes.”
Car 16, Solberg/Minor
“It was not so good, it’s a very, very difficult stage. I’m quite happy, but I lost some time. It’s a difficult one. I’ll do as best as I can.”
Car 20, Sordo/Marti
“We were pushing a little bit hard, we have soft tyres on the rear. The feeling was really good this morning, very good.”
Car 21, Prokop/Tománek
“It started well, just not so confident on the fast corners. The slow ones we managed well. I was not 100% sure, I was maybe braking too much. I don’t think the road is clearing, for me it’s getting more and more slippy. ”
Car 35, Ketomaa/Lindstrom
“There are quite a lot of slippery places, it was difficult to get a rhythm. It’s good though, it’s always enjoyable to be in a rally car.”
Car 36, Barrable/Loudon
“We didn’t really find the right rhythm, it’s a trick stage. We’re just looking forward to get through the next one. We made a lot of changes from our notes last year.”
Car 38, Ahlin/Abrahamsen
“All the stages we’re doing today I did when I was sick, we need to do them today and make sure the notes are okay.”
Car 40, Al-Attiyah/Bernacchini
“We start really hard, but the stages were not easy so we took no risk. It’s still a long rally, we’ll try to improve on the second loop. It’s still quite muddy out there. No big moments, it was okay.”
Car 42, Tidemand/Floene
“It’s quite okay, we have a lot to work on. But everything is working, we’re okay.”
Car 43, Sousa/Magalhães
“Finally some proper time. I managed to maintain the rhythm while taking no risk at all. We made some changes this morning, the car is good. We know it’s not too clever to push too hard, the two boys in front are too far ahead. It’s time to be clever and not get the emotion. We changed the shocks and the anti-roll bar. It’s good now.”
Car 44, Maurin/Klinger
“It was really good, a good start for us, we just tried to continue.”
Car 47, Al-Kuwari/ Duffy
“It was a good start for us, not a bad time. The car is better. We had problems with the suspension we fixed in service. The stage was very tricky and slippery. It’s not an easy rally, there are no easy stages. There are still things to improve on. It’s only the first rally in my season, there’s still a lot to year.”
Car 49, McCormack/ Moynhan
“It’s going really well, we’re trying to get to grips with everything. It’s quite a technical rally. We lost a bit of time with a broken rear roll bar, but yeah, we’re looking forward to it.”
Car 54, Riedemann/ Vanneste
“At service we changed the setup of the car to have more traction. I’m very happy with the car now, so I tried to push in order to gain a position.”
Car 56, Koci/ Kostka
“I chose the soft tyres this morning, it seems to be a good choice because some corners are very muddy and slippery. We can see a lot of clouds, so if there’s rain we made the right choice.”
Car 58, Taylor/Taylor
“Tough stage, didn’t trust the notes on the crests. I’ll try and keep the pace.”
Car 59, Polykarpou/ Winter
“We have a problem with the front left suspension, I don’t know what it is. I need to check.”
Car 60, Michel/Marie
“It was a bit odd this morning to be on that stage, there were a lot of grip changes. I’m still learning.”
Car 62, Fisher/Noble
“Been careful, last few km the grip was very poor. I’ll keep on the same rhythm as yesterday.”
Car 64, Cerny/ Kohout
“Not so bad, we were on soft tyres but we weren’t sure if that was a good choice.”
Car 65, Campedelli/ Fappani
“Very demanding stage, some parts very slippery. Must be cautious and avoid any risk.”
Car 70, Kruuda/Jäveoja
“At the start of the stage I had a good feeling, but then it got so tricky and the pace notes were not promising. I made a couple of mistakes and lost three seconds.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Car 8, Hänninen/Tuominen
Finished the stage with a puncture, wheel running on the rim.
Hyundai Motorsport has today announced Finnish driver Juho Hänninen as one of the team’s test drivers for 2013, ending weeks of speculation over the mystery man behind the wheel of the Hyundai i20 WRC in May.
Hyundai Motorsport has been building up its new operation from scratch since the start of the year, establishing the team at a dedicated facility in Alzenau, Germany and recruiting specialists at every level of its organisation.
Test drivers are an integral part of the team’s development programme, requiring the necessary skills and experience to develop a competitive and reliable rally car in a short space of time.
Six months ahead of the debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 2014, Hyundai Motorsport is in the process of carrying out an intensive test programme to evaluate and develop the i20 WRC on all terrains and conditions.
Hänninen won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2010 followed by the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship and the FIA European Rally Championship titles in 2011 and 2012 respectively. He will be a valuable asset for the team to prepare the assault to the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship.
Hyundai Motorsport will soon be in a position to announce a second test driver for the remainder of the 2013 test phase. 2014 drivers will be announced at the end of the year.
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “We’re very pleased to welcome Juho on board for our 2013 test programme. I’m sure his experience and background will contribute to the project and I’m happy with the job he’s done so far.
We have decided to work with different drivers with unique skills and capabilities this year, which will provide us with valuable feedback for 2014.
Hänninen said: “I’m delighted to be part of the Hyundai Motorsport testing programme for this year. It’s a fantastic opportunity to work closely to a manufacturer and to give my contribution to this great challenge.
The first run with the i20 WRC was quite positive for me; I’m very impressed with the work the team has done so far in such an incredibly short space of time. I feel comfortable with everyone in the team and I look forward to carry on working with them in the next six months.”