Car #1 S. Ogier / J. Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC): (there is some grass on the front of the car) “I am happy with what we are doing and my drive, but it so slippery. It is a surprise to be leading after SS3 but we need to wait until the end of the loop as softs are going to suffer more now. The stage is very technical… up hill there is a lot of traction. Happy with what we have done so far.”.

Car #9 A. Mikkelsen / A. Yaener Syinnevaag (Volkswagen Polo R WRC): “I just fitted different tyres on the car, there was a bit more wear than expected so I was a bit cautious near the start but no problems… Next stages are going to be interesting”.

Car #5 M. Ostberg / O. Floene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC): “It was not so bad, it was a difficult stage. I enjoyed it. Not much tyres on the back? No problem this was the plan I am going to change them”. [rear tyres look second hand!].

Car #3 H. Paddon / J. Kennard (Hyundai New Generation I20 WRC): “We spun near the start and got stuck in a cloud of dust. When we were turning the car around we hit a wall and broke a rear toe arm.”. [rear right knocked. The rear of the car is steering right].

Car #4 D. Sordo / M. Marti (Hyundai New Generation I20 WRC): “It was really difficult, very slippery..I was out of the line, surprised by how much slippery it was. No, I am not happy”.

Car #2 J.-M. Latvala / M. Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC): “It is a good time! I did not feel I was driving so well, so the time is better than expected. I made a few mistakes at the beginning. Overall I am happy and positive, I hope I will have enough tyres left”..

Car #12 O. Tanak / R. Molder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC): “Maximum attack. We are on full hard now. We will go and keep driving our best”..

Car #20 T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Hyundai New Generation I20 WRC): “To be honest I had a good stage but just before the end I spun and easily lost 6-7 seconds, the car did not stop sliding. I pushed quite hard”.

Car #6 E. Camilli / B. Veillas (Ford Fiesta RS WRC): “We still have the same problem with the rear diff, which is not possible to fix. It is like having left wheel drive. I am disappointed because I worked really hard for this rally and I had a good feeling with the car”..

Car #21 M. Prokop / J. Tomanek (Ford Fiesta RS WRC): “Now we also have a problem with the front. We have been driving carefully and now we have understeering. I am trying to focus but I am very unconcentrated for what happened yesterday. Let’s try to put hard tyres on the front for the next one and see what happens”..

Car #16 H. Solberg / I. Minor (Ford Fiesta RS WRC): “It was not a good stage. I stopped two times in the hairpins. My fault. Flat out on the next one!”.

Car #37 L. Bertelli / S. Scattolin (Ford Fiesta RS WRC): “We had a rear diff failure I think, then I hit something in a corner and got a puncture. But we already had a rear diff problem since the end of the previous stage. I have done no mistakes, it just broke… second time in a row, that is not possible!”. [REAR RIGHT PUNCTURE TYRE COMPLETELY RUINED NOT A MARK ON THE CAR]

Car #10 K. Abbring / S. Marshall (Hyundai I20 WRC): (looking very frustrated)“I can be quite short on how this went. We broke a prop-shaft before the first stage today. We only have front wheel drive and brakes on the rear. With low speed everything looks so different. We will get the car fixed at service and have another go in the afternoon. Very unlucky, but we are still here”.

Car #42 N. Fuchs / F. Mussano (Skoda Fabia R5): “Very nice stage, I drove it in 2014 and I like it a lot. I like even more the next one and will try to push hard”.