Photo: Tony Welam/McKlein

Rally Norway 2007 – Leg 2

Driver comments at end of stage 10 – Terningmoen

Weather clear before start, snow before ten cars and stopped snowing , temperature 0 °C

17 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (Ford Focus)
First on road. ” I am just a snow plough today being first on the road. It is very difficult with so much loose snow on the stages. On the long stage I went off three times. There are very many spectators here”

23 Mads Østberg/Ole Kristian Unnerud (Subaru WRC S10)
Went off in the stage, went wide on a corner and broke his car's steering. He was stuck for 15mins, then drove to end of stage and between the flying finish and the stop he went off again, and blocked the stage so all the drivers behind were held up while he tried to get his car  out. He then got out of the stage but he is not sure if he will come back as he has steering on only one wheel. He said" It was very bad luck for me. I went a little wide and there was a big stone in the snow bank”

25 Juho Hänninen/Mikko Markkula (Mitsubishi Lancer WR05)
“It was OK for me on this stage, but still very slippery with the new snow. Mads Ostberg is stuck and it was very difficult to drive around him.”

6 Daniel Carlsson/Denis Giraudet (Citroen Xsara WRC)
“Very slippery for me still when I go through this stage. Not so good for my time. Ostberg was still stuck and it was hard to get passed.”

9 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla (Ford Focus RS WRC 06)
“It was OK on the stage. I made some little driving mistakes in the spectator area . The car is under steering a bit but it’s ok. The first stage today was very good for me but it is so difficult to keep it on the right line. I am still very pleased so far.”

8 Chris Atkinson/Glenn MacNeall (Subaru Impreza WRC 2006)
“Nothing special to say about this stage. We just drove through it. There is a lot of snow”

10 Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (Ford Focus RS WRC 06)
“Yes my time here was OK. I suppose but I had the wrong tyres because my studs were too small”

19 Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini (Citroen Xsara WRC)
“The stage is very difficult for me, very hard and a lot of snow. It was also difficult to get passed Ostberg”

1 Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4)
“I lost a lot of time in the long stage compared to Marcus and Mikko but I have made a bit back on this one. I am not sure if the long stud was the right choice. I am trying everything I can but it is very hard to beat the first two”

3 Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen (Ford Focus RS WRC 06)
“It was very hard for me now on this stage. I have lost fourth, fifth, and sixth gear “

4 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lethinen (Ford Focus RS WRC 06)
“My plan for the rest of the day is just to go flat out, I can’t do anything else. The time gaps are still small so I cannot ease up at all.”

20 Jan Kopecky/Filip Schovanek (Skoda Fabia WRC)
“I think this stage was not quite as slippery as I expected. We changed the setup of the car  after yesterday but I am not sure if it is right . We will look in service”

26 Rune Dalsjø/Jens Olav Løvhøiden (Subaru Impreza S9)
” It was a very slippery stage and I  had a spin so lost some time, but my car is going very well this morning”

45 P-G Andersson/Jonas Andersson (Suzuki Swift S1600)
“It's pretty difficult so the best thing is just to keep it on the line. It is better to drive carefully into the corners like we are doing instead of going fast and wide and into the snow banks”

32 Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk (Suzuki Swift S1600)
“It’s OK for me. I don’t have to push 101% to catch some of these guys in front of me. I have to be fast but not crazy fast. Yesterday fighting with P-G I was at 101%. If P-G starts to push now with his position then he will be stupid”

37 Aaron Burkart/Timo Gottschalk (Citroen C2 GT)
“The surface is quite strange; sometime there is grip and sometimes none at all. It is also difficult to slalom past all these stuck cars.”

Matthew Willson is off in Stage 10 and stuck in a snow bank.