On a dry road with some damp patches, Sébastien OGIER wins the stage by 1.4s over Takamoto KATSUTA. Elfyn EVANS was third fastest after being forced to slow for a deer. Hyundais struggled to keep pace. Ogier leads the rally by 1.3s over Katsuta with Evans third, 3.1s behind. Kalle ROVANPERÄ dropped from the lead to be tied fourth, 3.9s behind.
Elfyn EVANS
“It was ok but obviously quite cold. I had to slow for a deer in one of the worst places, not ideal.”
Sébastien OGIER
“It was ok. I’m not super happy with the car but all good. On this one it was ok [to get tyres up to temperature]”
Kalle ROVANPERÄ
“Not really any issues. On this really low speed and narrow sections I don’t have such a comfortable feeling with the car. It was understeer and when you have so many twisty sections it is not so easy. It was trickier than I expected.”
Ott TÄNAK
“Actually it was not so tricky at all, it was nice conditions. Obviously it was not working at all.”
Thierry NEUVILLE
“There is zero grip but the car is very edgy. I just drove through and we lost intercom a couple times in the stage, so I was without pacenotes for some sections. We are trying to find a solution but we have to see, it might be something internal. Luckily we know that stage well.”
Takamoto KATSUTA
“I lost a few seconds. it feels quite ok not a big push, long way to go. There as some misunderstanding, l’m not happy. I’m surprised it is quite ok so that is why it is frustrating.”
Adrien FOURMAUX
“It was a really nice stage to drive. It was much more dirtier than expected. The balance changed for me in the car in different conditions. I just tried to manage it but it was good fun to drive.”
Sami PAJARI
“It didn’t feel so amazing on the stage so I don’t know it felt I was sliding quite a lot so I didn’t feel so confident. We will try to keep pushing.”
Joshua MCERLEAN
“It is busy there is a lot happening. It is good to get it started but I just need to find some rhythm. We were fighting with a bear this morning [when asked what was wrong with his eye].”
Grégoire MUNSTER
“I have never had so much understeer in my life. I hope we can find something otherwise it is going to be a long weekend.”
Oliver SOLBERG
“It was the first time really trying the hard tyre and I didn’t really have the feeling. It got a little bit better during the run. It is not a nice feeling. It doesn’t feel good with this. It is the first time doing this rally so it is very important for the future.”
Gus GREENSMITH
“It felt quite ok, maybe at the end I could have been more committed. I thought we would be a little bit closer”
Nikolay GRYAZIN
“For me the feeling in the car is good.”
Jan SOLANS
“It was not so bad maybe not perfect I kept sliding on the rear. I had some small issues with the wipers but everything is fine.”
Alejandro CACHÓN
“It was very tricky. I just tried to do improve my confidence and not to stress there tyre. It is very narrow with lots of corners. If you push at the start the tyre suffers a lot.”
Yuki YAMAMOTO
“Not an easy stage but the conditions is ok. It was not a perfect feeling in the car with big understeer.”
