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News and quotes SS 09 (Granit und Wald 1)

It's clear to go for the rally Saturday at the Central European Rally. The partly damp track made for challenging conditions at the start of the day. While Ott Tänak set the first fastest time of the day in 10:52.7 minutes, distancing Sébastien Ogier by 3.9 seconds, the overall leader got off to a slow start: Thierry Neuville finished fifth, 7.0 seconds behind the fastest. Although he retained the lead, his advantage shrank to just 0.8 seconds. With the fastest time, Tänak also managed to leave Ogier behind in the standings and move up to P2.


#9 Andreas Mikkelsen

“It was super tricky! The grip kept changing, and I was just trying to find a rhythm. I ended up touching the grass with the rear left, and bam! Spun out. We lost a ton of time because of that.”


#19 Jourdan Serderidis

“It was a bit damp and foggy, but nothing too crazy. The stage was clean—really nice!”


#13 Grégoire Munster

“Some parts were even wetter than yesterday! The grip is changing a lot. You start braking and think you’re going straight for ages. Then, just as you’re about to hit the turn, the grip suddenly comes back. It's really tricky, and our setup is too stiff for this stage.”


#16 Adrien Fourmaux

“We have a huge issue on the front differential that we realised on the road section. I have no drive on the front so every braking is just lock-up, no support from the front. It’s like driving a rear-wheel-drive the whole time so it’s really, really difficult. As soon as there is a little bit of dirt there is just no braking and the car goes straight. This is what happened for this corner. Really, really difficult to drive, it’s undriveable, basically. It's like rear-wheel-drive.”


#5 Sami Pajari (FIN) / Enni Mälkönen (FIN), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“I think my story’s simple. I was just too careful in many, many places. I saw quite many lines I would say off the road. I don’t know what has been going on but I guess it was quite a tricky stages. At least I have the feeling, that I was slow in some places. But many places there was maybe more grip and then suddenly there was not anymore what you might expect. Clearly not an easy start. I’m trying to be clever anyway.”

 

#18 Takamoto Katsuta (JPN) / Aaron Johnson (IRL), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“For sure the guys in front touch quite a lot actually but it’s okay, I just stayed on the road and nothing special. Let’s see how It’s going.”

 

#33 Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“Obviously it’s not easy in these conditions today, we were hoping to be a little more straightforward today but definitely not the case.” 

 

#8 Ott Tänak (EST) / Martin Järveoja (EST), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid

“Let’s say the car feels a bit better today than yesterday. The conditions are extremely demanding, that's not what we expected. It was more like moisture or a bit humid but it’s all wet. Quite tricky. We will try to improve a bit the balance. At the moment it’s still very tricky with that cloud developing or the fog so let’s see when we get to clear roads.”

 

#17 Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Vincent Landais (FRA), Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid

“Well it was not the best, but if we lose time it’s never good.”

 

#11 Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL), Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid

“Very dirty, very tricky! I have to take it steady in those conditions. I mean, it’s very risky in there and I didn’t want to make a mistake to open the day. I think we did what we had to do. Let’s see if it’s a bit more clean for the upcoming stages because it was much dirtier than expected.”

  

#22 Nikolay Gryazin (BUL) / Konstantin Aleksandrov (ANA), Citroën C3 Rally2

“For me it feels super slow but I think for this type of surface when it’s so slippery it is better to be smooth. I just was not trying to over-brake, just to be really, really calm. I think there is no sense to push here and, yeah, it is difficult to enjoy this kind of stage. Unfortunately the gravel crew passes a different surface so I was not even listening to the marks they are doing.”

 

#20 Oliver Solberg (SWE) / Elliott Edmondson (GBR), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

“Fourmaux’s corner, same corner but we did some setup changes from yesterday – oh my God it’s understeering! Unbelievable! Every junction: handbrake. Every tight corner: handbrake. Car is very unpredictable.”

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