Regrouping Bad Griesbach Therme

During the regrouping at Bad Griesbach Therme, fans and drivers received a warm welcome at this year's Central European Rally. Between special stages 1 and 2, the two runs on the “Golf und Therme” special stage near the golf and spa town, the starters gathered in ideal weather conditions. Interviews, autograph sessions, photo opportunities galore – the event struck a chord with all rally enthusiasts. Sébastien Ogier arrived at the atmospheric event as the leader – here are his comments and a selection of quotes and impressions from the entire starting field.

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

“We're in the lead, so we can't complain. But the gaps are small, of course, so we definitely have to keep going like this. There's no service between the first and second special stages anyway, so we couldn't change much. But so far I'm happy with the car, so there's no reason to do anything differently. Today's stage is a pretty nice route, fast and wide.”

#20 Oliver Solberg (SWE) / Elliott Edmondson (GBR), Toyota GR Yaris

“SS1 was okay, quite dirty in places, but still a nice route. It was fun to start the rally like this. There's not much to change for the second run, I'll just try to continue as before.”

#22 Nikolay Gryazin (BUL) / Konstantin Aleksandrov (KGZ), Skoda Fabia RS

“The start was okay for us, just a little difficult with the anti-cuts, because every time you inspect the route and do the shakedown, something is different. That's a bit difficult, but otherwise everything is fine. The weather is good, so we can enjoy the rally.”

#24 Jan Černý (CZE) / Ondřej Krajča (CZE), Skoda Fabia RS

“I'd say we're doing very well. It's my first time with Skoda and I really like the car. We had two days of testing, but only in wet conditions, so I still have to learn how to drive the car. But it's going quite well.”

#27 Filip Mareš (CZE) / Radovan Bucha (CZE), Toyota GR Yaris

"The first special stage was good, but not brilliant. The time is a little slower than expected, but I can see many areas where I can improve. That's the plan for the second round. It's also only the beginning of the rally and a lot will happen over the weekend. That's for sure. The second run will be more difficult because it's dark and the road will be dirty.“

#28 Fabio Schwarz (GER) / Pascal Raabe (GER), Toyota GR Yaris

”It went relatively modestly for us because we don't have any boost pressure. The engine breaks out of every corner. It opened the pop-off more than 30 times, and we can't do anything at all in the regrouping. It's a Fiat part, it doesn't even have anything to do with Toyota. It broke today during the shakedown. That's why we replaced it, and now it's exactly the same again."

#40 Claire Schönborn (GER) / Michael Wenzel (GER), Ford Fiesta Rally3

"I'm obviously very excited to be competing in my home rally. It's the first rally I'm actually driving for the second time. And the year since then has been quite exciting. It's also my first time back on asphalt in a year. The transition wasn't quite as easy as I had hoped. But now we're here at the finish line after the first stage with a pretty good result. The shakedown was also very good. We were the fourth fastest car in the class. I didn't expect that myself. There was a lot of cutting in the first stage today. I had a bit of trouble finding my rhythm at the beginning. But I think we're getting back into it now. And tomorrow's Czech stages will be among the most demanding. I'm very excited to see how that turns out.“

#41 Philip Geipel (GER) / Jennifer Lerch (GER), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2

”It was the first special stage in this environment. Everything is new and exciting, and it went really well. We are in P6, seven seconds behind the best R2 drivers in the world, which I don't think is too bad. On the second run, I want to be a little faster in a few places – but above all, it's about finding the rhythm. The next few days will separate the wheat from the chaff. These are special and demanding stages. The Austrian stages were a lot of fun during the recce, but the stages in Czechia will be tough. They are special in terms of their layout."

#42 Petr Hlavatý (CZE) / Tomáš Pfajfr (CZE), Skoda Fabia

"Our morning was okay, we enjoyed the shakedown, but unfortunately the afternoon is not okay: we were just ready to start and enjoy the rally when the special stage was canceled for obvious reasons. We understand that, but to be completely honest, one of the reasons we wanted to compete in the WRC championship was that the probability of this stage being canceled is almost zero. I hope it was the first and last. Personally, I don't have a particular preference as to whether the stages are in Germany or Czechia, but tomorrow we have Col de Jan on the program, which we drove in April or May. I love this track because it's exactly to my taste: difficult, full of mud and so on. It's not that fast, I'm not a fast driver, I'm more of a technical driver, so I like stages like this."

#44 Lubomír Konšel (CZE) / Tomáš Plachý (CZE), Skoda Fabia

Co-driver Tomáš Plachý: “The shakedown was okay for us, we enjoyed it and prepared ourselves for the next few days. For Lubos, it's his debut in the WRC and we hope to enjoy it and finish on Sunday. It's great for us to be driving in Czechia from tomorrow. That was the reason why we wanted to take part in the Central European Rally.”

#46 Hermann Gassner Jr. (GER) / Ursula Gassner (AUT), Renault Clio Rally3

"It didn't go quite as planned, there was more dirt on the road than I had expected. The WRC drivers seem to be a little more motivated when it comes to cutting corners. In addition, two competitors have already retired after rolling their cars, so I deliberately took it a little slower. The rally is still very long, and the next special stage is already coming up tonight. The combination of the different stages with their different characters and conditions will be a very special challenge, which I am looking forward to. As a Bavarian, this World Rally Championship event in my own homeland is something very special, and we are delighted to be here.

#47 Hermann Gassner Sr. (GER) / Natascha Vgra (AUT), Renault Clio Rally3

“I'm glad I got through it well. But it's still a long rally. It was only the first stage, so you can't win anything yet.”

#48 Petr Kačírek (CZE) / Petr Černohorský (CZE), Ford Fiesta Rally3

“The days are really tricky, really tough, really demanding, because the rally is very long for a small Czech driver like me. It's also very demanding, but I'm having a lot of fun and looking forward to many kilometers in the cockpit. We're still learning with the car, so we expect to get better with every kilometer.”