Deuxième étape

Du grand Marcus aujourd’hui ! Il a aligné les scratch et su tenir à distance Sebastien. Il l’explique par une amélioration des réglages de sa Focus, quand Loeb explique qu’il n’a pas fait le bon choix de pneus. Le classement à la veille de l’arrivée : M. GRÖNHOLM 2:21:51.9

  1. S. LOEB +25.1
  2. D. CARLSSON +2:32.7
  3. G. GALLI +2:33.0
  4. M. EKSTRÖM +3:28.1
  5. J. TUOHINO +3:28.2
  6. K. SOHLBERG +3:42.4
  7. T. RÅDSTRÖM +4:26.5
  8. H. SOLBERG +5:14.6
  9. K. KATAJAMÄKI +5:55.0
  10. X. PONS +6:17.2
  11. J. JOGE +7:14.6
  12. J. KOPECK? +9:31.4
  13. C. ATKINSON +10:28.3
  14. P. SOLBERG +11:10.8
  15. J. HÄNNINEN +11:15.3
  16. M. HIRVONEN +11:22.6
  17. M. WILSON +11:37.6
  18. J. KETOMÄKI +12:08.8
  19. T. SCHIE +12:56.7
  20. D. SORDO +13:03.3
  21. A. AIGNER +13:07.0

Marcus Gronholm : I stalled the engine on the start of stage 12. We are not in a hurry tomorrow; everything appears to be under control. Comment from Malcom Wilson, Ford Team principle: We are very happy and relieved toady, we did not know what the problems was that affected Mikka Hirvonen yesterday and today has been quite nerve wrecking. We made some changes to Marcus’s car last night, which suited him, and he has given a superb performance today, which we hope he can keep up tomorrow.

Sebastien Loeb : Nous avons poussé tout au long de la journée, assure Seb. Quand il est en confiance, Marcus est un adversaire redoutable et il semble bien que ce soit le cas ici. Globalement, je crois qu’il était un soupçon plus vite que nous aujourd’hui. Et de surcroît, je pense avoir commis deux erreurs dans mes choix de pneus. Je n’avais pas les ‘long studs’ (clous dépassant au maximum de la bande de roulement) quand il les fallait, dans la première boucle, et je les ai montés lors du deuxième tour alors que les ‘standards’ auraient été plus performants. Cela dit, je n’ai pas encore perdu le match. Je vais rouler au maximum en début d’étape demain, pour maintenir la pression…

Daniel Carlsson : I am happy and I am going in my own pace and Gigi Galli goes his own pace so let’s see what happens tomorrow. I am pleased with the result so far.

Manfred Stohl : The snowbanks were missing in this right turn. The car started to slither across, our front got hit and we took off to the left. During the rollover the windshield broke and we got loads of snow in the car. I really must thank the fans – they helped us turn the car back over and therefore we were able to finish the stage.

Petter Solberg : Well, we’ve had a few good stages today. Our pace over the first four was okay and, until the gearbox problem in the afternoon, things were looking promising. Of course, after yesterday’s difficulties, we’ve concentrated a lot of our efforts on testing and learning for the future. So, in that respect we’ve had a useful day. Finding the metal pole in the snow bank on the last stage was unfortunate but it would have been much worse if we’d found it when we were fighting for a win. We’re keeping our spirits up and hope to learn more out on the stages tomorrow.

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