''Definitely my best day in the World Rally Championship'' The Stobart team hit a high note in its history today when it took the lead of a WRC event for the very first time Friday morning, and for other memorable reasons. The three Stobart drivers spoke about their day,
as did Team principal Malcom Wilson.
Jari-Matti Latvala
"What a day. It was an absolutely amazing feeling to be leading my first WRC event. I know that I had an advantage with my road position but I was very happy with my driving and the car. Even over the second pass when the road conditions were the same for everyone, my times were still up there in the top three. It was all feeling good and coming together really well. Then on stage 5 on a left hand corner I hit a rock on the inside. I remember from the first pass I was a bit wide so I tried to keep the car in some more. I felt the rock and immediately the track control arm broke and we were forced to stop. I can't believe it; I wasn't pushing and it was all feeling really comfortable with the car and the pace-notes."
Henning Solberg
"This is definitely my best day in the World Rally Championship, ever! I am really starting to feel comfortable with the car and more confident. The car has always been good, I knew that, but now it is starting to feel good for me and starting to fit my driving style.
The surface was still very slippery on the second pass especially under braking for slow corners; and there were a few times we were slightly wide and untidy. It is very easy to make a mistake, some places in the stage are fast with heavy braking and there are many rocks at the side of the road ready to get you. Tomorrow should be good and I think I will make some small changes to try and make the good feeling even better."
Matthew Wilson
"It's a pity we had the problem with the gear change this morning as this afternoon's stages went quite well. Basically I had to lift off the throttle every time I went to change gears resulting in the obvious loss of time. It also meant that I wasn't concentrating fully on the pace-notes and it was just a difficult morning. The second loop of stages were good, however, we took no chances but still pushed on quite a bit and drove well to the pace-notes; they were working better than before. The tyres were going off on the last stage and braking for some corners was very slippery; but the grip was actually quite good in other sections of the stage. I'm looking forward to the roads tomorrow as I'm more familiar with them from last year."
Malcolm Wilson
"It's a long time since a private team has been leading a WRC event outright and today's performance by both Jari-Matti and the whole Stobart team has been fantastic. What happened with Jari-Matti was such a shame, but it was a difficult stage and claimed a couple of the other top drivers as well; but boy was he going well this morning! Henning's pace has impressed me also, with a fastest time on the third stage and now sitting in fourth place; his confidence in the car is really showing now. It has probably also been one of Matthew's best days in the WRC. He had some early problems in the morning but his performance in the afternoon was great and he was clearly on the pace of much more experienced drivers."
Source Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team
