With:
Thierry Neuville, Sebastien Ogier, Mads Ostberg
Q: Thierry what a day its been for you, an incredible performance. Were used to seeing the Finnish drivers dominate, the French drivers dominate here, its a Belguim this time around. Youve done a great job. How are you feeling?
TN: It has been a good feeling for me. It was quite a good day for us, the car was working very well, I really enjoyed my driving with no mistakes so far apart from a small moment on stage 4 where I slid a bit too much and lost a few seconds, otherwise everything was going well. With the heavy rain on stage 5 we had to slow down a bit.
Q: The words "Thierry Neuville leading Rally Finland" how does that sound to you?
TN: It sounds good, but to everybody it would sound good. Im happy, I enjoyed the roads a lot but today was a quite short day, tomorrow is another day. With the weather which we have for the moment I guess my road position will not be the best.
Q: Your team mate is battling with you and Ogier Im sure will be putting on a lot of pressure tomorrow. Can you hold on to what you have? Have you got more speed to give?
TN: Today we were able to go a bit faster but the stages were quite rough, there could be the risk to damage the car and lose the suspension or something so I took it a bit more steady but everybody took it a bit more steady.Its only the first day, tomorrow the stages are completely different I think theres a long way to go and everyone will push tomorrow.
Q: Lets turn to Sebastien Ogier in second position. Whats it been like out there today? Weve seen joint leaders at the end of three stages consecutively. Its been incredibly close, what have you thought of today?
SO: It was not an easy day for me. It was a long day, we were in the car for nearly 45 km. I think its not good to do all this driving on road sections to do 45km, I hope this will change in the future. Other than that I think Thierry has gone a good job today. For myself I was not so happy with my drive. I didnt drive very well, I made a few mistakes. Tomorrow I will try to wake up better and find the best result.
Q: The first stage was good but you said at the end of the second day that you heard on the radio about Jari-Mattis problem and then you seemed to be a little bit cautious, is that what threw you out today?
SO: On stage 2 that is what happened, we heard 20 seconds before the start I heard that Jari had hit the rocks and also we had a talk together a few minutes before and he told me to be careful that there was a few rocks on the stage and then I was a bit scared and I didnt drive normally, I drove safe and lost a few seconds on that. But on the second loop it was quite rough and I prefer to be safe and I didnt find a good result. Now tomorrow I have to change my approach and to switch a bit more to attack mode.
Q: Was it in your thoughts that your co-driver Julien Ingrassia does have an injury. Were you taking it a little bit easier because of him or was that not factoring in at all?
SO: to be honest he is doing a good job like normal. Of course I hope that I will go to the end of the rally without any impact for him because it will be dramatic if he has an impact on that. At the moment he is doing a perfect job, I just have to stay on the road and it will be fine.
Q: Lets turn to Mads Ostberg now. third position, you were up in second of course. Its been a good day for you as well, how do you think its gone?
MO: I think its been quite good to be honest. Its been a bit too much up and down, Ive made a few mistakes and the confidence has been quite good, not perfect so hopefully I can find a bit more confidence tomorrow because we can see the car is really fast and I think we are doing quite a good job as well. If we can find a bit more confidence which I think will come when we drive a bit more, we can push a bit harder but that will increase the risk as well.
Q: Its been so close between you guys, its been incredible to watch. Whats it like battling with your team mates, are you talking to each other after the stages? Fighting?
MO: Normally we talk but we dont now! [laughs]
Q: Whats your strategy for tomorrow for you?
MO: I think it will be quite similar to today to be honest, we go through the stages and try to do as good as we can and just go faster and faster. Thats the only approach I have. today we have been running with no splits I think we continue with that tomorrow and focus on the driving as much as possible.
Q: So you are driving more on your feeling than on the split times?
MO: Thats correct.
Q: The stages tomorrow, how do they differ from the stages today or are they pretty similar?
MO: They are a bit longer. So tomorrow its more rally driving and not so much slow driving on the road, so thats a good thing. Its a bit more of a normal day, today we were away for a long time with no service. You miss your mechanics when you go away for that long, its nice to see them once in a while. It will be better tomorrow when we can see the people in the half day.
Q: Finally to Thierry. Its exciting leading a rally, especially Rally Finland. will you be able to sleep tonight do you think?
MO: I think I will sleep very well, I will be well prepared for tomorrow, hopefully the conditions will be a little bit better, the rain will stop and the sun will come out. Then we can go for a better push tomorrow and lets see what happens.
