Day 2 Midpoint driver quotes 27.06.2009: Malcolm Wilson, BP Ford Abu Dhabi team principal: "Our plan this morning was that on the two long stages Mikko and Jari-Matti would make sure their pace notes and everything were 100 per cent right

photo Ford

Malcolm Wilson, BP Ford Abu Dhabi team principal: "Our plan this morning was that on the two long stages Mikko and Jari-Matti would make sure their pace notes and everything were 100 per cent right for this afternoon. To be honest, if you look at what has been happening they have been cleaning the road; they have paid a little bit of a price for that. I think we'll be fine this afternoon.

They’re both very happy and confident before the second pass. Okay, the roads will be a lot rougher but that means they'll have more grip. That's what they were missing this morning - you can see the roads were getting quicker."

Olivier Quesnel, Citroen Racing team principal: "If we don't do anything nothing will happen! So the only chance we have now is for Dani to push and to try and do better than the Fords. Maybe Ford will make a fault, we will see. Maybe we will do the fault, I don't know. We will do the same this afternoon and we will see tonight where we are."

Mikko Hirvonen: "It's a proper fight again! I can't afford to slow down. Especially on the last stage I went as fast as I could. I think the boys behind are benefiting from the road position. It's quite hard-packed mud in places where it’s been raining, and when I go it breaks the surface and that makes it better for them. It’s quite tricky - certainly not as easy as I was hoping yesterday.

Dani has been really fast. There are no tactics between me and Jari-Matti. He has to go flat-out if he's to keep ahead of Dani and it’s the same for me. We haven't won the rally yet but this afternoon should be easier for us. It should be okay."

Jari-Matti Latvala: "I was a bit concerned on the second stage and even my co-driver said 'Jari you have to push because Dani is six seconds ahead of us!' In the first one we took it steady and Dani wasn't pushing so hard and we thought that everything was good, but then everything changed and we had to really start pushing on the second and third stages. It certainly wasn't a deliberate strategy to let Dani catch up. My original plan was to drive fast but I didn't want to give too much pressure to Mikko.

Then Dani started to push me and that put me into a difficult situation; I thought what do I do? What do I do? We had no choice; we had to go fast, not think about Mikko and try and keep the gap to Dani. I'm still feeling fairly confident [of keeping Sordo behind]. Okay, we lost in the morning and I know he will come hard this afternoon but we were good yesterday on the repeated stages, and when we have a clean road we'll be better able to fight."

photo Willy Weyens

Dani Sordo: "Not bad, everything works at the moment. I lost time in the first stage because I didn't have confidence in my pacenotes, and afterwards it was better on the two longs stages. The feeling in the car and with my pacenotes was good. Can I catch Jari? I don't know. I will try, we will see on the second lap. It's not the same conditions because there was small gravel on the top for Mikko earlier and I can see he lost time. Maybe I had a little advantage this morning, we will see. I will try of course."

Sebastien Ogier: "It was a perfect morning. We start to be really confident with the pacenotes and the car so we pushed a bit more. Compared to Friday's stages I prefer today's because the ground is harder and the roads stay normal for everyone. We won't make many changes to the car in service; maybe make it a bit higher but not a lot I think."


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