M-Sport: Rally De Portugal, midday quotes, Day 2

Mikko Hirvonen (3rd) said: “It was really slippery and tricky for us out there, but I have a really good feeling with the car and the pace has been good.

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC

Photo by: M-Sport

The more time I have behind the wheel, the better it’s getting. I don’t have to think so much about the driving any more, it just works.

“The most difficult thing from this morning was that although the surface looks similar from one corner to the next, the grip level is changing all the time. It’s really tricky to find a consistent rhythm.

“Now, we just need to continue with the good job we’ve done so far – continue to match the pace of the Volkswagens and stay in the fight.”

Additional M-Sport Drivers

Ott Tänak (4th) said: “The recce was very wet and it was difficult to make the notes – especially as we didn’t do this event last year. We had to make new notes, in the rain, so they were far too slow in places and we have had to make a lot of corrections after this first pass.

“I think we have to be happy with the job we have done this morning. I wasn’t very confident in SS4 but generally I have been really pleased with our times. We are here, and everything is working really well at the moment.”

Henning Solberg (8th) said: “I think this could be quite a good weekend for us. Everything is working well – Ilka’s [Minor, co-driver] working well, the car is working well, and if we can keep out of trouble I think it will be good. We had a puncture on SS3 which set us back a bit. We had to drive eight kilometres with the flat and I can tell you that that was not so easy!”

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