Guy Wilks (2nd in JWRC after SS6)
"The story of the rally for us today has been punctures. We were really badly affected on the first loop of stages - to the extent that we had to stop and change two wheels in SS3. This cost us two and a half minutes to the leader, but we were determined to fight back in the afternoon. We've now closed the gap a little bit, which I am pleased about. At the moment, any thought of winning the championship is completely at the back of my mind. I'm just concentrating on keeping out of trouble, and most of all avoiding punctures."

P-G Andersson (9th in JWRC after SS6)
"It's been a very difficult day, but I'm hoping we can re-start tomorrow and continue our fight for the title. This morning's stages were very slippery, and we had a right-rear puncture on SS3 that cost us more than a minute. Then in the afternoon it was a complete disaster - we had a puncture on every stage. On the final stage we ran out of spare tyres so we were forced to drive along on the punctured rubber. Eventually this broke the rear suspension and we were forced to stop. It's a real pity, but we just have to do the best we can now."

Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima, team principal:
"I said before the start of the rally that it was important to take a sensible approach, and that there was sure to be a lot of dramaﾉthis has certainly come true and it is only the end of day one! A lot more can still happen and tomorrow we are likely to see some quite heavy rain, which will only add to the unpredictability."

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Patrick Sandell (Renault Clio)

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