Rally GB: Day 1TOYOTA GAZOO Racing leads the way in Wales

Quotes:
Kaj Lindström (Sporting Director)

“We have had a good start to the rally tonight, with all three drivers setting good times and having no problems. In shakedown this morning, Ott lost some time after his mistake, but the damage was only minor and he was able to continue. All three drivers seemed happy with their setups after the test, so they didn’t need to make any changes in shakedown, which is always a positive sign. Everybody is now watching the weather closely. The forecast is changing all the time: we will see how it looks in the morning and make our tyre choices accordingly.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 7)

“I quite enjoyed this first stage, I’m happy with my time. The shakedown this morning was also good for me. The car was working very well immediately from the first run. Then we tried a few things with the dampers and with the tyres just to see how they would work. The road was getting more polished and the grip became lower, so times were getting slower, but at least I could confirm some things for the rally. The biggest challenge always here in Wales is the weather, which has a big affect on the tyre choice. We are here three weeks earlier this year and although rain is still likely, the temperatures are higher and therefore the stages may dry quicker.”

Ott Tänak (Driver car 8)

“We got through the first stage without any problems. On the first run of shakedown this morning I had quite a big impact. I had been trying to adjust something to do with the windscreen wipers on the straight and I wasn’t focusing on my main job, so we missed the junction in quite a big way. Thankfully the mechanics did a good job to fix everything and we could go out again and check that everything was working, and it was all good.”

Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 9)

“It is always great to bring the rally to the people with stages like this, even though they are not as enjoyable from a driving point of view. Still, my time on this one was clearly quite good! We had a pretty nice pre-event test here in Wales two weeks ago, where my team-mates drove in very muddy conditions and then I had a dry day. So we are pretty well prepared as a team, and we didn’t need to make any big changes in shakedown.”

What’s next?

Friday’s route takes the crews across north Wales, starting off back in Clocaenog before an extended Brenig and new Penmachno stages, both of which will feature small sections of asphalt to link forest roads together. These three stages will be repeated in the afternoon, after two runs over the new Slate Mountain stage prior to mid-day service at Deeside.