Andrea Mabellini: The team did a great job because the car worked very well and we were quite fast, considering that I haven’t raced on gravel since last July. The pace is very fast and we have a lot of kilometres to go tomorrow, but of course, we will try to get the win, because we have a chance. My co-driver Virginia is feeling better after the big hit this morning thanks to the Fit4Race specialists – we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
Roope Korhonen: It was a clean and good day, we avoided mistakes and big problems, which was not easy at all on such difficult stages – especially on the second loop when you could get a puncture on any metre. The secret was to go a bit slower and stick to what we had noted. The team did a good job and the tyres handled well.
Simone Tempestini: It was a very good day, good stages – I really enjoyed the race. I am very happy that we got through this long day without any problems. The plan for tomorrow is to do the same or even better!
Miko Marczyk: Everything was fine today, and we are fourth overall. We had no grip on the first loop, but luckily, we got it for the second and even more luckily, we didn’t get a puncture, which was the key to a good performance in this race. No two stages in this event are the same, in fact that’s the speciality of Rally Hungary.
Mads Ostberg: It wasn’t an easy day, and we had some tough stages – we tried to race smart and not take unnecessary risks. Fortunately, the scary noise coming from the rear of the car stopped in the afternoon, we changed a lot of parts in the service park, but in the end, we could not investigate what was causing it, because there wasn’t time, but the point is that it stopped.
Jon Armstrong: We got a puncture, we changed it, then we got another one – the second stage in the Kislőtér was a nightmare for us, but luckily, we were able to continue. Unfortunately, that ended our hopes of a podium finish, of course, anything can happen, so we’ll keep going. The car is very fast, which makes me happy.
Jos Verstappen: I gained a lot of useful experience today on how to drive on gravel, because I’ve only had asphalt experience so far, not only in terms of driving but also in terms of writing the pacenote. I really enjoyed the day, even though I lost a lot of time on the second stage in the Kislőtér, because I could hardly see anything in the dirt. But that’s part of the learning process, as we have four or five gravel races this year, so we need to improve in that as well. And what is the plan? To finish the competition.
Martin László: We’ve had a trouble-free day, we’ve avoided punctures and problems, so we try to carry on like this. I would have accepted a top ten finish before the race. My favourite stage today was the Kislőtér, although we had to be careful with that as well, because we jumped so much in the second loop that Vitya Bán hit his spine so hard on one of the jumps that he could hardly breathe, he could hardly say the instructions, but of course, he said them. Tomorrow will be another long day, there is a lot to win and lose, I hope the previous one will happen to us.
Gábor Német: These stages can easily decimate the field – thank God, we were fine. We broke a rim on the second Hegyesd stage, but we got away with it – it would be nice, if this good streak could continue tomorrow. Overall, we tried to go carefully today, with a good medium pace to keep the car together until the end. Basically, we didn’t have any major mistakes, of course, you can feel where you’re missing tenths and seconds as you go along, but we can’t be dissatisfied, we’re in the top ten. The national championship is more important for us anyway, that’s what we are focusing on.
Sándor Ollé: We had a good day! The last lap we drove not bothered by anyone, because either somebody overturned in front of us or the spectators had issues, but there were no cars either in front of us or behind us, and we just kept going. Our result was quite good, we got faster and faster, I didn’t think we could catch up so much. We were too careful on the first and the third stage, but on all the others we had a good strong pace. It all came together, we didn’t have any punctures, we were lucky, but we really need luck here.
Norbert Herczig: Everything was very good until we had a puncture on the second stage. I’ve always said in my career that a puncture can be obtained or acquired, and to be honest, I know where we got it – I’ve been thinking about it since we got through the stage. We’ve tried to be somewhat careful, but we haven’t succeeded. We changed the tyre on the stage because we couldn’t go all the way, we had more than ten kilometres to go and we were driving on the rim. We changed it, we are over now, and we’ll go on, it’s a long race.