Date: Friday, September 13 th
Day: 2 Flash N°: 6
Special stage: Çetibeli 2 Distance: 38.15 km
Weather: Hot and humid with cloud, 29°C
Road conditions: Dry, abrasive and rocky – wet towards the finish
Three-minute intervals – thunderstorms forecast in the area from 16.00hrs. Slight drizzle began
after a few cars had started the special and heavy thundery rain was falling at the end of the
special with thunder and lightning.
Car 1. OGIER/INGRASSIA
“The end was difficult because we got some rain and it was very slippery. I have the rain
tyres for the next one.”
Car 3. SUNINEN/LEHTINEN
“Really bad (hard tyres). We lost a lot of time. It started to rain quite a lot.”
Car 4. LAPPI/FERM
“It was quite slippery. The first 20km were okay and then it became muddy, like in Wales.
The steep downhill at the end, I stalled the car at the hairpin and it was sailing like a boat.
It was crazy…..”
Car 5. MEEKE/MARSHALL
Rear bumper and diffuser damage. He lost one minute to Neuville. “I have no grip. I had
zero grip. I started the stage with zero rubber. My objective was to get to the finish and
then the rain came with12-15km to go and it was like driving on ice.”
Car 6. SORDO/DEL BARRIO
“It was raining in the stage. It was very slippery. I did not have a lot of tyre. Maybe Thierry
had a soft tyre. I lost a lot of power in the engine. The turbo is not working for sure. I don’t
know what is the problem.”
Car 7. TIDEMAND/FLOENE
“It was quite heavy showers in some places and very slippery. It was more slippery than
Wales I would say.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
Front flat tyre at stage finish and one-minute slower than his morning run. “I don’t know. It
was just a puncture.”
Car 10. LATVALA/ANTTILA
“We had hard tyre. We lost the front. The front tyre was worn out. In the rain at the end I
had no chance to drive faster than that. Very disappointing.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/GILSOUL
Survived a low-speed moment when the rear of the car slipped off the edge of the stage
and was over 78 seconds faster than the series leader. “Obviously very tricky conditions. I
got a slow puncture before the stage and had to go to the soft tyre. I didn’t think about it
and I pushed. The rain at the end was helping cool the tyre down. Thanks to the team for
the information.”
Car 89. MIKKELSEN/JAEGER
“It was like ice and we had no tyres left. It was impossible to drive. No grip at all, just
sliding around. I tried not to get punctures.”
Car 22. GREENSMITH/EDMONDSON
“The rain came down and it was so slippery. It was like glass.”
Car 23. KOPECKÝ/DRESLER
Ceded 52 seconds to Greensmith in WRC 2 Pro and saw his lead reduced to 1min
08.4sec. “It is not a good afternoon for us. It was crazy on the first stage and we got a
puncture. No spare wheels left so we have to survive to the finish. I don’t enjoy this rally.”
Car 43. SOLBERG/MINOR
Stopped 18.7km into the stage.
Car 44. BULACIA/CRETU
Stopped for around two minutes 12.3km into the stage.
Car 51. GILL/MACNEALL
Did not complete SS5.
