AUTOS
208 Stephane Peterhansel / Edouard Boulanger (FRA / FRA)
“It is great to be back in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Having raced here so many times, I have forgotten the exact number.
“I must say I had forgotten how hard it is here. The rally is always challenging with the dunes, soft sand and the required navigation.
“This car is running well and the torque on the dunes is amazing. We’ve had no modifications to the car following the Dakar Rally.
“We are very happy with today, and we are looking forward to the rest of the week.”
203 Yazeed Al Rajhi / Dirk Von Zitzewitz (SAU / DEU)
“A good opening stage for us, and despite others having major mechanical problems, we had none. We passed [Sebastien] Loeb who was having issues with his car.”
202 Sebastien Loeb / Fabian Lurquin (FRA / BEL)
“Today was one of my toughest days with so many mechanical problems. But I was determined to carry on and not retire, despite losing so much time. Tonight, I will sleep and get ready for tomorrow.”
209 Martin Prokop / Viktor Chytka (CZE / CZE)
“Today, the sand was very soft and not as hard as it usually is on this stage. The pace was slow because of the softness of the sand, and it became very difficult.
“The navigation was good, as usual. Tomorrow, the plan will be much the same while we have the additional task of being careful while avoiding the big, sharp drops.”
204 Jakub Przygonski / Timo Gottschalk (POL / DEU)
“It was a good stage for us, but just before the finish when we went uphill, we got stuck in a dune and lost valuable time. Hopefully, in the next stage we will try not to make any mistakes. It is still a long race ahead.”
305 Guillaume De Mevius / Tom Colsoul (BEL / BEL)
“A nice stage, and racing here last year meant I learnt a lot, which helped today. I had a good fight towards the end and our navigation was good as always with Tom [Colsoul].”
302 Cristina Gutierrez / Francois Cazalet (SPA / FRA)
“It was not an easy day because I felt a little bit shaky. But, I tried to manage the problem. Finally, we are happy to be through the stage. This race is very difficult because the dunes are very unexpected.”
303 Seth Quintero / Dennis Zenz (USA / DEU)
“We were having a great stage until around 30km from the finish. We broke an axle and lost around 30 minutes. It sucks as it will be hard to pull back. We will fight, but it will be very hard. We will try to have some fun, though.”
308 Jean-Luc Pisson / Laurent Lichtleuchter (FRA / FRA)
“This is our first Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and it is proving to be very, very difficult. The dunes are random, and there are so many of them. The vehicle is doing very well.”