M-Sport: Rally de Portugal, midday quotes, Day 3

Mikko Hirvonen (2nd) said: “It’s been an OK morning. Sebastien [Ogier] was really fast on the long stage [SS9] but other than that, it’s still really close.

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC

Photo by: M-Sport

“We were ready to take some time back through the final stage [SS10], but unfortunately Ott [Tänak] had an issue and blocked the road. It’s a shame, but there’s still a long way to go and we’re certainly not going to give up on chasing him down.

“We’re going to have a hard decision to make about tyres now, but whatever we opt for and whatever the conditions, we will fight.”

Elfyn Evans (42nd) said: “It’s been an OK morning. We felt the biggest disadvantage running as the first car on the road in that last stage [SS10]. There was more loose gravel for the first quarter or so, but on the whole it’s not been a massive disadvantage. “I think we made a big step up yesterday and it’s good to see that we’ve been able to get back in the car and continue with that today. If you look at Jari-Matti [Latvala] who’s running in a similar position on the road, we’re consistently about half a second a kilometre behind him which is a big improvement from where we were on the previous rallies. There is always room for improvement, but you need to take steps.”

M-Sport World Rally Team