Co-driver: Miikka Anttila
We went to Germany having a totally different tactics from that in Jyvaskyla because now it was time to hunt points. Last four rallies on tarmac had ended in retirement due to driving off the road. Now we need experience because there will be three more rallies on tarmac at the end of the year. I started the rally very carefully because after Neste Oil Rally it felt a bit strange to drive on tarmac again. My driving got better, though, stage after stage and on Friday evening we were number eight (one championship point was coming to us). My tire choice on Saturday was perfect so I was able to rise to the seventh place. The afternoon turned out to be difficult. In the army area the concrete roads were too rough for the tires and my driving style was maybe a bit too hard on the roads like that. On Panzerplatte Arena stage (30km) we lost the surface of our front tires because the air pressure was a bit too high. We had to change one tire before the stage and didn’t have enough time to adjust the air pressure and of course my rough way of driving didn’t ease the situation. We lost one minute compared to the other drivers. When driving the long stage for the second time we again had problems with the tires although the air pressure was okay this time. This is why we lost some 30 seconds. On Saturday evening we had dropped to the ninth place and there was 37 seconds to the eighth place. On Sunday morning I took too soft tires but surprisingly enough we rose to the eighth place because Xavier Pons went off the road on the first stage of the morning. On Sunday afternoon we changed the set-up of the car, took the right kind of tires and my driving was the best during the whole rally. Unfortunately the rally finished at the moment when my driving started to go smoothly. Our position was eighth at the end of the rally and we got our first championship point on tarmac.
8th
Car: Ford Focus WRC -06
Service Team: Stobart