I was very pleased after rally Mexico. Two was my number there: I took two fastest times, was second in the rally and second on power stage which all kept me on the second place in the series. Sebastien Ogier, who won the race, took the lead in the series by three points. He took the lead and at the same time he put himself on the position of being the first car on the road in Portugal (like I was in Mexico). The roads in Mexico were familiar from previous races, fast and rough plus a few new marathon stages (over 50 km). The HQ was in Leon and we drove on Guanajuato Mountains. At some point we were as high as 2700 feet from the sea level which took some 10 – 15 % of the power of the engine off. One’s driving position was essential in Mexico because of the dust and the grip. Being the first car on the stages on day one was not at all good for me. Ogier took a lead of over 40 seconds and I knew I could not catch him driving. On the second day of the race I was able to reach Mads Östberg who was second and when he retyred I had no rivals. I started to drive carefully maintaining my second place. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) was third but far away from me. It was not an easy task to drive without competing with anyone but I managed to drive without mistakes. The only mishap was when on the last day the other front shock absorber let its gas out and the car was a bit rubberlike to drive after that. If I want to fight for the Title I must challenge Ogier at some point but I also have to keep my head cool and make sure I play it safe like in Mexico.

Rally Sweden was driven from Wednesday to Saturday because of the Olympics in Sochi. 328.4 kilometers mostly in Sweden but also in Norway led to a fine victory for me and gave me the leading position in the series. I drove with good self confidence and I made no mistakes. On the last day of the rally we drove a sprint stage in Hagfors and my tyres were almost totally worn out. Andreas Mikkelsen was much faster than me because of that. That was the only bad moment throughout the whole race. The conditions varied a lot during the rally: ice in the morning and loose snow, slush and gravel in the afternoon. You had to keep a straight line because the stud tyres were wider than normal tyres. And you also had to try and save the tyres if it only was possible in that fast rally of Sweden. I felt good and my driving felt good the whole time. We drivers of team Volkswagen dominated the rally. We took 20 out of 23 fastest times, I took five of them. At the beginning Sebastien Ogier tasted the snow and lost four and a half minutes in the snow bank. In the end he was sixth. After Ogier was out of the battle it was only Mikkelsen and I who were fighting for the victory. Andreas was a worthy adversary until on Saturday on stage two he took one corner a bit too tight and the snow made his car engine overheat. I was glad we were allowed to compete with each other all the way to the end of the rally. The power stage (15,87km) was driven in Värmullsåsen. Mads Östberg won that stage I was second and Mikko Hirvonen was third. Mads Östberg (Citroen) and Mikko Hirvonen (M-sport Ford)were fighting for the third place of rally Sweden but Mikko eased up a bit before the power stage(to save tyres) so Östberg took the third place in the whole event which I won and my team mate Andreas Mikkelsen was second, Mikko was left fourth. Because of all the points I gained there in Sweden I took the lead in the series.

This year’s rally Monte Carlo was a race to be forgotten because of the almost constant rain, slippery and icy roads. The rally was more like battle to survive than rally racing. The weather forecast failed and the tyre choice went wrong. The stages were the same as they were some ten years ago and the rally HQ moved from Valence to Gap (Ogier’s home area). There were 15 stages (together 1396, 76km). It was raining heavily when the rally started. The stages of the first day were driven twice. We were told that there would be snow only up on the mountains (1 700 m from the sea level). That was why we started with the tarmac tyres not even the spare was a snow tyre as planned at first. At the beginning of stage one it was sleeting, after ten kilometers it was a snowy winter. Never had I driven with slicks on snow before so I drove as carefully as I could. Stage two went better because it was icy only here and there. The last part of stage three was winter again. In the afternoon I took winter tyres and rose from position 18 to position seven. In the afternoon I was five minutes faster on a stage of 26 kilometers than in the morning. Almost every top driver made the same mistake with the tyres. Sebastien Ogier was 1, 19 minutes from the lead in the morning but only 47, 3 seconds behind when the day ended. Bryan Bouffier was leading and Robert Kubica was second. They both had the advantage of starting the race much later than us. On day two there were five stages (Faye was driven twice). It was raining almost the whole day which meant puddles and water running across the roads. There was also ice and slush on the stages. In the morning the balance of the car was not good enough, tyre choices were a bit false and we had a puncture (stage 9). I damaged the tyre in a crossroads that I didn’t notice and Miikka and I had to stop to change the flat tyre. I dropped to the eighth position but was able to get the fifth position before the next night break due to the fastest time I drove on the last stage of the day. Kubica had to retyre and Ogier had taken the lead. He was 51, 1 second ahead of Bouffier. Kris Meeke was third. I was over six minutes behind the lead. My aim in the rally was the fifth position. Last year I was fifth before I went off in Col de Turini. This time I made sure that the stages of the last day went without any problems. The last day started in the daylight and was finished in the evening in the dark. And what happened? Col de Turini was packed with snow, the first car was stuck, the other cars formed a line there and the whole stage had to be cancelled. We saw the yellow flag only when we entered the place where the line was. It would have been nice to hear about the cancelling earlier because the stage was so bad. There was so much snow it was difficult to know which way the car will go no matter how slowly I drove. The last stage (The Alps Maritimes close to Monaco) was driven late in the evening when it was dark. That stage was the power stage and I won it taking three extra points. I was fifth in Monte Carlo but fourth in the series. A fine start, easy to continue the series. Ogier won the rally, Bouffier was second and Meeke was third.