Mikko Hirvonen Quotations

Today has been good for my confidence. The Focus RS is easy to drive and I loved it out there. I have so much confidence in it and it's encouraging to set times similar to Loeb and Solberg.

My start position gave me an advantage over Marcus this morning because the roads were cleaner. The altitude sapped engine power and that made it tricky in corners because there wasn't the same power available as normal to pull the car through the bends. I was surprised how rough it was and I hit a lot of stones. The brakes worked well but they were on the limit in this heat. The thinner air meant they didn't cool in the same way as they would elsewhere.

The roads are soft and there is no advantage in running further down the start order. They are not cleaning like we thought they would. I'm driving at a steady pace, which was the plan. The brake pedal felt soft on stage four so I bled the front brakes after the finish and that improved things. I'm not sure about my tyre choice. Maybe I needed cuts like Marcus.

After our pre-Christmas test, I did three days testing on gravel last week and that's helped me get used to the car on loose surfaces. But then, it's always a shock to come here, with the high speeds. This morning was very good and the car feels excellent. The traction is very good, so now we need more power! But then, every driver will always want more power!

I've had lots of problems. There's something wrong with the centre differential and the handbrake, and I had to shunt backwards and forwards to get round all the hairpins.

I made a mistake in Sweden; I made a mistake in Mexico. I must avoid that. I will continue flat out because that's how the car needs to be driven. But I need to stop making errors.

The first stage this morning was great fun because there was a lot of snow and ice - but then I really hated the dry sections! I pushed hard in that stage because I had good confidence in those conditions, and not quite so hard in the other two. Once I moved into seventh, then I knew I could hold that position. It was a hard weekend and a good one, but it could have been better for me. Without problems and mistakes, I think fifth could have been possible, but considering all that and the weather, this is a really good result and a great start to the season.

The fight goes on! I enjoy a good battle and I don't think either of them is going to give up just yet. We made some set-up changes to the centre differential last night and in turning the Focus feels more agile now.