Sebastien Loeb, 1st place:
“The final balance of the Azores Rallye is very positive. We came to have fun and we achieved that to the full on this beautiful island where everyone lives rallying. In addition, we had a great fight with Andreas Mikkelsen that made us still have to accelerate most of the time. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see the Sete Cidades scenery during the reconnaissance. I loved it here and, even fast during the rally, I was able to take a few glances to the side and loved the view. In this, my first experience in competition with a Rally2 car, I found it to be quite evolved, with a chassis very similar to the Rally1 ones, and that it is a good school for those who move on to the more powerful cars.”
Andreas Mikkelsen, 2nd place:
“Unfortunately we punctured in the very first qualifying and had to slow down to prevent another puncture in an unassisted stage. On top of that, our tyres didn’t work as we wanted them to. In the second stage we decided to attack and recover some time. After who… (laughs) We made a mistake, and from then on, it was impossible to fight for the victory. Anyway, we loved it again in this rally that I like so much.”
Nils Solans, 3rd place
“We finally finished this rally. In the first stage I chose tyres that were too hard and ended up losing some time. In the second stage, our choice was already better and I could adopt the pace I wanted. We did some good times and ended up on the podium. This was a very good experience and it was also quite good to be able to run under competitive conditions on the whole course of this race in which I always wanted to achieve a good result.”
Ricardo Moura, CAR winner:
“I returned to this rally in which I always make a point of participating and of which I have so many memories and many good moments but I ended up accusing the lack of rhythm because I had been stopped for a year. I already knew that, next time, I must participate in one or two races before to recover some automatisms. I must congratulate and thank the organisation for bringing to São Miguel a driver of Sebastien Loeb’s calibre and for allowing the Azores Rallye to maintain the status it has always had and deserves.”
Luis Miguel Rego, Azorean champion in title:
“We prepared quite well for this race and I am happy with our result and even for having won the Power Stage. We did this rally thinking about the championship and the points for that competition and, in that aspect, we were successful because we must have been the best among those who will line up in all the events of the calendar. I also want to congratulate the organisation for having set up this race and for having managed to keep the Azores Rallye with the protagonism it deserves.”