Third fastest – behind Craig Breen and Kevin Abbring – and top ŠKODA from the Ypres Rally qualifying stage. I’m happy with that. I’ll take that.
Before the stage, we were looking at the data and I was picking out some places and corners, saying: “We can probably nick a little bit here and take a bit there…” In the end I think I tried to take a bit too much. We lost a second and a half with a big lock-up when I tried to take a short right-hander into a junction flat. That didn’t work. But we got away with it.
The plan for qualifying was to have quite a big push to see what we could do and, like I said, I’m happy with the time and I’m happy to see the speed’s there.
The plan for the event is to build on the good week we’ve had so far. The test on Monday was great, we found a base set-up for the car that worked well. The recce and the pacenotes are bang on.
Now for the rally. I’ve got to temper that speed from qualifying and go at the rally with some more consistency.
We don’t want to be pullin’ any trees up.
We have to remember we’re here to enjoy this one. We’re getting ourselves sorted for [Rally] Germany and this is some fun for us and for the team.
The weather’s looking good, it’s definitely going to be warm enough and the rain’s going to stay away. I did say some rain might be nice for a bit of a Germany test, but I’ve changed my mind now: I like Belgium in the sunshine!
Let’s crack on with Friday now.
