Nobre pleased with day-one progress

Paulo Nobre says running first on the road on the opening day of the Acropolis Rally helped him to build his experience of competing in the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.

The WRC MINI Team Portugal driver completed day one in 16th overall following a trouble-free performance but said at the final service in Loutraki on Friday night that he felt “destroyed” due to the tough challenge he faced.

“It’s always a challenge to open the road but if I am first on the road or last on the road it’s still a challenge because this is the World Rally Championship,” said Nobre, whose team-mate Armindo Araujo is 12th starting day two. “But I’m not competing with these guys in front of me, I’m competing against myself to get better and better and to have the experience. I feel destroyed after a very hard day but it’s a nice feeling to finish a day without problems.”

WRC MINI Team Portugal manager Bruno De Pianto said: “My crews did a good job today, both of them completed the day without major problems facing extremely difficult conditions. I’m equally proud of the work the rest of the team carried out, everybody is working long hours and always giving their best.”