Quesnel braced for thrilling WRC fight

Citroen team boss Olivier Quesnel has told Wrc.com that he expects the thrilling battle for victory on Vodafone Rally de Portugal to intensify on Saturday.

Speaking following the completion of Friday’s opening six gravel stages, Quesnel said the thousands of fans lining the route in the Algarve should expect a “flat-out” battle on day two.

“It will be a flat-out and exciting rally tomorrow just as it was today,” said Quesnel. “The speed of our cars seems to be okay but Ford is really competitive here so we have to drive hard. Mikko Hirvonen was the fastest today for me because he was first on the road. We will have to drive really fast to stay on the road.”

Citroen took the decision to slow its factory drivers Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier on Friday’s final stage to prevent them from running first on the road on day two and thereby avoiding having to clean the road of the loose-surface gravel.

“We did this because we don’t want to open the road tomorrow,” said Quesnel. “We will know tomorrow afternoon if it is a good decision but it should be good. Anyway, we are pleased with what we’ve done. Maybe it is the wrong idea but I don’t think so.”