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Tough start to Rallye Deutschland

Rallye Deutschland is considered one of the FIA World Rally Championship's toughest asphalt events, and the ninth round of the season delivered a particularly challenging day for the M-Sport World Rally Team today.

The opening day offered two passes of two well-known stages - Mittelmosel and Moselland - followed by an evening Super Special in Ollmuth; and the conditions lived up to their tricky nature.

With a high rate of attrition throughout the field, Mads Østberg and Ola Fløene delivered a solid drive behind the wheel of their Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta RS WRC and hold seventh place overall.

Despite being hampered by a later road position, the Norwegian had experience on his side and refused to fall into the same traps that caught out a number of others - maintaining a clean run throughout all five stages.

Keen to improve as the event continues, he and Fløene are looking forward to tomorrow and will be hoping to climb the leader-board in search of a good result on what is their least preferred surface.

In the sister M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC, it was a short day for Éric Camilli and Benjamin Veillas who were forced to retire for the day on the opening speed test.

Caught-out by the tricky conditions, they misjudged a fast corner and became stranded on a log-pile which lay in wait to snare the inexperienced.

With minimal damage to their Fiesta, the Frenchmen will restart under Rally 2 regulations tomorrow.

Elsewhere in the M-Sport service area, Ott Tänak and Raigo Mõlder delivered a solid drive behind the wheel of their M-Sport prepared Fiesta and hold a top-five position going into tomorrow's penultimate day of competition.

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Mads Østberg (7th) said: 

"It's been an okay day and we have been consistent throughout all of the stages. We tried a few small things to improve - which admittedly didn't really help but at least we are trying!

"We'll try going in a slightly different direction tomorrow because of course I want to attack the stages a bit more. I think tomorrow's stages suit me a little bit better and it's always more enjoyable when you are pushing a little bit harder. That's what we will try to do."

Éric Camilli (72nd) said:

"The conditions were very tricky, but that is not an excuse, it was my fault. I didn't expect the conditions to be as challenging as they were and I didn't set-up my car correctly. Straight away I knew that we were far too stiff so we took it very, very carefully.

"We had a few moments which seemed to come from nothing and I was very scared of going off the road. Then, in a cut, we went straight on and became stuck on a log pile.

"I'm so sorry for all the guys in the team. This was the first stage on Tarmac and it did not go the way we wanted it to. But it has happened, and we need to pick ourselves up and continue working until the end of the season."

Team Principal, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said:

"As you can imagine, we're all disappointed that Éric wasn't able to make it through the first stage this morning. This was the event where he had the most experience, and the one that he was really looking forward to.

"Maybe he put himself under a little bit too much pressure. The consolation is that there was no damage to the car and he will continue tomorrow to regain his confidence as well as the vital experience he needs.

"Tarmac is not Mads' preferred surface, but he has driven cleanly all day and avoided the mistakes that have caught out others. Tomorrow is another very difficult day, so we hope that he will be able to put his experience to good use and make up some positions."