The post rally interview - The Acropolis Rally of Greece

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Who's your biggest threat, Jari-Matti or Mikko?
I think its Mikko. Jari-Matti is faster but at the moment Mikko has more experience and also more points. Jari-Matti seems to have a little too much bad luck for the moment.

Dani Sordo took the lead from you on SS9, but only for three stages. Are you surprised he hasn't won a rally so far with the Citroen?
No, but I'm happy that on the gravel rallies Dani understands how it's going and now he's fighting for victory on gravel too. At this part of the season we didn't know if he would be able to do it, but now he is able so that's good and of course on tarmac he's competitive with my times. I suppose in Greece I was happy he didn't win because I won - so I hope it can continue like this!

Greece was reckoned to be the toughest test for Pirelli's control tyre this season. I know you had a puncture, but what did you think generally of the tyre in Greece?
I thought it was good. I had one puncture - but only one - I think that's good because the event was really, really hard for the tyres. We had no major problems so for me it was a good result. Because also we have only one tyre choice it's not easy for Pirelli to make a tyre which is good for every situation. For sure in the afternoon it was on the limit for tyre wear but I think that's normal and it was possible to do the second loop with the tyre so I think it was really good.

After seven rallies you have a championship lead of one point. Is this year going according to plan?
I didn't really have any plan at the start of the season but I was hoping maybe to have a bigger lead at this stage. But when you look at how the season has gone - the fact that we've won five races from seven - that's more than I expected. The only thing is we didn't score any points on two rallies, and that's our problem. But the car is competitive, so I am quite happy with the situation because we are fighting for the victory everywhere. I made a mistake in Sweden but we were very unlucky in Jordan, but okay, what can you do? At the moment all the rallies we finished we won so that's good news.

Which of your five rally wins this year has been the most satisfying - and why?
Either the Acropolis or Sardinia; I'm not sure which. Sardinia was good because when we finally won it was a huge relief - it was very difficult at the end. The Acropolis was also satisfying because I was happy with our race and the strategy we used. So one of those two.

Which of the remaining rallies this year do you want to win the most?
For me the most important thing is to win the Championship. After that, then for sure it would be nice challenge to win Finland but I say that because it will be the most difficult for me to win and I've never won it before. But if you asked me would I prefer to win Finland or somewhere like Germany or Corsica then I don't know because I would not like somebody to beat me on either of those.

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