Rossi was seated in a Ford Focus backed by the Stobart racing team and had Carlos Cassina for his co-driver. Rossi began Day One of the rally in 45th place and soon, after the first stage, he was in 24th, constantly improving his pace through the day. The next two days saw the Italian slowly master the conditions as well as his car, on his way to a wonderful twelfth place finish.
The final standing was his best finish on the Wales Rally GB after Rossi crashed out of the 2006 version, early in the race. However, this isn’t his best finish in a WRC car; that one came in New Zealand in 2006, when he finished the race in 11th place.
“I’m very happy today, firstly to finish the rally and secondly to set some very good times on the four stages today,” said Rossi, when receiving the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally award for his stupendous effort.
“The car was fantastic and I was finding it easy to drive when we got a precise setting. My approach here was to take the race step-by-step and try not to make any mistakes and this worked well. I think this rally was very difficult and finishing it makes me very happy indeed. The Focus was really nice to drive and it’s been fantastic working with the Stobart team.”
Although there were no big mistakes, Rossi did smash up the car’s front, shatter his windscreen and lose his front bumper, when he overshot a corner at the Crychan stage, in icy conditions. Despite his twelfth place, Rossi ended the rally just 13 minutes and 10.4 seconds behind Sebastien Loeb while finishing ahead of 6 other regular rally drivers.