03/10/2009
RallyRACC, Day 2: Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo dominate
 | | Sébastien Loeb (Citroën). RallyRACC 2009 |
The 45 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de Espańa, concluded the second race day in the same way as the opening session: with an impressive Citroën Total supremacy. However, this time world champion Sébastien Loeb pipped team-mate Dani Sordo to first place.
With an identical setting for the three race days, drivers covered 127.98 competitive kilometres today in double passes. After two passes in El Priorat-La Ribera d’Ebre (38.27 km), Les Garrigues (8.60 km) and La Llena (17.12 km) special stages, the trend is not much different from yesterday. The race was kept under the iron grip of Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo’s Citroëns, and then those of Sébastien Ogier and Petter Solberg at some moments, leaving no chances to Ford. Mikko Hirvonen is Ford’s lone ranger, struggling against the powerful French manufacturer, whose C4 WRCs are overwhelming the Focus RS WRCs.
The day started with completely dry roads, and drivers left the province of Tarragona to venture into Lleida. During the first loop, Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo swapped positions in the overall classification: Loeb led the timesheets after winning stage 1, but was demoted by Dani Sordo after yet another scratch time in SS3. Sébastien Ogier clinched the second special stage. Petter Solberg’s amazing performance on Citroën earned him two third positions in the stages, while Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) was unable to find the right set-ups and lost some seconds.
In the second loop, Sébastien Ogier won his second stage of the day, while Loeb collected the SS2 and Petter Solberg took the third one. Loeb finished the day on top of the leaderboard, with a meagre difference over team-mate Dani Sordo, heralding a triumphant day for Citroën tomorrow.
In the Junior class, rally leader Martin Prokop (Citroën C2) retired after an off road incident. Dutchman Hans Weijs (Citroën C2) is now on top of the overall classification, followed by Catalan driver Jordi Martí (Renault Clio).
The World Constructors title is likely to be decided here tomorrow, in the third and final day of the Catalan round. The Drivers’ standing could finish in a breathtaking situation, with Hirvonen beating Loeb by one single point if things remain unchanged. The final day of the World Rally Championship penultimate round will be made up of three double-run special stages over 94 competitive kilometres. The first participants will take the start of SS1 tomorrow at 7.15 am, and are expected at the winners’ podium in Salou at 15.07 hours.
45 RallyRACC Provisional classification after Day 2
1-Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroën C4 WRC), at 2h 24’01”3
2-Dani Sordo/Marc Martí (Citroën C4 WRC), at 1”5
3-Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS WRC 2009), at 48”5
4-Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Citroën C4 WRC), at 1’10”9
5-Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroën C4 WRC), at 1’30”9
6-Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Focus RS WRC 2009), at 2’31”7
7-Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), at 5’52”6
8-Federico Villagra/Jorge Pérez Companc (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), at 6’43”0
9-Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), at 7’03”1
10-Dany Snobeck/Gilles Mondesir (Peugeot 307 CC WRC), at 8’22”4
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