RallyRACC, day 2: Sébastien Loeb, solid leader; Dani Sordo third

(23/10/2010)

Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën C4 WRC) hold a commanding lead 46 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally of Spain after a day in which they kept the race under control at all times. At the beginning of the day, it seemed that Ogier-Ingrassia (Citroën) could be able to fight with the World Champion, but a crash in the second stage put an end to any expectations. Even if they were able to continue, the time lost will prevent them to reach the points positions. A huge amount of spectators attended the event in this second day.

The race based in Salou and PortAventura recovered its usual route configuration of the last years, with three asphalt stages run twice, and they were all already known by the majority of the WRC drivers from past editions. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) started the day with three consecutive fastest times in Santa Marina (26.51 km), La Mussara (20.48 km) and Riudecanyes (16.32 km). Ogier’s accident allowed Petter Solberg-Chris Patterson (Citroën) to jump to the second place, overtaking Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (Ford), although they had to keep an eye on Spaniards Dani Sordo-Diego Vallejo (Citroën), who were recovering time with each stage as they felt much more comfortable and confident on asphalt.

Just in the first stage of the second loop, in a day that had little more than 126 timed kilometres, Sordo-Vallejo set their first fastest time, despite having to overtake Hirvonen on the Santa Marina stage. Hirvonen suffered problems with his Ford’s turbo in that stage that made him lose more than four minutes. Meanwhile, Loeb kept a strong pace, confirmed by another fastest time in the fifth stage, after which Sordo took the third place in front of Latvala. A surprising Petter Solberg won the last stage, broadcasted live by Canal 33, and cutting short the Spanish driver’s push for the second position.

Over at J-WRC, the Spanish team of Yeray Lemes-Rogelio Peñate (Renault) keeps the lead, now 14.1 seconds ahead of the pair Hans Weijs-Bjron Degandt (Citroën), who will take the Junior World Championship title if they finished in this position on Sunday.

Tomorrow, the third and last day will include two different stages run twice, with a total of 92km for the four stages. It also has to be noted that the RallyRACC will see on Sunday the longest stage of the rally: El Priorat (42.04 km), and the shorter, La Serra d’Almos (4.11 km).

Provisional classification of the RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA after the second day
1-Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën C4 WRC), 2h.40’01”9
2-Petter Solberg-Chris Patterson (Citroën C4 WRC), a 44”4
3-Dani Sordo-Diego Vallejo (Citroën C4 WRC), a 1’01”3
4-Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (Ford Focus RS WRC 2009), a 1’11”4
5-Mikko Hirvonen-Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS WRC 2009), a 6’12”5
6-Matthew Wilson-Scott Martin (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 6’28”3
7-Frigyes Turán-Gabor Zsiros (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 7’48”6
8-Henning Solberg-Stephane Prévot (Ford Fiesta S2000), a 9’50”3
9-Khalid Al Qassimi-Michael Orr (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 9’54”3
10-Ken Block-Alex Gelsomino (Ford Focus RS WRC 2008), a 13’20”9

Further information and hi-res photos: www.rallyracc.com