RallyRACC, mid day: the fight between Solberg and Sordo, exciting finale for the Spanish Rally

(24/10/2010)

Petter Solberg (Citroën). RallyRACC 2010

With only two stages to go for the end of the rally, corresponding to the second passes to El Priorat (42.04 km) and La Serra d’Almos (4.11), the fight for second place between Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo, both at the wheel of a Citroën C4, is the most exciting duel at the top of the classification. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) keeps his comfortable 40 seconds lead over his rivals.

Dani Sordo’s scratch in the long stage that started the day clearly showed that the Spanish driver is determined to, at least, repeat the results he achieved in the Rally Racc in the last few years. Sordo managed to reduce Solberg’s 16.9” lead by 4.9”: a small reward, but a good indication of the Spaniard’s thirst for second place. Later, Sordo achieved a second scratch in La Serra d’Almos, and picked up 1.2 seconds. He is now 10.8” away from Solberg.

After PortAventura’s service, there is one loop left to determine the podium makeup for all classes. In the J-WRC series, Yeray Lemes (Renault) punctured and surrendered the lead to Hans Weijs (Citroën). The Dutchman is edging towards victory and towards the Sub28 World Championship title.

In the first half of the day, Hungarian Frigyes Turán (Ford) had an off-road accident in a fast section late in El Priorat special stage. His car was badly crashed but, fortunately, there were no major injuries: the driver broke his collarbone and the co-driver ended with a bruised ankle.