RallyRACC, SS3: Surprising start

(21/10/2011)

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën). RallyRACC 2011

After the first pass to the three first stages of the day, Pesells (tierra), Terra Alta and Les Garrigues (ambas mixtas), the 47 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2011, started with a lot of excitement but also with important retirements. The suspended dust was one of the most important features in this first loop, and even the organization decided to give one more minute of gap between the cars at the start of the stages of the second pass: 4’ between priority cars and 3’ for the rest.

Just at the start, the recently crowned PWRC World Champion, Hayden Paddon (Subaru Impreza), was forced to retirement a few metres away from PortAventura, apparently due to electrical problems. In the first stage, the first rider to abandon was Petter Solberg (Citroën) when due to a torn wheel. In that same stage Ken Block (Ford), Ott Tänak (Ford) and Karl Kruuda (Skoda) also had to retired, due to hits that did not allow them to continue, though it is possible that they continue tomorrow with the corresponding penalty for each stage not run. Kimi Räikkonen (Citroën) was also forced to retire due to engine problem on special stage 3.

After three stages, Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) leads the race ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford), at  5,3 seconds; Sébastien Ogier (Citroën), at 11,9 seconds; Mikko Hirvonen (Ford), at 36,5 seconds; and Dani Sordo (Mini), at 57,4 seconds.

The President of Catalonia, Artur Mas, visited the Rally Headquarters facilities in PortAventura.

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