RallyRACC, day 2: Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) builds his lead

(22/10/2011)

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën). RallyRACC 2011

Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën DS3 WRC) are just one leg away from achieving their seventh consecutive victory at the RallyRACC and, if they clinch it, they will have made a huge step in their quest for the World Championship title, which will undoubtedly be decided in the next and last race in Wales. Current World Champions ended the second day of the Spanish Rally in front of Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), who did a very good leg and won 3 stages (one more than the leader). Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (Mini) won the remaining stage.

The first loop of the day -El Priorat (45,97 km -the longest tarmac stage in the World Championship-, Riba-roja d’Ebre (12,27 km) and Punta de les Torres (13,53 km)- ended with two victories for Loeb and one for Latvala in the third SS, both drivers exchanging places all day long, while Dani Sordo (Mini) was third. In the second loop, Latvala started very strong in El Priorat, setting the fastest time, while Dani Sordo (Mini) conquered Riba-roja d’Ebre, the first of this round. The day finished with another fastest time for the Finn in Punta de Les Torres.
 
Showing yet again his usual dominance on tarmac and his excellent race management skills, reigning world champions Loeb-Elena finished day 2 with a 27.6 second lead over Ford rivals Latvala-Anttila. Hirvonen-Lehtinen ended third, almost two minutes adrift. Sébastien Loeb became today the driver to have set more scratch times ever in world championship history, breaking Markku Alen’s record with his 802nd scratch time.

Jari-Matti Latvala’s impressive performance for Ford proves his strong shape. He has kept ahead of Dani Sordo’s Mini at all times. The local driver fought hard to catch Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) in the overall standings, and managed to put the Finn into serious trouble.

Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) punctured again today in the long El Priorat special stage. He had to change the tyre once more and lost over one and a half minutes as well as any chances to climb on the podium. Neither Petter Solberg nor Kimi Räikkonen, both on Citroën, took the start today. In the SWRC series, the head-to-head between Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford) and Juho Hänninen (Skoda) finished well for the Quatar driver, while Hänninen came in second. In a similar battle, PWRC Patrik Flodin (Subaru) prevailed over Michal Kosciuszko (Mitsubishi). In both series, the two first drivers ended neck and neck and now everything is to be decided on the last race day.

This afternoon, Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Jaume Alguersuari visited the RallyRACC headquarters in Salou. Ivan Tibau, Sports Secretary General for the Catalan Government, was also there.

The third and final day of this rally will feature three repeated stages totalling 102.62 timed kilometres. The event will conclude with the podium ceremony in Salou, starting at 3.14 pm.

47th RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2011
Overall classification after day 2
1-Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroën DS3 WRC), 3 hours 06’01”3
2-Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), + 27”6
3-Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), + 1’51”8
4-Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (Mini John Cooper Works WRC), + 2’29”2
5-Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroën DS3 WRC), + 3’41”4
6-Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Mini John Cooper Works WRC), + 4’11”9
7-Mads Ostberg/Jonas Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), + 4’49’1’’
8-Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), + 6’42’’0
9-Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet (Citroën DS3 WRC), + 7’19’’8
10-Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), + 8’48’’8