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

(10/11/2012)

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën). RallyRACC 2012

After a difficult first day with some changes in the lead, the second day of the 48 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2012, returned to the situation that has been usual for seven years: the crushing dominion of the rally star Sébastien Loeb (Citroën DS3 WRC), who his win in the first pass through “El Priorat” took the first position and did not leave it for the rest of the day. In second place is Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) and in third Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën), who two stages from the end was able to overtake the leader of the rally’s first day, Mads Østberg (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), who finished the day in fifth behind Ott Tänak (Ford).

Under completely different conditions from yesterday, the second day of the RallyRACC was not exactly mild, as in the morning the three different stages (La Mussara, El Priorat y Riba-roja d’Ebre) were nearly completely wet, while in the afternoon the same stages were drying, though still humid in some areas.

The morning loop was dominated by the Ford and Citroën drivers, respectively. Latvala set the fastest time in the first stage of the day, while Loeb won the next two. It was in the second stage, “El Priorat”, where Seb’s win together combined with an off, left Østberg in the third place. In that same stage Sordo, who had returned after retiring yesterday, had engine problems and lost more than 1 minute, to be added to another half a minute in the next stage.

The Spaniard’s problems were solved during the Service in PortAventura although he received a penalty when he left it. All those setbacks were positive in the end for Sordo. As he had nothing to lose, he attacked in the “La Mussara-2” stage, where he set the fastest time, 4,5 seconds ahead of Loeb, who already had a 21-second advantage over Latvala.

The last two stages of the day confirmed Loeb’s dominance while the French strolls to his possible eighth consecutive triumph in the Spanish round. In any case, Dani Sordo and his Mini flew again to their second stage win, this time in the “El Priorat 2”, ahead of the French driver. The last stage was for Ott Tänak (Ford), fourth overall, while both Loeb and Sordo finished less than a second behind the Estonian.

José Antonio Suárez, WRC Academy runner-up
In the three lower categories, which also finish their season in the 48 RallyRACC, today’s changes have also been important. In the WRC Academy, which finishes today, success was for José Antonio Suárez, who with his Ford Fiesta R2 was able to beat Sweden’s Pontus Tidemand. With this result, the driver from Asturias becomes the new runner-up of this category, behind this year’s Champion, Elfyn Evans.

In SWRC (Súper 2000) the leader is still Craig Breen (Ford), also in seventh place in the general standings, with Per-Gunnar Andersson (Proton) second and tenth in the general classification. If tomorrow the positions are the same, Breen, 2011 winner of the WRC Academy, will be the new SWRC World Champion. In PWRC (Production) there were a lot of changes, mainly due to the setbacks for the main drivers, among them Yeray Lemes (Mitsubishi), who retired today due to a turbo failure. Benito Guerra (Mitsubishi), current leader of the series, also leads this round, so he could become World Championship in some hours.

Tomorrow the third and last day of the race will take place, again on tarmac, with three new stages that will be run twice: “Riudecanyes” (16.35 km), “Santa Marina” (26.51 km) and “La Serra d’Almos” (4.11 km), with a total of 93.94 timed km. There are two highlights in this route, the ‘doughnut’ that the participants will make in the famous “Riudecanyes” roundabaout, and the Power Stage, which will give extra points to the top three drivers and will be the second run of “Santa Marina”.

RallyRACC Provisional Classification after day 2
1-Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën DS3 WRC), 3h.16’14”1
2-Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), a 27”0
3-Mikko Hirvonen-Jarmo Lehtinen (Citroën DS3 WRC), a 1’14”1
4-Ott Tänak-Kuldar Sikk (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), a 1’28”8
5-Mads Østberg-Jonas Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), a 1’31”4
6-Hans Weijs-Bjorn Degant (Citroën DS3 WRC), a 9’02”9
7-Craig Breen-Paul Nagle (Ford Fiesta S2000), a 12’26”2
8-Evgeny Novikov-Ilka Minor (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), a 13’25”1
9-Jarkko Nikara-Jarkko Kalliolepo (Mini John Cooper Works WRC), a 13’39”1
10-Per Gunnar Andersson-Emil Axelsson (Proton Satria Neo S2000), a 15’45”4