05/10/2007
Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo, double Citroën at Leg 1 in a difficult RallyRACC

Citroën controls the 43rd movistar RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España, where 6 timed stages and 148 kms have been disputed. Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena and Daniel Sordo-Marc Martí, with the two official C4 WRC, are leading the standings in a difficult race. Great competition with 5 different winners of the six disputed stages: Loeb (2), Grönholm, Duval, Sordo and Hirvonen.

The day started with two initial stages completely wet and a bit dirty which has caused a lot of problems when they had to decide which tyre to use. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) was leader at the first visit at the service park of PortAventura, 3,7 seconds ahead his mate Dani Sordo and 4,4 ahead his rival for the world title, Marcus Grönholm (Ford). Things were going as they expected for the Citroën Total team, as well as the rest of the day.

Down this three, the situation was further from the podium, with Hirvonen, Solberg, Duval and Pons were qualified and separated by just few seconds. The Belgian of the Kronos team was complaining of his clutch, although he was improving his times, and the Catalan driver of Subaru was complaining about the brakes.

The weather has got better during the second run in the stages, where the drivers had dry conditions and less slippery. François Duval first and Daniel Sordo, later, at the fourth stage won the scratch which make the RACC driver to gain access to the provisional leadership of the test, 0,7 seconds ahead his mate Sébastien Loeb, with Grönholm in third position.

At the third and last loop of the day, two new stages -El Lloar-La Figuera (22,43 kms) and Pratdip (26,48 kms)-, were very difficult because of the hard rain. Loeb could overtake his teammate at the standings, while Grönholm was more than 30 minutes down and for that reason he lost the chance for the victory.

After this initial phase, tomorrow the rallyes will start and have end in PortAventura with 119 kms timed and divided in 8 stages.

Leg 1 Overall Classification of the 43rd movistar RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (F-MC/Citroën C4 WRC) - 1h 22'16.5
2. Daniel Sordo/Marc Martí (E/Citroën C4 WRC) - +11.3
3. Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen (FIN/Ford Focus RS WRC 2007) - +50.6
4. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/Ford Focus RS WRC 2007) - +53.2
5. François Duval/Patrick Pivato (B/Citroën Xsara WRC) - +1'25.8
6. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (N-GB/Subaru Impreza WRC 2007) - +1'35.4
7. Jari-Matti Latvala/Mica Anttila (FIN/Ford Focus RS WRC 2006) - +2'09.2
8. Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot (AUS-B/Subaru Impreza WRC 2007) - + 2'20.2
9. Xevi Pons/Xavier Amigo (E/Subaru Impreza WRC 2007) - +3'18.3
10. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (N/Ford Focus RS WRC 2006) - +5'43.3