03/10/2008
RallyRACC, SS3: The Citroëns sweep the early stages of the Rally de España

Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën C4 WRC). RallyRACC 2008

The 44 movistar RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España, opened up today with La Mussara stage. Three stages have been raced already and we are now half way into day 1. As expected, both Citroën Total WRT drivers Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Sordo took up the first positions in the three runs, followed by the two BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT men, François Duval and Mikko Hirvonen.

The RallyRACC was inaugurated over a rather cold and slippery tarmac. Loeb was the fastest man in all the stages, closely followed by team mate Dani Sordo. “The car feels well, we are confident in these early stages. We feel comfortable and we managed to choose the right tyres”, said Loeb upon arrival to PortAventura’s Service Park.

In the Junior series, Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) equated Loeb’s performance. Two of the most relevant withdrawals were Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) and Peter van Merksteijn jr (Ford), who went off the track.