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| 2008 Rally of Jordan : WRC Round 5 of 15 : 25th - 27th April In this issue: Leg 1 Unofficial Leaderboard Leg 1 News Leg 1 Team by Team News Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 1hr 16min 53.7sec 2. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 1hr 16min 54.8sec 3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 17min 02.2sec 4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 17min 07.1sec 5. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 1hr 18min 01.7sec 6. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 1hr 18min 53.0sec 7. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 1hr 19min 46.4sec 8. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 1hr 20min 16.0sec 9. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 1hr 20min 52.9sec 10 K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 1hr 20min 58.1sec 2. Leg News Dani Sordo (Citroen) led from the start, the Spaniard winning three stages to lead team-mate Sébastien Loeb by 1.1sec. The Frenchman also claimed three stage wins. Behind the BP Ford Abu Dhabi duo, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) held fifth with Urmo Aava (Citroen) an impressive sixth. The remaining four places in the top 10 were all claimed by Focus RS cars, headed by Stobart's Matthew Wilson in seventh. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) retired after going off on the opening stage while team-mate Toni Gardemeister stopped with engine problems after stage 2. Petter Solberg (Subaru) retired from fifth with broken front suspension after stage six and Stobart driver Gigi Galli (Ford) retired from sixth after the same test. The Italian slid into a bank, damaging the rear differential cooler and exhaust, and the differential seized in the high temperatures. He will restart tomorrow under SupeRally rules. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Measured performances in the furnace of the Dead Sea valley placed BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team in the ideal position following the opening day of the Jordan Rally. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila lie third on this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, with team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen fourth after an enthralling day's competition on the WRC's first visit to an Arab country since 1976. Both pairings are driving Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "Everything went to plan this afternoon. I didn't push too hard because there were many loose rocks in the road and I didn't want to hit one and damage the tyres. I attacked on the last gap to ensure the gap wasn't too large tonight and I'm happy with how it went today," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "It's an interesting battle and I didn't expect it to be this close. My speed is good and I have a great start position tomorrow so I'll see how things go in the morning, before deciding whether to push in the afternoon or steady my pace. My confidence improved this afternoon but I'm still working my tyres too hard. I tried to brake softly and be more precise in my driving but I have more to do," #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: "The back of the car caught fire at the end of stage six. The fire brigade had to put it out and although the next stage went OK, the flames were back at the end of stage eight." Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The fiercely fought opening leg of the Jordan Rally, the latest addition to the World Rally Championship calendar, saw Dani Sordo/Marc Martí and their Citroën C4 WRC complete the day on top of the provisional leaderboard, while Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena follow in second place, 1.1s seconds behind their team-mates. In addition to the performance of the two factory C4s, the two cars run by PH Sport with support from Citroën Sport Technologies and the sixth place for Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "It wasn't easy to take good notes because everything looks alike and the roads are fast and tricky. I was also aware that I would have the handicap of sweeping aside the loose gravel for the others this morning. I had trouble settling into a good rhythm which affected my driving and I had a couple of scares. We made a few small changes to the set-up of my car for the second loop and that felt much better. On top of that, we didn't have to clear the top-coating of gravel second time round, so it was easer to use the full potential of our C4. The gaps at the moment don't really signify much because I am sure it will be another tough day tomorrow." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "On this sort of terrain, you just can't afford to put a wheel off the line swept clean by the other cars. I consequently tried to keep it as clean as possible so as not to find myself in the looser gravel where it was impossible to control the car. That plan worked well for the first three stages but I didn't feel perfectly at ease on the morning's final test. There were lots of crests and blind corners and I dropped a little time. As expected, the fight was extremely close this afternoon when the conditions were the same for everyone. I am pleased with my start to the rally but we now have to try and defend our lead tomorrow, and that probably won't be easy." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 No information available at time of sending. Please check site later. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin lead the way for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team after a successful opening day of Rally Jordan; round five of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud brushed of a slowish start to finish day 1 in the final point scoring position in eighth. #8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: “Obviously I am very disappointed with my problem today as the rally was going quite well for me and I was starting to get a good feeling with the car. We slid on a slippy section of the stage and went backwards into a big bank of rocks and this damaged the diff cooler and I was unable to continue as the temperature rose so high; I didn’t want to cause a lot of damage. I hope the team can repair this for tomorrow as its very important for me to get back out there and learn more about this rally and this unique surface. The first loop of stages today went well for me and I was starting to find a good rhythm and getting more confidence with the car and I would like to continue with this progress tomorrow.” #14 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: “We found things difficult this morning but it is a new rally and I just can’t jump in and be very fast from the start. The surface is difficult and I need to build up my confidence here and then in turn build up my speed during the rally. We made quite a few changes to the pacenotes and hopefully this will also help with my confidence. The conditions are tricky and it’s easy to make a mistake so I will continue to concentrate and push harder when I can. I have finished today in the points and without any problems so I’m happy with that.” #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: “Today has been a really good start to the rally and I’m starting to feel more comfortable on these tricky stages. Apart from having a couple of minor half spins which dropped us some time, it’s all went well today and I’m pleased with our performance. The stage times have been really consistent and the only changes we have made have been to adjust our lines over some difficult crests and this worked well for the second pass. We concentrated on preserving our tyres in the second loop as it’s really easy to run wide onto the loose gravel and drop some time.” Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 In a day of searing heat alongside the Dead Sea, the Suzuki World Rally Team had a challenging start to the first ever World Rally Championship round in Jordan. Finland's Toni Gardemeister ended the opening test inside the top 10 positions and in a confident mood. Unfortunately for Suzuki, his team-mate P-G Andersson slipped off the road six kilometers into the Suwayma stage, undamaging his car but ending his participation in day one of the Jordan Rally. Andersson will return tomorrow, under the super rally regulations, with his SX4 WRC running again in perfect condition. Gardemeister remained in the top 10 for the next test, but was forced out of the rally after five kilometres of the third stage with a damaged sump. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: "I was happy with the first couple of stages. In some corners, we were going a little bit wide, but the times were quite okay. I thought this was going to be a good event for us. We had a real chance to get some good points here. I knew P-G had had a problem and I was thinking that we needed to make sure there was one SX4 at the finish, so I wasn't pushing very hard. I wasn't flat-out and didn't want to take the big risks. I don't know which stone it was that caused the problems - there were so many of them about! As soon as I heard the engine starting to sound like it wasn't right in SS3, I pulled over and switched it off. I am also upset for the team because I wanted to get a result for them on this rally. I came here to drive well and to compete with the other cars on even ground. I do believe we could have made a result, particularly when you look at how many of the cars are having problems in these really tough conditions." #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: "My problem came in a section about six kilometres into the stage. It was a left-hander going into a tighter right. I was too fast into the left and then couldn't gather the car for the next right. The car started to drift and then went off the road on the inside of the corner. The front was buried in some deep sand. A couple of people were there to help, but there was no way the car was coming out until I found some wood to go under the wheels. By the time I had done that and we got back on the road, we were OTL (Over Time Limit). I had a slow puncture from earlier in the stage, but the problem was my speed - not the tyre. It's really disappointing. I need to be in the car and driving stages right now, so there is a lot of frustration when this happens. We all want to show what the SX4 WRC can do." 5. Remaing Event Schedule Saturday 26 April: Day 2 Dead Sea - Dead Sea Serv C Dead Sea (15 mins) 08.00 SS9 Turkl 1 14.13km 08.53 SS10 Erak Elamir 1 12.47km 09.21 SS11 Shuna 1 15.19km 10.24 SS12 Baptism Site 1 13.13km 11.05 Serv D Dead Sea (30 mins) 11.58 SS13 Turkl 2 14.13km 13.06 SS14 Erak Elamir 2 12.47km 13.34 SS15 Shuna 2 15.19km 14.37 SS16 Baptism Site 2 13.13km 15.18 Serv E Dead Sea (45 mins) 15.44 Finish Dead Sea 16.29 Total 109.84km Sunday 27 April: Day 3 Dead Sea - Dead Sea Serv F Dead Sea (15 mins) 06.45 SS17 Kafrain 1 16.49km 07.37 SS18 Wadi Shuelb 1 9.18km 08.10 SS19 Jordan River 1 41.45km 09.13 Serv G Dead Sea (30 mins) 10.23 SS20 Kafrain 2 16.49km 11.30 SS21 Wadi Shuelb 2 9.18km 12.03 SS22 Jordan River 2 41.45km 13.06 Serv H Dead Sea (10 mins) 14.06 Finish Dead Sea 15.00 Total 134.24km Rally total 359.26km |