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| RallyeNewsletter 2008 Rally Turkey : WRC Round 8 of 15 : 13th - 15th June In this issue: 1. Leg 2 Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Leg 2 News 4. Leg 2 Team by Team News 5. Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3h47m37.8s 2. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS +16.2s 3. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroën C4 +34.3s 4. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS +2m08.5s 5. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroën C4 +2m15.1s 6. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza +2m33.7s 7. M Wilson/S Martin GB Ford Focus RS +3m41.2s 8. G Galli/G Bernacchini I Ford Focus RS +5m20.1s 9. C Rautenbach/D Senior ZIM Citroën C4 +6m08.6s 10. F Villagra/J Pérez Companc RA Ford Focus RS +7m43.8s 2. Leg News The Ford's of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala led after leg 2. After dominating the opening leg to hold first and second, both Ford drivers deliberately eased their pace near the end of the final speed test to ensure a better start position today. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) had the unwanted role of cleaning the stages all day but after slipping to fourth this morning, he regained a place this afternoon. Henning Solberg (Ford) holds fourth after spending the day familiarising himself with a new gearbox. Dani Sordo (Citroen) is fifth, despite dropping 40sec with a rear left puncture on this morning's second stage. Petter Solberg (Subaru) rounds off the top six. Stobart driver Gigi Galli (Ford) was fighting with Loeb for a top three position but the Italian dropped nearly four minutes with boost valve failure in the turbo and he is now eighth. There were just two major retirements. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) stopped in stage 11 with electrical problems and team-mate Toni Gardemeister retired in the same test with a broken radiator. Neither will restart tomorrow. Tomorrow is by far the shortest day of the rally, comprising just three stages and 67.56km. It does however introduce the longest stage of the rally, the 31.03km Olympos test. This stage will be run twice, either side of the 5.5km Camyuva stage based in the nearby port town of the same name. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team took full advantage of last night's bold tactical manoeuvre to take control of the Rally of Turkey during today's second leg. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen sped over the tricky gravel tracks in the south to lead this eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship by 16.1sec in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila lie second in a similar Focus RS with just one leg remaining of this four-day event. After dominating the opening leg to hold first and second, both Ford drivers deliberately eased their pace near the end of the final speed test to ensure a better start position today. By dropping down the leaderboard, Hirvonen and Latvala forced other drivers, including championship rival Sébastien Loeb, to start ahead of them. As a result they enjoyed the benefits of roads swept clear of slippery gravel by those ahead, leaving a cleaner and faster line for their Focus RS cars to exploit. Both attacked hard to build a lead over Loeb which they will take into tomorrow's shortest leg. Although Loeb will have the advantage of cleaner roads tomorrow, Ford's Finns will hope that the advantage they earned will see them through the final 67.56km of competition. Hirvonen leads third-placed Loeb by 34.2sec with Latvala 18.1sec ahead of the Frenchman. Today's action was again played out in the towering Anatolian mountains, which provide a stunning backdrop to the holiday resort of Kemer where the rally is based. Beaches and bikinis were far from the thoughts of Hirvonen and Latvala though, who tackled another seven rough and rocky speed tests covering 137.66km. Air temperatures touched 34ºC while the mercury reached 48ºC on the ground, providing a tough challenge for Pirelli's Scorpion tyres. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: Hirvonen restarted in fifth and fastest time on the opening two special stages ensured last night's move paid dividends as the 27-year-old rocketed back to the top of the leaderboard. Latvala, third overnight, had slightly worse conditions than his colleague but the 23-year-old also capitalised on the tactical masterstroke to climb to second on the opening loop. Both concentrated during the afternoon on building as big a lead as possible over Loeb to take into the final leg. Hirvonen won four and Latvala one of the seven stages. "I was hoping for a bigger lead," said Hirvonen. "Thirty-four seconds over Loeb is good but 40sec would have been comfortable. Both Jari-Matti and Loeb will be tough to beat but I'm more worried about Jari-Matti. I have to realistic. I came here to regain the championship lead and that's my main aim for tomorrow. That's more important to me than winning this rally. "I'm first on the road tomorrow so all I can do is drive flat out and hope for the best. It could be a great three-way battle. Starting first isn't my strongest point but I spoke with Marcus Grönholm last week and asked his advice about driving first on the road. He told me to remove it from my mind and just get on with driving normally. Loeb did well in that position and I need to learn how to do that, but today wasn't the day for that," added Hirvonen. #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: Latvala is also relishing the battle. "Tomorrow will have lots of hard driving, maximum concentration and plenty of effort to try to keep Loeb behind. I'm both a team-mate and competitor with Mikko and I would like to win this rally. I'm not here just to cruise but I must also remember that I mustn't put the car off the road. Mikko will be first in the start order so it won't be easy for him while Loeb will attack from behind and will be very fast. The long stage will be tough for me as I will only have Mikko's line to follow," he said. "He has been driving so fast that I've not been able to ease off. I had it on my mind all day that I didn't want to be first on the road tomorrow. Because of the speed of Mikko and Loeb, I couldn't ease off and there was no chance for me to use tactics tonight," added Latvala. Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The second leg of the 2008 Rally of Turkey was shorter than the first and took place in searing heat and bright sunshine. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena ended the day in third position with their C4 WRC, while their Spanish Citroën Total team-mates Dani Sordo/Marc Martí are fifth. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "Everybody knows how difficult it is to run first on the road," said Sébastien Loeb. "There's no point in moaning about it, or criticising the regulations or the tactics of our rivals. The only answer is to drive as fast as possible!" The defending World Champions did their best to shrug off the pressure from behind on SS10, but they then lost their lead by a margin of 13.7s after SS11. "Given the road order and the advantage which that gives our opponents, I'm actually surprised by how small the gaps are," observed Seb at service. "That said, our Citroën C4 is running perfectly and we have found a set-up that is enabling us to push very close to the limit! Our Pirelli tyres are also standing up well to the risk of punctures." In addition to having to sweep aside a clear line on the new stages, the current Drivers' championship leaders had another handicap to overcome. "On the second passes," reported Seb, "there was a top-coating of dust, too, which made the going extremely slippery. We preferred to lift an our chasers pounced on that. How frustrating! We've done all we can to keep the gaps as small as possible and try to be in a position to challenge for victory tomorrow. We are now 34.2s behind the leaders, with 67km of stages still to come. It won't be easy, but this rally isn't over yet…" #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "Our objective today was to try to home in on the drivers ahead of us in the overnight order," explained Dani Sordo. "We immediately found a good pace and we moved from eighth to seventh. In SS11, however, we hit a rock which resulted in a rear left puncture. It happened more than 10km from the end and I had to make sure that the tyre didn't suffer too much, but we only dropped a handful of seconds. The afternoon's loop was easier." The next five stages effectively saw Dani post a sequence of times that showcase to the progress he has made on the loose. He profited from SS14 to ease into fifth place and the next one to move to within 6.6s of fourth spot. "The rest of the day was trouble-free," he smiled. "I feel very confident in my Citroën C4 and I stayed focused, while at the same time taking care to look after my tyres. We're now fifth, just a few seconds off fourth place, and there's still along way to go. If I can repeat the same pace tomorrow, I think a good result is possible." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 Using the second day in Turkey to further develop the new Impreza WRC2008, the Subaru World Rally Team crew of Petter Solberg and Phil Mills retained their sixth position overall with one day remaining. Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot also took steps forward with the performance of their No.6 Impreza to demonstrate promising speed in tricky conditions. Testing new setups on both cars in the afternoon, their respective performances improved on what were demanding roads with large rocks, ditches and tight corners aplenty. On the day's seven stages, including the second running of the Antalya spectator stage that got the event underway on Thursday evening, the team gained valuable experience as the development programme of the Impreza continued. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: With another solid run and a problem-free day behind them, Solberg and Mills evaluated the changes made to their car and remain firmly within the points. Having made some changes during the morning's first service, the duo felt more comfortable with their Impreza on the twisty speed tests to conclude the second day of step-by-step progress intended from this event. "We had a good steady pace today, no risks and no damage" commented Petter Solberg. "We drove well and made some positive changes to the car through the day. This is still really testing for us, so it's not been bad at all. There is still more to come so we must keep working, but steps at a time. Tomorrow we will do the same, make a few more changes, and see how much we can push." #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: After a steady morning, Atkinson's campaign was delayed by 11 minutes when an electrical problem meant he was late leaving the first midday service. After some positive developmental tweaks during the same service, the Australian continued pushing hard to post the second fastest time on the afternoon's opener, just tenths of a second from securing the new Impreza's second stage win in as many events. Unfortunately, Atkinson and Prévot were prevented from maximising the benefit of further adjustments when they suffered from a hydraulic problem that struck during SS14. Affecting the following two stages before they were able to return to the day's final service, the duo lost a total of three minutes. "It's disappointing to have had the problems we have had today" rued Chris Atkinson. "The team tried changes on the car in the services, so we will see how this will help us tomorrow and what we can do then. We just had a steady day, no risks and driving to the finish." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 With day 2 of Rally Turkey completed this evening the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team remain with all three crews in points scoring positions. Leading the pack are Norwegians Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud who occupy a podium-chasing fourth position overall. Team-mates Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin kept things secure by staying out of trouble to remain comfortably in the points in seventh. The pair currently hold a gap of over one and a half minutes to their team-mates Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini in eighth. Today's leg has been the rally's hottest and toughest yet catching out several competitors including Stobart's Galli who dropped back to eighth after a turbo related issue on stage 13 this afternoon. Last night's flexi-service gave Solberg's team of expert technicians the chance to change his favourite, but worse-for-wear, gearbox and replace it with a new one. The component changed Solberg's feeling with the car causing the Norwegian driver to lose some time over the day as he began to familiarise himself with the car's new characteristics. Coming out of Service F this morning Galli was sitting pretty in third position just 5.2 seconds off the leader. Unfortunately a turbo boost valve problem on the 27.36 kilometre Silyon 2 stage lost the Italian star four minutes with an extensive lack of power to his Stobart Ford Focus RS WRC07. Galli was also plagued with fatigue as a result of the hot and dusty conditions which were thrown at competitors today and this affected his concentration over the final two stages this afternoon. By final service tonight the Italian required medical attention to check the extent of his suspected dehydration and exhaustion. #7 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "We are in a good position at the moment and I am going to try my best to remain here tomorrow but I will have to be careful of Dani coming up behind me. We had to change the gearbox in my car last night and I am very used to the old one so it has taken a little bit to get used to the new one today but OK everything is good with the car and we have kept it on the road and out of trouble which is the main thing. A podium is never out of the question and I would love to be on it for all my Norwegian fans who have come out to support me for this rally but we will see what happens tomorrow." #8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchi: "This has been a really hard day of rallying and I'm exhausted now at the end. For sure I'm disappointed with the problem today and not to be able to challenge for a podium again and it's strange that we had the same problem on the same stage a few years ago. But this is rallying and you cannot predict what will happen. I still have the opportunity to score a point in the drivers' championship and also even more points for the Stobart team in the manufacturers' so I will be trying my best for the team and the fans here in Turkey."ni: #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "Today has been another top day for us and despite this cold, which I just can't seem to shake off, the times have been good and everything is working well. The car is feeling really good and some of the stages this afternoon have been mega which has really helped with my confidence and speed. We bent the rear trailing arm today when I had an impact with a rock at the end of stage 13 and it unsettled the handling of the car so I just took it easy to get back to service and only lost a little bit of time. The plan is to continue things into the final day and hopefully come away with another points' finish." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 The second day of the Rally of Turkey provided one of the toughest challenges of the World Rally Championship season. The mountainous stages to the west of the rally¹s host town of Kemer were, once again, bathed in sunshine ensuring they were baked hard. Both Suzuki SX4 WRCs made it through the opening stage of day two without any problems. Unfortunately for Toni Gardemeister and P-G Andersson, both drivers retired on the next stage Gardemeister¹s car with a broken radiator, Andersson¹s with an electrical glitch. The two Suzuki SX4 WRCs demonstrated strong reliability through the opening leg, but succumbed to the exceptionally rough conditions and tremendously high ambient temperatures on the Kemer-based Rally of Turkey. Neither of the SX4 WRCs will start the final day tomorrow. The engine in Gardemeister¹s car was overheated after the radiator was broken, while the sister Suzuki of Andersson was hit by an electrical issue, which first occurred on the opening day. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: There are positives to take away from this rally. We have been quick, quicker than before with the gap regularly below one second per kilometre down on the leader. But when you have some trouble, it¹s always disappointing. We were about half way through the stage when I noticed the car was starting to lose power. Then the engine temperature was going up. I thought this could be because we were in a very twisty section of the stage it¹s normal for the temperature to rise in this condition. But when it carried on going up, then I knew we had to switch off the radiator was broken. My shoulder was also hurting a little. I hit a big rock early in the stage, which knocked it badly. I had to drive one-handed for a while again. The next round of the championship takes us home to Finland and that¹s an event I¹m really looking forward to. We will have a test and some new parts to come from the car. It¹s nice to know the SX4 WRC will be even faster when we get to my home.² #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: ³I was really looking forward to driving the SX4 WRC again today. It had been a really exciting day behind the wheel yesterday and I wanted to show what we could do again on day two. The time in the first stage was good, we were in the top 10 again, but then a couple of hundred metres off the start line in SS11 the car stopped. Yes, it¹s disappointing not to finish, but look at the times we were setting top six times yesterday, which shows how far the car has come. I¹m excited about the second half of the season already!² 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 1 June: Day 3 Athens - Athens Serv F Tatoi (15 mins) 05.50 SS14 Avlonas 1 20.00km 06.48 SS15 Assopia 1 17.87km 07.27 SS16 Aghia Sotira 1 15.20km 08.30 Serv G Tatoi (30 mins) 09.59 SS17 Avlonas 2 20.00km 11.12 SS18 Assopia 2 17.87km 11.51 SS19 Aghia Sotira 2 15.20km 12.54 SS20 SSS Tatoi 2 4.60km 14.30 Serv H Tatoi (10 mins) 14.45 |