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| 2008 Rallye Deutschland : WRC Round 10 of 15 : 15th - 17th August 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. S Loeb/D ElenaFRA Citroen C4 2hr 32min 22.6sec 2. D Sordo/M MartiESP Citroen C4 2hr 33min 02.9sec 3. F Duval/P PivatoBEL Ford Focus RS 2hr 34min 06.9sec 4. M Hirvonen/J LehtinenFIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 34min 10.8sec 5. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 2hr 34min 51.3sec 6. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 2hr 35min 54.7sec 7. H Solberg/C MenkerudNOR Ford Focus RS 2hr 36min 56.0sec 8. U Aava/K SikkEST Citroen C4 2hr 37min 19.7sec 9. J-M Latvala/M AnttilaFIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 37min 22.3sec 10 T Gardemeister/T TuominenFIN Suzuki SX4 2hr 38min 06.3sec 2. Leg News Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) dominated the day and won seven of the eight stages to extend his lead to 40.3sec over team-mate Dani Sordo, who won the other test. Stobart driver François Duval (Ford) claimed third after Hirvonen's final stage puncture, despite sliding into a corn field on the opening stage. Behind Hirvonen, team-mates Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson (both Subaru) completed the top six, Atkinson's car losing its launch control system at the start of the final stage. Lower down the leaderboard Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) hit a kerb on the second stage this morning, damaging a rear wheel hub and suspension. He limped through the remaining morning tests, dropping more than five minutes and lies 16th. 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 drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen face a final leg tussle for a podium finish on Rallye Deutschland after a difficult day's driving over Germany's tricky asphalt speed tests. The Finns fought hard for second in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car until they hit a hole and punctured in the final few kilometres. They lost 45sec and dropped to fourth with just the shortest day's competition remaining in this 10th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila are ninth after rolling their Focus RS WRC this morning and struggling to regain their confidence during the afternoon special stages. Both cars remain in points-scoring positions for the current manufacturers' world championship leaders. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "I didn't trust my pace notes first time through the stages so I was too cautious and that's where I lost time. If there was a cut at a corner, I seemed to back off to see how slippery it was. I need to be braver and I didn't have the confidence to drive flat out like yesterday. No matter how hard I drove, I couldn't match Sordo's times. The only difference from yesterday was that the stages had different characteristics. They were more like race circuit roads." #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "It's hard to find my confidence. I'm afraid in the braking areas so I'm braking too early. I want to climb up as far as I can tomorrow but I need to regain my rhythm," #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: I smashed into some trees, thankfully they were only small, but it cost time. Things were going well this afternoon but during stage 13 there was smoke inside the car and I was reluctant to push hard until the mechanics had a look at it. I also went off in the same stage. It was a messy corner and I overshot the bend. I applied the handbrake - it wasn't enough and I slid into a field and lost around 40sec." Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The long second day of the 2008 Rallye Deutschland concluded this evening with the two Citroën Total C4 WRCs sitting on the top two steps of the overnight podium and in a strong position to pull off a handsome medals haul tomorrow. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, who emerged in front after SS1 on Friday, spent the day comforting their lead, while Dani Sordo/Marc Martí brilliantly recovered second spot before setting about pulling further clear of the driver in third place. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "We got off to a good start and my C4 WRC is handling just as nicely as it did on Friday. Thanks to the work of everyone in the team, we also got the morning's two tyre calls spot on, namely Pirelli 'Softs' for the three stages up to the remote service zone, then 'Hards' for the harder-wearing tank-testing tracks. The result was excellent. We have pulled even further clear of our main rival in the World Championship and Dani and Marc are holding second place, so that's all very positive. We just had one scary moment this morning when we brushed a hay-bail that formed part of a chicane in one particularly fast portion. It wasn't in the same position as it was during recce." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "Prior to this afternoon's loop, our closest chaser was 14.4 seconds behind us. Our lead is now up to 1m 4s. We didn't push quite so hard second round, but that didn't stop us from making the most of the potential of our C4 over this terrain, although I have to say that this really isn't my favourite asphalt event ; there are far too many junctions ! It's been a positive day and along with the Citroën Sport technical staff we succeeded in finding a set-up which suited me perfectly." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 On the second and toughest day of competition on Rallye Deutschland, both Subaru World Rally Team crews improved their stage times considerably between the morning and afternoon loops as their confidence in the car grew, when almost all those ahead went slower second time round. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: It was actually quite good fun, not bad at all. I think we're going in the right direction and it's getting better. Today can have surprises, like with Mikko's puncture on the last stage, so I'm pleased to have got through with no problems. The gaps are so big now though it's impossible to close on them unless something happens. So tomorrow we'll just drive to the speed of the car and no mistakes." #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: "We haven't got on top of the tarmac setup yet though so we can't push as hard as we were able last year. We've sort of dropped to the middle of nowhere today as the gaps in front and behind are so big, so we're now trying to fine-tune and do some work on areas of the car to try and speed up development." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 François Duval/Patrick Pivato have moved into third place with one day remaining of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland; round 10 of the FIA World Rally Championship. After the unfortunate exit of Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini from the event yesterday the Belgian continues to hold things strong for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team. An impressive day of competition sees team-mates Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud climb to a comfortable seventh spot while Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin also advanced on their overnight position as they occupy 12th spot. #7 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "It hasn't been a bad day, we haven't had any problems and are still just continuing to get to grips with the car on tarmac. I am not planning to make any big changes to the car now because I have to concentrate on my driving and learn more about how to do it on tarmac. We are in the points and things are getting better every stage. But generally we have been improving things throughout the day and hopefully this will continue tomorrow." #8 : Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato: "The feeling is starting to come now and I'm much happier than yesterday. The bumper came off in Panzerplatte on a sharp dip in the road which affected the cooling system so the engine temperature went up and we had to back off in some places to keep an eye on the temperature. But the setup of the car is not 100 percent perfect so we will try some more things tonight. I always drive for the win and will continue to push tomorrow even though Mikko is close behind." #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "We need to make some good changes in midday service and the car felt much more comfortable under braking. This obviously helped my confidence and the feeling with the car. The stages are tricky as the roads get very slippery when there is a lot of gravel pulled out. Our safety crew are doing a brilliant job i noting down the bad sections and that is definitely helping me. The roads are very slippery because there is starting to be a lot of gravel pulled onto the roads which is hard to get the confidence so we need to be careful in these sections." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 No information available. 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 17 August: Day 3 Trier - Trier Start Trier Viehmarkt 06.15 Serv F Messepark (15 mins) 06.25 SS15 Dhrontal 22.22km 07.28 SS16 Moselwein 18.08km 08.03 Serv G Messepark (30 mins) 09.23 SS17 Dhrontal 22.22km 10.41 SS18 Moselwein 18.08km 11.16 SS19 SSS Circus Maximus Trier 4.37km 13.08 Serv H Messepark (10 mins) 13.31 Finish Porta Nigra, Trier 16.15 Total 84.97km Rally total 352.89km |