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| 2009 Rally Ireland : WRC Round 1 of 12 : 30th January - 1st February In this issue: 1. Leg 1 Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Leg 1 News 4. Leg 1 Team by Team News 5. Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 1hr 09min 35.2sec 2. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 1hr 10min 19.6sec 3. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 10min 40.0sec 4. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 1hr 12min 44.6sec 5. C Rautenbach/D Barritt ZIM Citroen C4 1hr 13min 53.5sec 6. S Ogier/J Ingrassia FRA Citroen C4 1hr 13min 58.4sec 7. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Citroen C4 1hr 14min 26.4sec 8. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 1hr 14min 31.2sec 9. G MacHale/B Murphy IRL Ford Focus RS 1hr 14min 40.3sec 10 E Boland/D Morrissey IRL Subaru Impreza 1hr 15min 29.7sec 2. Leg News Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) struggled on the opening stage in heavy rain and darkness and was seventh. But the Frenchman was fastest on the remaining five stages to move into the lead this afternoon. He heads team-mate Dani Sordo by 44.4sec, the Spaniard complaining of throttle troubles on the final stage this morning. Mikko Hirvonen holds the final podium spot at the end of day one. Stobart driver Henning Solberg (Ford) is fourth with team-mates Conrad Rautenbach and Sébastien Ogier (Citroen) rounding off the top six, despite Rautenbach puncturing a tyre on stage three. Chris Atkinson (Citroen) is seventh despite his bonnet flipping up and shattering his windscreen in stage three and then aquaplaning into a pole on stage six. Surprise of the day was Stobart driver Urmo Aava (Ford) who led after the morning loop before sliding into a ditch and retiring on the final stage. 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 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen made a strong start to the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship season by splashing their way to third on today's rain-soaked opening leg of Rally Ireland. The Finns overcame treacherous conditions to steer their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car into a provisional podium place on a day when torrential rain forced organisers to cancel almost 40km of competition due to flooding. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila made a blistering start to lead the rally this morning, but aquaplaned off the road and into retirement on the second speed test. They will restart tomorrow under SupeRally rules in 26th position. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "Dani Sordo is in my sights as he is just 20sec ahead. Tomorrow's stages are faster so I hope I can pick up time on him. It's a shame tonight tests were cancelled because I enjoy driving in the dark and it would have been exciting. I hoped to regain some time on him in those stages," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "I came into a fast left corner that tightened, with a bank on the outside. "The car snapped sideways in the water and I tried to correct it, but in doing so I was forced to cut and the front left of the car hit a rock. The impact threw the car across the road and into the bank. I drove 10km to the finish with two punctures. The front left track control arm was broken and although we tried to fix it with straps, they weren't strong enough. The driveshaft also came out but we were able to repair it. I'm so disappointed and feel I have let the team down. I should have been more careful." #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: "I entered a muddy corner and was trying to keep the car on the line but it slipped out and I lost control. We were heading for some trees on my left but at the last second I pulled the handbrake and hit a tree side-on. I was doing about 50kph and if I'd hit the tree head-on at that speed the impact would have caused far more damage," Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 Despite torrential rain, the first day of this weekend's Rally Ireland, the opening round of the 2009 World Rally Championship, has seen the two Citroën C4 WRCs emerge in front. After a cautious start, Loeb/Elena and Sordo/Marti gradually upped their pace as the day progressed and currently figure in first and second places on this evening's leaderboard. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "I prefer to continue to drive cautiously because I can't afford to make any mistakes. Cancelling the last two stages was probably the right thing to do, but l wouldn't have minded contesting them. I think it's especially hard on the spectators who turned out to watch us." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: I'm glad we succeeded in passing Urmo Aava and Mikko Hirvonen. Citroën is first and second this evening, which is a great result, and we will need to keep that up tomorrow and on Sunday." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 All three Stobart crews started the opening round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship using the Pirelli Sottozero winter tyre, which gave them an edge over many of their rivals during the opening stages. The Estonian pairing of Aava and Kuldar Sikk set a scorching pace as they adapted quickest to the atrocious conditions, and by the end of the first loop were heading the overall classification. Despite being overhauled by reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb in the subsequent tests, the pair were well on course for an outstanding debut result before their unfortunate exit on SS6. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud also performed well on the drenched Irish asphalt. The Norwegian duo outpaced Sebastien Loeb on the first stage, and went on to overall fifth place at Service A. They continued to impress as the day went on, finishing the second loop of the Sligo-based event in fourth overall, and in contention for an excellent result on their least-favoured surface. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin overcame an early scare on the first stage to move steadily up the order as the day progressed. They moved into the top ten after upping the pace over SS2 and SS3, then as they found more confidence in the Pirelli Sottozero winter tyre recorded the sixth-fastest time on SS6, moving the pair up to eighth overall. #5 : Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk: "It's been a day of highs and lows. This morning started well and it was great to be leading for my new Stobart team at the first service. Obviously I was disappointed with my time loss this afternoon. We slid on some mud on a slow left hand corner and got beached on a ditch at the side of the road. We were pretty well stuck and it took quite a bit of time for the spectators to get us back onto the road. I have been very encouraged by my times today though and look forward to going back out tomorrow, doing more kilometres in the car and getting my confidence back." #6 : Henning Solber/Cato Menkerud: "We are enjoying it and setting our own pace to try and finish in the top five, which is our main aim for the weekend. I'm much higher up the leaderboard than I thought I would be at this stage. It's better that there is more rain because the slippery conditions work in our favour and I find it easier to drive on tarmac like that. We are not going to worry about the fight for podium positions but just concentrate on finishing and looking ahead to Norway." #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "It was good to get into the points before the end of the day. We've grown in confidence as the day went on and I felt really able to push in places where the standing water wasn't so bad. I started to get a good feel for the Pirelli Sottozero tyre and even though there was some massive rivers running across the road you could still attack and be confident of the grip. We didn't have any major dramas after the first stage and we know what we need to do to move up tomorrow." Citroen Junior Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 On its World Rally Championship debut, the Citroen Junior Team has ended up with fifth, sixth and seventh places at the end of day one on the Rally Ireland. Conrad Rautenbach and Daniel Barritt led the trio through some typically Irish conditions… The first day of the Rally Ireland got underway before sunrise and immediately offered up some tricky weather conditions to all the competitors on the 2009 World Rally Championship. Heavy rain meant that traction and grip was at a premium. #7: Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: " We had a spin in a very quick part of the stage and hit the right-hand side of our C4 WRC. We had a bit of a bump but we were able to carry on. It's a tricky place to get to learn the car and we're going to need some time to find our pace. " #8 : Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt: "We've had no problems at all and the car is working perfectly. I'm actually a bit disappointed that the final two stages were cancelled, as I would have loved to have ended the day with some night stages. I'm very pleased with this first day, but there's still a lot to do before we can think about the finish." #11: Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia: "We found the right setup and chose the correct tyres for the conditions this afternoon. I'm almost disappointed that we can't carry on this evening. So now we're going to continue trying to make up the time lost in the morning." 5. Remaing Event Schedule Saturday 31 January: Day 2 Sligo - Sligo Serv D Sligo (15 mins) 06.25 SS9 Sloughan Glen 1 27.76km 08.13 SS10 Ballinamallard 1 25.46km 09.06 SS11 Tempo 1 13.46km 09.49 Serv E Sligo (30 mins) 11.54 SS12 Sloughan Glen 2 27.76km 13.57 SS13 Ballinamallard 2 25.46km 14.50 SS14 Tempo 2 13.46km 15.33 Serv F Sligo (45 mins) 17.18 Finish Sligo 18.03 Total 133.36km Sunday 1 February: Day 3 Sligo - Sligo Serv G Sligo (15 mins) 07.40 SS15 Geevagh 11.48km 08.35 SS16 Arigna 27.90km 09.00 SS17 Lough Gill 13.51km 09.51 Serv H Sligo (30 mins) 10.41 SS18 Donegal Bay 14.47km 12.09 SS19 Donegal Town 1.50km 13.10 Serv I Sligo (10 mins) 14.33 Finish Clarion Hotel, Sligo 15.10 Total 68.86km Rally total 366.75km |