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| 2009 Rally Cyprus : WRC Round 2 of 12 : 13th March - 15th March 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 Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 33min 43.8sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 34min 33.6sec 3. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 3hr 35min 19.8sec 4. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citroen Xsara 3hr 35min 35.7sec 5. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 3hr 38min 57.5sec 6. S Ogier/J Ingrassia FRA Citroen C4 3hr 39min 26.6sec 7. E Novikov/D Moscatt RUS Citroen C4 3hr 40min 06.6sec 8. C Rautenbach/D Barritt ZIM Citroen C4 3hr 41min 07.3sec 9. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 3hr 42min 44.7sec 10 K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 3hr 43min 13.4sec 2. Leg News Sebastien Loeb held on to his lead today, although it was cut slightly by Ford's Mikko Hirvonen who moved up into second place. Hirvonen's teammate Latvala spoiled Ford's chances of a good points haul though when he left the road for 30 minutes this morning. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Ford's Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen overcame treacherous mud to power their Focus RS World Rally Car into second position in the Cyprus Rally today. They beat leader Sébastien Loeb on four of the five speed tests during the second leg of this third round of the FIA World Rally Championship, and arrived in Limassol tonight having reduced the margin between the pair to 49.8sec with one day remaining. Hirvonen was fastest on the second special stage, a second win for the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team following victory on the opening speed test for Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila. However, Latvala's day was ruined when he lost almost 22 minutes after sliding off the road on the next stage, dropping from fourth to 25th. He recovered to 19th this evening and remains in a points-scoring position for the team. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "The gap between myself and Loeb is too big for me to think about taking major risks tomorrow. But there are two long stages to drive and so I'll try to find a good pace, monitor the split times and see what happens. Those tests will be tough," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "About 7.5km after the start of the stage I reached a left-right combination of bends. I entered the left corner too fast and had to cut the inside of the right bend to compensate. It was only second gear so I didn't have enough speed to climb out of the cut and back onto the road. #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: "Some corners are so tight that it's necessary to touch the handbrake to make the car slide round the bend and when I wasn't able to do that I lost time. It was also tough for me to switch my mind from asphalt mode yesterday to gravel today," Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The second day of the 2009 Cyprus Rally marked a switch to muddy gravel stages which enabled Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena to maintain their grasp at the top of the leaderboard. With one day of competition remaining, the five-time World Champions enjoy a sizable cushion over their main rivals, while Dani Sordo and Marc Marti are third overall in their Citroen C4 WRC. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "We're 49 seconds clear of Mikko this evening and that's nice. He will be second on the road tomorrow, so he will be road-sweeping, too. It's going to be an interesting finale because Sunday's stages are faster than today's #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "I know it's an under-statement, but today didn't go as well as we had been hoping. Petter Solberg got very close this afternoon, too, but we will do all we can to defend our footing on the podium tomorrow." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team had plenty to be positive about at the end of day two of the Cyprus Rally with Matthew Wilson on course for his best finish of the season so far after moving up three places to end the day in fifth overall and Henning Solberg posting the second quickest time on the last stage of the day. #5 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "Today has been great. The conditions were very slippery this morning and I think we caught a few people napping early on. The stages are very long but seem even longer with corner after corner and you have to keep your concentration. Tomorrow will still be a tough day. The long stage on the recce was very tricky and after the rain last night there could be some muddy patches to catch us out." #6 : Henning Solber/Cato Menkerud: "I felt like I was playing catch-up as this morning was my first stage when everyone else has had a full day out there. But this afternoon it felt much better. The car felt much sharper than this morning and having a clean line on the stages helped improve our times. It was good to finish on a high with second place in the final stage and hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to repeat the same kind of performance." Citroen Junior Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 No information available at time of writing, please check site later. 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 15 March: Day 3 Limassol - Limassol Serv F Limassol (15 mins) 08.00 SS12 Foini 30.03km 09.18 RSZ G Anadiou Dam (15 mins) 10.18 SS13 Anadiou 40.54km 10.49 SS14 Anadiou Dam 2 11.70km 12.02 Serv H Limassol (10 mins) 14.00 Finish Limassol 14.20 Total 82.27km Rally total 332.07km |