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| RallyeNewsletter 2009 Rally Ireland : WRC Round 5 of 12 : 24th April - 26th April 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. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 1hr 45min 11.3sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 45min 16.4sec 3. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 1hr 45min 27.6sec 4. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citroen Xsara 1hr 45min 30.2sec 5. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 1hr 45min 59.2sec 6. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 46min 17.7sec 7. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 1hr 47min 34.3sec 8. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 1hr 47min 50.2sec 9. S Ogier/J Ingrassia FRA Citroen C4 1hr 48min 25.7sec 10 C Rautenbach/D Barritt ZIM Citroen C4 1hr 48min 59.5sec 2. Leg News Citroen's Dani Sordo leads after leg one of Rally Argentina from Ford's Mikko Hirvonen. Loeb was sweeping the road today and sufferred a couple of small problems but holds third overnight ahead of the Solberg brothers and a cautious Jari-Matti Latvala. 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 are well-placed in second, just over five seconds from the lead, after today's enthralling opening leg of Rally Argentina. The Finns twice led this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car during a leg in which four different drivers topped the leaderboard and the lead switched hands on an amazing eight occasions. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "I didn't attack too hard because the roads were too rough and I wanted to preserve the car. It was very rough this afternoon, although the rain kept the dust down. None of the drivers had any split times during the final stage because of a problem so I just drove at a good speed. Maybe it would be better to be behind Sébastien Loeb in the start order tomorrow, but the surface is soft so hopefully road sweeping will not play too much of a part. I'm looking forward to a good fight," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "Maybe everybody else drove steadily in the first stage. After that I decided to ease my pace. I had to fight my natural spirit in slowing down but sometimes you have to lose to know how to win. I feel comfortable. I'm not pushing and I know I could go faster, but I also know it's not the best moment to do it! It's impo! rtant I aim for third or fourth and Malcolm Wilson (team director) reminded me of that after the opening stage this morning. Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 Dani Sordo, Marc Marti and Citroën emerge in front The thrilling opening leg of the 2009 Rally Argentina saw no fewer than seven leader changes in the course of just nine stages. Dani Sordo and Marc Marti emerged from the day's final test on top and the Spanish crew will consequently be first on the road tomorrow ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Sébastien Loeb, who figures on the third step of the overnight podium. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "I pushed hard all day but ended up losing valuable ground in two hairpins. A deficit of 16 seconds isn't insurmountable but it's a bigger gap than I would have liked…" #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "As in Portugal! , it's nice to be part of the fight for top spot. I'm driving very well on the whole, although I did lose a bit of time on SS4 and SS5 where I probably lifted a little too much through the faster portions. I will try to push a bit harder this afternoon." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford drivers Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson both lie in excellent point-scoring positions going into the second day of Rally Argentina after producing an accomplished display of driving in difficult conditions on the 142.15kms of day one action. #6 : Henning Solber/Cato Menkerud: "It's been an up and down day and we seemed to be going faster on the fast, flowing stages but finding it harder on the twisty, technical stages. The car feels good a! nd we made some small changes at service which have helped, the only problem has been a lot of dust coming inside the car which is not very nice when you are trying to concentrate. We were pushing hard today and I'm looking forward to the first stage tomorrow; its fast and that will suit us best. I'm still working to try and get a better feeling with the car on the slower sections so hopefully that will improve tomorrow." #5 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "This has been the roughest Rally Argentina we have seen for a few years and both Henning and Matthew are aware of the conditions and the fact that there will be some attrition. They're looking after the cars while still maintaining points positions in the top-eight so everything is going according to plan. Henning has done well to set some strong times especially with a fierce battle for the lead that has changed so many times during the day. Tomorrow w! ill bring its own challenges but the Stobart drivers are ready to face up to them." Citroen Junior Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 On a rally renowned for its many pitfalls, the Citroën Junior Team crews have stuck perfectly to the strategy selected at the start of the rally. Having shown impressive consistency, Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia and Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt are in the top 10 at the end of the opening day of Rally Argentina. #7: Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia: " 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 had a problem with! the brakes, " he explained. " They heated up really quickly and so the car was not as well-balanced as usual. On these tricky roads - which were really rutted after the passage of the previous cars - that cost us some time. It was just a small setback but at least we're still going and we haven't made any mistakes. " 5. Remaing Event Schedule Saturday 25 April: Day 2 Carlos Paz - Carlos Paz Serv D Carlos Paz (15 mins) 07.00 SS10 El Mirador - San Lorenzo I 20.81km 09.38 SS11 Mina Clavero - Giulio Cesare I 22.79km 10.12 SS12 El Condor - Copina I 16.29km 11.00 SS13 Icho Cruz - Carlos Paz I 9.73km 11.46 Serv E Carlos Paz (30 mins) 12.30 SS14 El Mirador - San Lorenzo II 20.81km 15.23 SS15 Mina Clavero - Giulio Cesare II 22.79km 15.57 SS16 El Condor - Copina II 16.29km 16.45 SS17 Icho Cruz - Carlos Paz II 9.73km 17.31 SS18 Estadio Cordoba II 2.40km 19.05 Serv F Carlos Paz (45 mins) 19.45 Finish Carlos Paz 20.30 Total 141.64km Sunday 26 April: Day 3 Carlos Paz - Carlos Paz Serv G Carlos Paz (15 mins) 07.30 SS19 Villa Giardino - La Falda 15.78km 08.48 SS20 Valler Hermoso - Casa Grande 10.95km 09.20 SS21 Cosquin - Tanti 11.27km 10.03 SS22 Tanti Nuevo - Villa Garcia 7.60km 10.26 SS23 Estadio Cordoba III 2.40km 12.05 Serv H Carlos Paz (10 mins) 13.03 Finish Carlos Paz 13.30 Total 48.00km Rally total 331.80km |