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| RallyeNewsletter 2009 Rally Sardinia : WRC Round 6 of 12 : 22nd - 24th May 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. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 24min 14.5sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 24min 54.3sec 3. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 1hr 24min 57.3sec 4. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citroen Xsara 1hr 25min 00.9sec 5. E Novikov/D Moscatt RUS Citroen C4 1hr 25min 19.2sec 6. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 1hr 25min 22.7sec 7. M Řstberg/V Engan NOR Subaru Impreza 1hr 25min 31.1sec 8. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 1hr 25min 51.8sec 9. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 1hr 26min 48.3sec 10 K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 1hr 27min 14.4sec 2. Leg News Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) was punished by having to sweep the road on this mornings three stages before they were rerun in the afternoon, but didn't lose too much time anyway. On the afternoons final stage, he top drivers played the usual tactics games (including Loeb this time) but Hirvonen miscalculated and ended ! up finishing the day 2nd behind team mate 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 held first and second in Rally d'Italia Sardegna following today's opening leg after winning four of the six demanding gravel speed tests. Jari-Matti L! atvala and Miikka Anttila returned to the rally base in Olbia this evening with a 39.8sec advantage over team-mates and fellow Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen. Both pairings are driving Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars. 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: "I knew there was the potential for tactics to come into play on the last stage, but road position today hasn't made as much of a difference as we thought it could, and I hope that is the same tomorrow. We will take some risks to drive flat out. Jari-Matti has a strong lead and the opportunity is there for one of us to win this rally," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "I! don't have much experience of running first in the start order on loose gravel so tomorrow will be a challenge. We need to keep cool heads and do a good job because the pressure is on the guys behind. The roads were flowing and that was good for a Finn like me. Loeb began the tactics on the last stage and we reacted well by stepping up our pace to build as big a lead as possible." Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena completed the opening day of the 2009 Rally Italia Sardinia in third place, a result which puts them in a position where they won't have to sweep the stages for their rivals when competition resumes on Saturday. It turned out to be a somewhat tougher day, however, for Dani Sordo and Marc Marti who are eighth. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: After a lot of hard thought,! we decided to leave Latvala with a forty or so second lead so that he would choose to stay in front. At the same time, Mikko got his sums wrong and he too will start ahead of us tomorrow. It's a gamble being 43 seconds down on Latvala this evening. We will see on Sunday whether we did the right thing…" #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "The mechanics put my C4 back in perfect shape at the lunchtime service halt, and that meant I was able to push hard and post some good times this afternoon. Being overnight eighth means I will have a good start order tomorrow. I will continue to drive as quickly as I can because I believe fourth place is an achievable target." 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 Mat! thew Wilson overcame early problems to put themselves in a powerful position going into day two of Rally d'Italia Sardenga, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. With tactical driving strongly in evidence on day one as crews jostled for the best position on Saturday's rough, dusty stages, Solberg is lying in sixth place while Wilson ended the day in ninth. #6 : Henning Solber/Cato Menkerud: "I am still trying to get the correct feeling with the car. There's no major problem with it but I just don't have full confidence at the moment. The stages are very difficult, narrow but fast, and you have to be committed and have a good feeling with the car to push hard on them. We changed the springs during the day which helped and we will also make some minor changes in service tonight. Nothing major but hopefully it will help me to push harder tomorrow." #5 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "It has been a difficult first day of the rally for us. Obviously we had our problems this morning when we lost hydraulic pressure and the paddle gear shift. That put us on the back foot. But everything went fine this afternoon on the second pass, although it was difficult on the last stage as the rough conditions affected the tyre wear and the car was moving around a lot. We also struggled to make pace notes on that stage during the recce so they weren't precise enough. But we're in a good road position for tomorrow. Those stages are also very difficult but we'll just concentrate on having a good drive." Citroen Junior Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 By putting in a series of top-eight performances, Evge! ny Novikov and Dale Moscatt have ended the opening day of the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna in fifth overall in one of the three Citroën Junior Team C4 WRCs. Conrad Rautenbach and Daniel Barritt end the day in 11th. With midsummer just one month away, temperatures were warm in Olbia, to the northeast of Sardinia. #8 : Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt: "The car is very competitive and the rest of the day went well. Tomorrow, we're going to keep going at a good pace on stages that are a little rougher. It won't be easy but the difficulties are at least going to be the same for everyone." #12: Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia: Dampre failure #7: Evgeny Novikov/Dale Moscatt: "The car was perfect. I only made two small mistakes and lost a bit of time in the final stage of the loop. I think we've shown ourselves well, and we are going to adapt our car set-up now to the road position we will occupy tomorrow, when it will certainly be more slippery. Tomorrow will be tricky for us. Nonetheless, we're going to try and hang onto our road position and maybe even make up a few places in the overall classification. Let's see what happens. " 5. Remaing Event Schedule Saturday 23 May: Day 2 Olbia - Olbia Serv C Olbia (15 mins) 06.30 SS7 Sa Linea 14.20km 08.45 SS8 Fiorentini 22.02km 09.31 SS9 Monte Lerno 29.15km 10.32 Serv D Olbia (30 mins) 12.35 SS10 Sa Linea ! 14.20km 15.05 SS11 Fiorentini 22.02km 15.51 SS12 Monte Lerno 29.15km 16.52 Serv E Olbia (45 mins) 18.30 Finish Olbia 19.15 Total 130.74km Sunday 24 May: Day 3 Olbia - Porto Cervo Serv F Olbia (15 mins) 06.00 SS13 Monte Olia 19.31km 07.08 SS14 Sorilis 18.66km 07.42 Serv G Olbia (30 mins) 09.03 SS15 Arzachena 10.24km 10.19 SS16 Monte Olia 19.31km 11.46 SS17 Sorilis 18.66km 12.20 Serv H Olbia (10 mins) 13.24 Finish Marina Vecchia, Porto Cervo 14.15 |