OGIER STARS AT CITROEN'S TRIPLE FEAT IN RALLY PORTUGAL

2010-05-31 16:31:17 Author: admin Source:

Round 6 of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Portugal saw an all out dominance by Citroen World Rally team drivers with young Sebastien Ogier (above left) reinstating his ranks in rally's big league at the very top of the Rally Portugal results tally, along with team mates defending WRC champion Sebastian Loeb (above right) and Dani Sordo in second and third respectively.

For the second time this season after Rally Mexico, Citroen scored a triple-driver podium. Ogier's victory sees him second on the drivers' standings with 88 points only to his more illustrious team mate Loeb who has amassed 126 points after 6 WRC rounds. On the manufacturers' side, Citroen has pulled out to a 26-point lead to their nearest rival.

The third stage of Rally Portugal was much shorter than those of the first two days, but its outcome was much less certain. At dawn,  Ogier and Loeb left the service park separated by only 21.1s.  The day consisted of a loop of two stages to be covered twice and the rally finished with a second run through the super special in the Algarve Stadium. Loeb was second on the road and he knew that he had to pull back the maximum number of seconds in the first run. He set the fastest times in SS14 and 15, and the 6-time WRC champion returned to the service park having pared down the gap to 11 seconds. Sordo was fourth at the start of the third leg and he got back up into third after the first two stages of the day:

Loeb was again quickest on the second passage through the two gravel stages, but he did not manage to make enough in-roads into Ogier's lead to go for victory, so he just made sure he held on to second place in the super special. Sordo also held on to third and assisted in Citroen's cause to bag maximum points in the Manufacturers' championship, and the gap to the second-placed manufacturer has stretched from 5 to 26 points at the Rally Portugal alone.

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen could only manage fourth against main rivals after a thrilling three-car battle for the final podium place. The Finn had settled for fifth heading into the final test, which featured two cars at-a-time racing around a purpose-built track. However, when fourth-placed Citroen's Petter Solberg went off the road in the previous heat and lost 15 seconds, Hirvonen measured his pace in the following duel and climbed to fourth after 18 stages covering 355.32km.

Hirvonen ended the first day's opening leg in fourth but ceded a position on the board during the second day's longest day of the rally. The Finn began the final leg as one of three cars chasing the final step on the podium, with less than 22sec covering the trio. He slashed that gap to less than eight seconds on the opening speed test and the trio began the final country stage covered by just 7.4sec. However, Hirvonen's attacking driving took its toll on his tyres and he realized halfway through that he could not close the gap further. He eased his pace and settled for fifth. In the last stadium stage, he inherited Solberg's fourth position when the Norwegian went off track during the heated head-to-head tandem.  

Team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala were unable to restart under SupeRally rules following the second day's accident, in which the Finn hit a tree at 110kph. The rear of the Focus RS WRC was too badly damaged to repair and Latvala's Rally Portugal exploits had already ended.

Stobart's Matthew Wilson (above left) made it safely to the end in sixth position overall, while team-mate Henning Solberg (above right) was less fortunate and retired on the final day due to a broken alternator belt on his Focus RS.

The final day's action centred around four gravel stages at the Algarve Stadium, comprising four laps of a tight and twisty circuit inside the stadium and a faster section through the car park outside. During the first 21.28km stage, Solberg reported lots of dust spilling into his car and he had to stop mid-test to clear his screen which cost him over 30 seconds in time.

Wilson also reported hitting bedrock in SS14 which caused havoc for the Briton's steering. However, Solberg suffered more serious problems in SS15 when the alternator belt on his car snapped and the Norwegian was forced to retire from the rally. His team-mate moved up into sixth position and managed to finish the final Super Special Stage second-fastest, just 0.7 seconds off the fastest time set by Federico Villagra.

After the misfortune of Solberg's retirement on the final day of Rally de Portugal, the Stobart remain fourth in the manufacturers' championship

The WRC championship now goes on a long break and will restart with a debut at the Rally Bulgaria, all-asphalt rally based in the ski resort of Borovets, on 8 -11 July.
 

Results

Drivers' standings
1.  Sebastien Loeb  126 
2.  Sebastien Ogier  88 
3.  Mikko Hirvonen  76 
4.  Jari-Matti Latvala  72 
5.  Petter Solberg  63 
6.  Dani Sordo  49 
7.  Matthew Wilson  38 
8.  Federico Villagra  26 
9.  Henning Solberg  24 
10.  Kimi Raikkonen  15 
11.  Mads Ostberg  10 
12.  Xavi Pons  6 
13.  Jari Ketomaa  4 
14.  Martin Prokop  2 
15.  Dennis Kuipers  2 
16.  Khalid Al Qassimi  2 
17.  P-G Andersson  1 
18.  Armindo Araujo  1 
19.  Aaron Burkart  1 

Manufacturers' Rankings
1.  Citroen 189 
2.  Ford 163 
3.  Citroen Junior Team  106 
4.  Stobart  84 
5.  Munchi's  40