WRC: Dani Sordo the overnight leader in Spain

From www.wrc.com

Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo holds the lead of the Rally de Espana tonight after the first day of competition on the fast and flowing asphalt roads near Salou.

But while Sordo brought his C4 back to the Service Park in first place this evening, his rally lead, which had been up to 4.9sec earlier in the day, had been trimmed to just 1.6sec by the man in second place - his team-mate Sebastien Loeb.


While the battle between title hopefuls Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen dominated the pre-rally build up, it was Sordo who delivered on the opening day - the Spaniard going fastest on the first four stages.

In the afternoon, however, Sordo faced stronger opposition from Loeb, after the Frenchman cured an understeering problem by making set-up changes in the service before SS4.

Loeb was the stage winner on the final two stages of the day and looks likely to move ahead of Sordo on Saturday, completing a one-two formation which would net Citroen the 2009 manufacturers' title and put Loeb in the best position to defend his drivers' crown on the remaining round in Wales in the final round of the 2009 season.

Day One classification :
1. Dani Sordo (Citroen C4) in 1h10'45''3
2. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen C4) + 1'6
3. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) + 34''2
4. Petter Solberg (Citroen C4) + 59''7
5. Sébastien Ogier (Citroen C4) + 1'22''9
6. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) + 1'36''7
7. Evgeny Novikov (Citroen C4) + 3'11''0
8. Matthew Wilson (Ford Focus) + 3'28''8
Etc.