From the World Rally Championship
Jari-Matti Latvala will take a lead of 11.5 seconds into day two of Vodafone Rally de Portugal following six action packed stages on the gravel roads of the Algarve on Friday.
Driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, the 25-year-old from Finnish narrowed Sebastien Ogier’s advantage on Friday’s penultimate test and moved clear with the fastest time on stage seven, his third fastest time on day one.
Latvala will now be saddled with clearing the road of the loose surface gravel on day two, a prospect that does not concern him, even though road cleaning is expected to be more of a factor on day two than it was on Friday.
Ford team-mate Hirvonen, who started the event with a seven-point lead in the drivers’ standings, was satisfied after completing day one in second overall having run at the head of the field since Friday’s first stage.
Seven-time world champion Sebsastien Loeb slowed on the final stage to gain a more advantageous starting position on Saturday. He will start third overall, 13.7s behind Latvala. Teammate Sebastien Ogier also dropped back to ensure he wouldn’t run first on the road on Saturday.
Petter Solberg started the event as one of the favourites for victory in his Citroen DS3 WRC but dropped out of contention after suffering the first of four punctures on stage two. When he depleted his supply of spare tyres following a fourth deflation on stage seven, he elected to retire from the day.
Although he will pick up a 10-minute SupeRally time penalty as a result, he reasoned the time loss caused by the sequence of punctures would have been greater had he limped to the finish of the stage to record a time. With no spare tyres to complete the 58.22-kilometre road section back to service in Faro, Solberg was left with no option other than to retire.
Armindo Araujo marked the competition debut of MINI’s John Cooper Works Super 2000 by completing day one in seventh place. The Portuguese said there’s more pace to come from the Prodrive-developed car after admitting he had been concentrating on learning the machine rather than pushing for fast stage times.
Rally Portugal – Day 1 :
1. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta) in 1h23’31’’4
2. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Fiesta) + 11’’5
3. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen DS3) + 13’’7
4. Sébastien Ogier (Citroen DS3) + 16’’7
5. Henning Solberg (Ford Fiesta) + 2’06’’5
6. Matthew Wilson (Ford Fiesta) + 2’11’’2
7. Armindo Araujo (Mini John Cooper S2000) + 3’43’’7
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Citroen DS3) + 4’33’’1
Etc.
Jari-Matti Latvala will take a lead of 11.5 seconds into day two of Vodafone Rally de Portugal following six action packed stages on the gravel roads of the Algarve on Friday.
Driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, the 25-year-old from Finnish narrowed Sebastien Ogier’s advantage on Friday’s penultimate test and moved clear with the fastest time on stage seven, his third fastest time on day one.
Latvala will now be saddled with clearing the road of the loose surface gravel on day two, a prospect that does not concern him, even though road cleaning is expected to be more of a factor on day two than it was on Friday.
Ford team-mate Hirvonen, who started the event with a seven-point lead in the drivers’ standings, was satisfied after completing day one in second overall having run at the head of the field since Friday’s first stage.
Seven-time world champion Sebsastien Loeb slowed on the final stage to gain a more advantageous starting position on Saturday. He will start third overall, 13.7s behind Latvala. Teammate Sebastien Ogier also dropped back to ensure he wouldn’t run first on the road on Saturday.
Petter Solberg started the event as one of the favourites for victory in his Citroen DS3 WRC but dropped out of contention after suffering the first of four punctures on stage two. When he depleted his supply of spare tyres following a fourth deflation on stage seven, he elected to retire from the day.
Although he will pick up a 10-minute SupeRally time penalty as a result, he reasoned the time loss caused by the sequence of punctures would have been greater had he limped to the finish of the stage to record a time. With no spare tyres to complete the 58.22-kilometre road section back to service in Faro, Solberg was left with no option other than to retire.
Armindo Araujo marked the competition debut of MINI’s John Cooper Works Super 2000 by completing day one in seventh place. The Portuguese said there’s more pace to come from the Prodrive-developed car after admitting he had been concentrating on learning the machine rather than pushing for fast stage times.
Rally Portugal – Day 1 :
1. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta) in 1h23’31’’4
2. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Fiesta) + 11’’5
3. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen DS3) + 13’’7
4. Sébastien Ogier (Citroen DS3) + 16’’7
5. Henning Solberg (Ford Fiesta) + 2’06’’5
6. Matthew Wilson (Ford Fiesta) + 2’11’’2
7. Armindo Araujo (Mini John Cooper S2000) + 3’43’’7
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Citroen DS3) + 4’33’’1
Etc.