Sebastien Loeb was the fastest of the first three stages and the fifth of Rally Deutschland, maintaining a comfortable lead over his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo, who won the sixth and last stage of the day.
Leob won just one stage of the three in the afternoon, but that was enough to maintain a cushion of 9.5 seconds over Sordo and his and new co-driver Diego Vallejo.
Third placed Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) trailed Sordo by merely less than one minute (55 seconds) by the end of the first day.
Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) stalled his engine by running wide in the first half of the day, he had to let go of the third place, eventually even loosing the fourth to young Citroen junior team driver Sebastien Ogier later in the day.
Petter Solberg’s hopes for a good finish this weekend seemed to be fading by the minute as he did not even made it through stage one without encountering problems. He had to change a deflated right-rear tire 11.3 km into the rally. He finished the day in 9th place.
Former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, driving a Citroen C4, had a good day, claiming 8th place overall, 3 minutes and 22 seconds down to Loeb.
Standings after Day 1 of Rally Deutschland:
1.Sebastian Loeb 1:18:52.5
2.Dani Sordo +9.5 seconds
3.Jari-Matta Latvala +55.2 seconds
4.Sebastien Ogier +1:01.4 minute
5.Mikko Hirvonen +1:05.0 minute
Etc.
Leob won just one stage of the three in the afternoon, but that was enough to maintain a cushion of 9.5 seconds over Sordo and his and new co-driver Diego Vallejo.
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| Sebastien Loeb (Photo: Citroen Racing) |
Third placed Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) trailed Sordo by merely less than one minute (55 seconds) by the end of the first day.
Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) stalled his engine by running wide in the first half of the day, he had to let go of the third place, eventually even loosing the fourth to young Citroen junior team driver Sebastien Ogier later in the day.
Petter Solberg’s hopes for a good finish this weekend seemed to be fading by the minute as he did not even made it through stage one without encountering problems. He had to change a deflated right-rear tire 11.3 km into the rally. He finished the day in 9th place.
Former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, driving a Citroen C4, had a good day, claiming 8th place overall, 3 minutes and 22 seconds down to Loeb.
Standings after Day 1 of Rally Deutschland:
1.Sebastian Loeb 1:18:52.5
2.Dani Sordo +9.5 seconds
3.Jari-Matta Latvala +55.2 seconds
4.Sebastien Ogier +1:01.4 minute
5.Mikko Hirvonen +1:05.0 minute
Etc.