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Sebastien Loeb continues to lead Rally Bulgaria at the end of the second day, but all eyes were on another Citroen C4 WRC this afternoon as Norwegian Petter Solberg dominated the timesheets to win each of the three stages.
The Citroen Total World Rally Team had been warned of potential storms on the stages this afternoon and rather than risk being caught out on an unsuitable hard compound Pirelli tyre, the French squad elected to send Loeb out on soft rubber. In the end, the rain didn’t arrive, but the six-time champion made it safely back to service - and with an extended advantage over team-mate Dani Sordo.
Sordo ran with hard tyres at the front of his C4 and soft compound at the back. The compromise made it tricky for the Spaniard to fend off Solberg’s advances. He departed service with a 26.8-second advantage and returned just 4.7 seconds ahead of the 2003 world champion.
Sordo wasn’t quite so relaxed about the diminishing gap between steps two and three of the provisional podium. Solberg was on top form after his string of scratch times, but he insisted he wouldn’t be getting carried away.
Sebastien Ogier remained firmly in no-mans’ land with a big gap to Solberg and the same behind to Mikko Hirvonen’s fastest Ford. After a torrid morning in his Focus RS WRC, Hirvonen was happier through the afternoon’s three stages.
Hirvonen’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala suffered more misery through the afternoon as his car hit power steering problems when a pipe was damaged on the system. He had to drive two stages with no assistance.
P-G Andersson is seventh overnight having continued to level his learning curve aboard the Stobart Ford.
Day 2 classification:
1. Loeb-Elena (Citroen C4 Wrc) in 2.12’49”3
2. Sordo-Marti (Citroen C4 Wrc) + 40”5
3. P. Solberg-Patterson (Citroen C4 Wrc) + 45”2
4. Ogier-Ingrassia (Citroen C4 Wrc) + 1’20”5
5. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS Wrc 09) + 2’50”4
6. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Focus RS Wrc 09) + 3’33”1
7. Andersson-Andersson (Ford Focus RS Wrc 08) + 4’35”8
8. Turan-Turan (Peugeot 307 Wrc) + 5’39”2
9. Wilson-Martin (Ford Focus RS Wrc 08) + 7’34”7
10. H. Solberg-Petrasko (Ford Focus RS Wrc 08) + 10’04”6
etc.
Sebastien Loeb continues to lead Rally Bulgaria at the end of the second day, but all eyes were on another Citroen C4 WRC this afternoon as Norwegian Petter Solberg dominated the timesheets to win each of the three stages.
The Citroen Total World Rally Team had been warned of potential storms on the stages this afternoon and rather than risk being caught out on an unsuitable hard compound Pirelli tyre, the French squad elected to send Loeb out on soft rubber. In the end, the rain didn’t arrive, but the six-time champion made it safely back to service - and with an extended advantage over team-mate Dani Sordo.
Sordo ran with hard tyres at the front of his C4 and soft compound at the back. The compromise made it tricky for the Spaniard to fend off Solberg’s advances. He departed service with a 26.8-second advantage and returned just 4.7 seconds ahead of the 2003 world champion.
Sordo wasn’t quite so relaxed about the diminishing gap between steps two and three of the provisional podium. Solberg was on top form after his string of scratch times, but he insisted he wouldn’t be getting carried away.
Sebastien Ogier remained firmly in no-mans’ land with a big gap to Solberg and the same behind to Mikko Hirvonen’s fastest Ford. After a torrid morning in his Focus RS WRC, Hirvonen was happier through the afternoon’s three stages.
Hirvonen’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala suffered more misery through the afternoon as his car hit power steering problems when a pipe was damaged on the system. He had to drive two stages with no assistance.
P-G Andersson is seventh overnight having continued to level his learning curve aboard the Stobart Ford.
Day 2 classification:
1. Loeb-Elena (Citroen C4 Wrc) in 2.12’49”3
2. Sordo-Marti (Citroen C4 Wrc) + 40”5
3. P. Solberg-Patterson (Citroen C4 Wrc) + 45”2
4. Ogier-Ingrassia (Citroen C4 Wrc) + 1’20”5
5. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS Wrc 09) + 2’50”4
6. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Focus RS Wrc 09) + 3’33”1
7. Andersson-Andersson (Ford Focus RS Wrc 08) + 4’35”8
8. Turan-Turan (Peugeot 307 Wrc) + 5’39”2
9. Wilson-Martin (Ford Focus RS Wrc 08) + 7’34”7
10. H. Solberg-Petrasko (Ford Focus RS Wrc 08) + 10’04”6
etc.