From the World Rally Championship
Sebastien Ogier is on his way to a second win in a row on Vodafone Rally de Portugal after completing day two with an overall advantage of almost 40 seconds.
Ogier demoted Jari-Matti Latvala for the lead on stage 10 and pulled clear when Latvala’s Ford Fiesta RS WRC broke a driveshaft two stages later.
Overnight, Latvala slumped to 4m14.6s adrift of Ogier when he had to stop to change a puncture on the final stage, which he started with three working driveshafts following his problems on stage 12.
Loeb conceded that catching his fellow DS3 WRC exponent would be a tall order on Sunday’s closing quartet of stages, even though Ogier will be tasked with cleaning the road of the loose surface gravel.
Mikko Hirvonen started day two firmly in contention for victory but hit trouble with a front-right puncture on stage nine. The world championship leader’s Fiesta then suffered broken rear suspension on stage 13. As a result the Finn will restart on Sunday morning in fifth overall after slipping behind Matthew Wilson.
Solberg lost time in the afternoon with an intermittent powersteering problem and a puncture on stage 12. He holds sixth overnight, 1m08.8s clear of ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Araujo, at the wheel of a MINI John Cooper Works Super 2000, started day two in seventh place but faced a tall order to maintain the position after he was forced to run throughout the day on reduced engine power.
A puncture on stage 11 added to his disappointment before a suspected engine fault put him out on the following test.
Rally Portugal – Classification after day 2
1. Ogier-Ingrassia (Citroen DS3 Wrc) en 2h59’30”2
2. Loeb-Elena (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 37”6
3. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 4’14”6
4. Wilson-Martin (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 5’26”38
5. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 5’32”5
6. H. Solberg-Minor (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 7’46”4
7. Raikkonen-Lindstrom (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 8’55”2
8. Villagra-Perez Companc (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 9’10”0
9. P. Solberg-Patterson (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 11’27”1
10. Kuipers-Miclotte (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 13’07”9
Etc.
Sebastien Ogier is on his way to a second win in a row on Vodafone Rally de Portugal after completing day two with an overall advantage of almost 40 seconds.
Ogier demoted Jari-Matti Latvala for the lead on stage 10 and pulled clear when Latvala’s Ford Fiesta RS WRC broke a driveshaft two stages later.
Overnight, Latvala slumped to 4m14.6s adrift of Ogier when he had to stop to change a puncture on the final stage, which he started with three working driveshafts following his problems on stage 12.
Loeb conceded that catching his fellow DS3 WRC exponent would be a tall order on Sunday’s closing quartet of stages, even though Ogier will be tasked with cleaning the road of the loose surface gravel.
Mikko Hirvonen started day two firmly in contention for victory but hit trouble with a front-right puncture on stage nine. The world championship leader’s Fiesta then suffered broken rear suspension on stage 13. As a result the Finn will restart on Sunday morning in fifth overall after slipping behind Matthew Wilson.
Solberg lost time in the afternoon with an intermittent powersteering problem and a puncture on stage 12. He holds sixth overnight, 1m08.8s clear of ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Araujo, at the wheel of a MINI John Cooper Works Super 2000, started day two in seventh place but faced a tall order to maintain the position after he was forced to run throughout the day on reduced engine power.
A puncture on stage 11 added to his disappointment before a suspected engine fault put him out on the following test.
Rally Portugal – Classification after day 2
1. Ogier-Ingrassia (Citroen DS3 Wrc) en 2h59’30”2
2. Loeb-Elena (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 37”6
3. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 4’14”6
4. Wilson-Martin (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 5’26”38
5. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 5’32”5
6. H. Solberg-Minor (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 7’46”4
7. Raikkonen-Lindstrom (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 8’55”2
8. Villagra-Perez Companc (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 9’10”0
9. P. Solberg-Patterson (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 11’27”1
10. Kuipers-Miclotte (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 13’07”9
Etc.