Catalonia: Sébastien Loeb’s good start

Sébastien Loeb's opening position was for once an advantage. The Citroën driver took advantage of the dust which blinded his competitors to finish in the lead at mid-stage service. Petter Solberg has already given up.

Published on 21/10/2011 à 12:31

⁰ View comments)

sebatian Loeb feared losing a lot of time sweeping the dusty roads of the first stage of the Rally of Catalonia. But this dust benefited the seven-time world champion, who was able to get ahead of his rivals blinded by the clouds of dust from previous passages. The Citroën driver is 5??3 ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala when he joins the service.

The Flying Finn is still satisfied with his position which remains threatening for the Alsatian. “This first course didn’t go too bad”, comments the Ford driver. “I made a few mistakes trying to attack, but we are there. »

Jari-Matti Latvala is inserted between two French people since Sébastien Ogier is only 6?6 behind the Fiesta RS WRC. “The course this morning was very slippery and I hope we will have better grip this afternoon”, admits the Citroën driver. ?I was still happy with my time in SS2 and it?s not too bad a start for us overall. »

Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) did not perform well this morning. The co-leader of the Championship is 4th, 24??6 from Sébastien Ogier and 36??5 from his direct rival for the title. He remains under threat from Dani Sordo (Mini), who occupies 5th position 20 seconds behind the Fiesta RS WRC ahead of his teammate Kris Meeke. “There is still a way to go before the finish but this passage was frustrating because I had no visibility”, underlines the Spaniard. “The car is working well but we are lacking traction. »

The misfortunes continue for Petter Solberg (Citroën). After being downgraded from the Rallye de France-Alsace, the Norwegian retired in the first special in Spain after only 19km covered. The privateer driver of the DS3 WRC tore off a wheel and was forced to retire.

The second passage of the special stages of the first stage will be less penalizing for Sébastien Loeb's competitors. The crews obtained a time difference of 4 minutes between each car compared to 3 this morning in order to improve visibility. The drivers will again have 80km to cover. Sébastien Loeb should start at 16:42 p.m. The last special of the day, Les Garrigues (18,5km) will be contested at night (departure at 19:28 p.m.).