Sordo referees the Loeb-Hirvonen duel

Dani Sordo, at the end of the second day of Rally Australia, leads the general classification. However, he only has a tenth of a second ahead of Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen, whose final explanation is expected on Sunday.

Published on 05/09/2009 à 12:38

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Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen postponed their duel until Sunday. After 25 special stages and almost 200 km covered, the two candidates for the title of 2009 World Rally Champion are neck and neck with the same time: 1h52?28??2! Dani Sordo is ahead of them by a tenth, after having had a very consistent and faultless second day.

Before SS24 and SS25, Sébastien Loeb had deliberately lost time, in order to be able to only start in third position on Sunday on the Australian roads. Fast during the city super specials, the Frenchman returned on the heels of his predecessors, having notably closed the gap of 4??1 on Mikko Hirvonen, in the lead after SS23.

During the Murwillumbah specials, Sébastien Ogier achieved the best time on the asphalt. The Citroën Junior Team driver, who lost a lot of time during this second day, also obtained the scratch time in each of the six passes in the town of Murwillumbah, since Thursday. The Frenchman occupies fifth place in the general classification, 1??8 behind Jari-Matti Latvala.

On Sunday, ten special stages are on the program, for a total of 110,66 km.