Sordo and Loeb neck and neck

Citroën is rolling out its tactics around Salou and, for the moment, the rafter stable plan is going smoothly. Four scratch times for Sordo, two for Loeb, the two C4 drivers from the Citroën Total team splashed the competition with their domination. Only Mikko Hirvonen managed to place second in SS1. Then, the Frenchman and the Spaniard always did the double.

On the evening of the first stage of this rally, Loeb and Sordo therefore played their role perfectly. The order between the two pilots does not matter. If the Spaniard is ahead of the Frenchman by 1??6 today, the five-time world champion will regain first place if the two men remain neck and neck until Sunday. The main thing for Citroën is therefore to see Mikko Hirvonen lose as much ground as possible on the Catalan asphalt. The driver of the Ford Focus can only helplessly watch the ride of his red adversaries.

Behind Sordo, Loeb and Hirvonen, the other drivers share the crumbs. Petter Solberg, for the first time at the wheel of a Citroën C4 in WRC, is the driver who is doing the best. The Norwegian quickly tamed his new mount and was ahead of another C4, that of Sébastien Ogier of the Citroën Junior Team, by more than twenty-three seconds. The Frenchman managed, throughout the day, to outrun Jari-Matti Latvala. The latter, sixth, is almost fourteen seconds behind the winner of the 2009 Monte-Carlo Rally.

Further on, the costs are even greater. Seventh, Evgeny Novikov is more than three minutes behind Dani Sordo. He is ahead of Matthew Wilson, Federico Villagra and Henning Solberg. In eleventh place, we find Dany Snobeck. The reigning French Rally Champion is almost five minutes behind Dani Sordo but ahead of Conrad Rautenbach, driver of the Citroën Junior Team.