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WRC - Spanish hero on top in Spain

14.10.16

Spain's own WRC hero Dani Sordo conquered the treacherous conditions on the opening day of Rally de España to top the standings as the crews head into two days of tarmac 'racing'

FIA, Motorsport, Mobility, Road Safety, F1, WRC, WEC, WTCC, World RX

After a faultless and trouble-free run through the first full day of competition in Rally de España, Spaniard Dani Sordo tops the leaderboard and has pulled out a 17 second advantage over Sébastien Ogier. Andreas Mikkelsen moved up to third after the first day run on wet and muddy gravel stages before the teams now swap car specifications to Tarmac for the remaining two days of the only mixed surface rally on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar. 

The 11th round of the series got underway last night, again in pouring rain, at the now traditional Barcelona super special stage. Here, Ott Tanak took the glory in front of a crowd of thousands, but it was this morning when the crews headed in to the true rally stages to the west of the event’s base in the coastal resort of Salou.

Rain yesterday, overnight and during the morning made conditions tricky and, like everyone, Sordo struggled to find grip and get a good feeling in the rutted roads awash with standing water. He was never outside the top five but came into his own over the repeated tests and fastest times in stages 5 and 6 saw the Spaniard leap into the lead after an “unbelievable” afternoon. He heads Ogier by 17 seconds. The Frenchman’s consistent driving over the first loop saw him as the early leader but, at the front of the field, he found conditions tougher this afternoon. Mikkelsen was fifth at the mid-leg tyre fitting zone having eased the pace in the last stage thinking he had a puncture. This afternoon his rivals’ problems helped him move up the leaderboard and he overnights third, despite running the car too low in the final stage of the day and again thinking he’d picked up punctures.

Fourth position is held by Thierry Neuville, the Belgian having led the rally after stage 2 but dropping behind Ogier in the following stage. He then lost time this afternoon with a spin, damaging the front end of the car on a tree, and also reported a slight loss of power. The missing aero devices then hampered his charge and he is 11.2 seconds adrift of Mikkelsen and battling to keep ahead of team-mate Paddon. The Kiwi driver is a mere 1.2 seconds behind, despite running the entire day down on power having lost the anti-lag and consequently throttle response. Mads Østberg is sixth and Kris Meeke has managed to climb to seventh after a roll in the first stage. His team-mate Craig Breen picked up some front end damage this afternoon but has otherwise done his best through the treacherous stages. Ott Tanak, after winning last night’s super special stage, has dropped to ninth and Eric Camilli rounds of the top 10. The leading retirement of the day was Jari-Matti Latvala. The Finn had a dreadful start but managed to climb from 15th after last night’s super special to third before being forced out with suspension damage.

Pontus Tidemand inched into the lead of the FIA WRC 2 Championship in the final stage, Jan Kopecky having led from stage 4. The Swede, who has won his share of stages today, is just three seconds ahead of his Czech rival and the pair have a healthy advantage over third placed Julien Maurin. The FIA WRC 3 Championship category is being led, dominantly, by Italian Fabio Andolfi in a Peugeot 208 R2.

In a longer than usual service tonight, the teams are now preparing to effectively re-build the cars to asphalt specification, being that Saturday and Sunday are contested over the fast and smooth roads in the Tarragona region.

RallyRACC – Rally de España – Unofficial Classification after Section 4

1.   Dani Sordo/Marc Marti

Hyundai i20 WRC

1hr 18min 44.4sec

2.   Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

1hr 19min 01.4sec

3.   Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

1hr 19min 19.5sec

4.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 WRC

1hr 19min 30.7sec

5.   Hayden Paddon/John Kennard

Hyundai i20 WRC

1hr 19min 31.9sec

6.   Mads Østberg/Ola Fløene

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

1hr 19min 38.7sec

7.   Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle

DS3 WRC

1hr 19min 50.7sec

8.   Craig Breen/Scott Martin

DS3 WRC

1hr 20min 29.0sec

9.   Ott Tanak/Raigo Molder

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

1hr 20min 48.8sec

10. Eric Camilli/Benjamin Veillas

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

1hr 22min 28.7sec