here - Handbrakes & Hairpins

EVENTS
roads to end the day a healthy 26,6sec
clear of his rivals that stands out most.
While nursing his Pirelli Scorpion tyres
through the day’s stages, Ogier seemed
comfortable with his pace.
Leading the drivers on Day
Two, and with Loeb now in a position to
reel in the time he lost while sweeping
the stages on Day One, the young
Frenchman was able to not only maintain
his blistering Day One pace but also
managed to drop only 1,8sec of time to
the now hard-charging Loeb/Elena over
the afternoon loop’s 67,55km of stages.
Once more, his cool head prevailed and
his determination controlled his hands
to steer his Citroen C4 WRC to a nearperfect
display of rally driving skills.
Sebastien Loeb, who was able to eat up
a 45sec-plus defi cit in Rally New Zealand
last month, was unable to penetrate into
Ogier’s Red Bull-clad armour.
The fi nal day’s fi ve stages saw
Loeb close Ogier’s overnight lead of
21,1sec to 7,7sec after the penultimate
stage. With only a 2,03km SuperSpecial
Stage to run, Ogier/Ingrassi were
already unable to contain their
excitement when being interviewed by
World Rally Radio’s Colin Clark and Julian
Porter. However, Ogier was nervous
about his car’s launch control working
at the fi nal stage as it had been suspect
throughout the day. It would take only
a hiccup to see the 7,7sec melt away,
but once Ogier slipped on his balaclava
and helmet turned into the future World
Rally Champion that he promises to be
to not only match Loeb through the fi nal
2,03km but to also stretch his winning
margin to 7,9sec.
“We pushed all the way to the
end, ” said a beaming Ogier. “It’s a huge
satisfaction to win. I have to thank the
entire team; this is a massive moment
for me. We came very close to winning
in New Zealand but now we are on
the top step of the podium, which has
allowed us to move up to second in the
World Rally Championship for drivers.”
Dominating the podium was
Citroen, as Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
rounded off a stirring drive to end
the rally in third place for the Citroen
Total World Rally Team. The loose and
abrasive gravel meant that crews had to
manage their tyres cleverly. Sordo, who
pushed hard throughout the weekend,
gave his tyres such a hammering on Day
Two that he fi nished a stage to fi nd that
his front tyres were worn down to the
canvas! Despite this, Sordo was calm
and comfortable throughout the rally,
and showed his incredible speed to his
critics once more. At the end of Day Two,
Sordo found himself in fourth place, but
embroiled in an exciting three-way battle
for the fi nal podium position meant his
Day Three performance was to be his
best of the weekend to reel in thirdplaced
Petter Solberg (Petter Solberg
World Rally Team) and keep fi fth-placed
Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford Abu Dhabi
World Rally Team) behind him.
Solberg, electrifying in his
Citroen C4 WRC, inched towards another
podium result with every stage kilometer
on Day Three, but the Spaniard Sordo
was threatening in his rearview mirrors.
Through the fi nal stage, Solberg
made a drivers’ error that saw his C4
climb the barricading, and thus losing
not only his chance to fi nish on the
podium but allowed Hirvonen to slip by
to claim fourth place overall and demote
Solberg to fi fth.
Sordo’s podium has not only
boosted Citroen’s standings at the top
of the Manufacturers’ Championship
standings, but has also re-ignited the
Spanish spark that saw him score a
number of fi ne podium results for the
team in 2009.
This weekend’s podium also
highlighted the strength and importance
of the Junior World Rally Championship:
all three had been crowned J-WRC
winners before their move to the top tier.
Solberg’s weekend started off
on the wrong foot when he hit a concrete
barrier in the opening SuperSpecial
Stage (and this is not the same one he
hit on Day Three, mind you), and also
suffered two punctures on Day One.
Despite this, his blinding pace netted
him fi fth place at the close of the day.
In typical Solberg fashion, he
attacked every corner of every stage