Rally Sweden (11-14 February 2010) – Day 1
The Citroën Junior Team got its second World Rally Championship campaign underway on thesnowy roads of Rally Sweden. The first full day allowed Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, infifth place overnight, to display all their skills on what was only their first visit to this event. KimiRäikkönen and Kaj Lindström continued to climb their learning curve in the Citroën C4 WRC.
The Rally Sweden got underway yesterday evening with a spectator superspecial on the Karlstad trottingtrack. From the very first stage, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia showed their class by setting secondfastesttime, just behind another Citroën C4 WRC driven by Dani Sordo.
The action resumed on Friday morning with the Likenäs stage (SS2). Sébastien Ogier was right in themiddle of the action with a fifth-quickest time. In ‘Viggen’ and ‘Torntorp’, the Frenchman underlined hisprogress by defeating a number of well-known names. “It was a good start,” he said. “Only the realfrontrunners are ahead of us. Being classified higher than drivers like Marcus Grönholm, along withHenning and Petter Solberg is a really good source of motivation!”
For Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström, the start of the day was trickier despite their very best efforts.Having been forced to follow Khalid Al Qassimi for a large part of the stage, the Finns lost a number ofvital seconds. “I was caught in a huge cloud of snow and I could see absolutely nothing,” said Kimi. “Butthat’s how it is: there is nothing we can do about it.”
Sébastien Ogier managed to maintain the same pace during the second loop of stages, which took placein bright sunshine. The number seven Citroën C4 WRC ended the opening day in a fine fifth placeoverall. “Some parts of the road turned into a bit of a minefield during the second run,” commentedSébastien. “It was important to be careful. We didn’t take any risks and I tried just to maintain a sensiblepace.”
On his first Rally Sweden and only his second ever snow event, the Frenchman displayed an impressiveturn of speed. “It’s a surface I really enjoy,” he added. “We’re very pleased to be placed this highovernight. We could hardly have expected to be better than fifth during the normal course of events.Now we just have to carry on like this.”
Kimi Räikkönen embarked on the second loop of stages with the goal of getting as many kilometresunder his belt as possible. But in ‘Viggen’ (SS6), the Finn was caught out. Following a spin, Kimi wasturning the car round to get back pointing in the right direction. Unfortunately he was unable to seewhere he was going and nudged the car into a snow bank. “Everything was going fine until we put the carinto the snow,” he commented afterwards. “It took some time to get back onto the road again. Therewere no spectators; only a helicopter filming us overhead. I would have much preferred it if he haddecided to pull us out instead...”
Following a 25-minute struggle, Kimi and Kaj finally regained the road. The former F1 World Championconcluded: “I’m a bit disappointed to have lost all that time, but now we are able to continue at least andgain more experience. For the moment, I just want to understand the Citroën C4 WRC and continue tolearn.”
THE RALLY BY NUMBERSSébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia Kimi Räikkönen / Kaj LindströmSS1 : Karlstad 1 (1.90 km) 2nd +2’’0 2nd +2’’0 9th +5’’1 9th +5’’1SS2 : Likenäs 1 (20.78 km) 5th +12’’2 5th +11’’9 14th +56’’0 13th +58’’8SS3 : Viggen 1 (21.28 km) 6th +12’’5 5th +24’’4 11th +38’’4 11th +1’37’’2SS4 : Torntorp 1 (19.21 km) 5th +10’’4 5th +34’’4 11th +32’’1 11th +2’08’’9SS5 : Likenäs 2 (20.78 km) 5th +16’’9 5th +47’’2 13th +48’’9 11th +2’53’’7SS6 : Viggen 2 (21.28 km) 6th +9’’5 5th +50’’4 54th +26’20’’4 50th +29’07’’8SS7 : Torntorp 2 (19.21 km) 6th +19’’8 5th +1’10’’2 9th +33’’1 47th +30’30’’9SS8 : Karlstad 2 (1.90 km) 2e +2’’9 5e +1’10’’9 11e +7’’2 47e +30’35’’9
Fastest stage timesDay 1 – SS1 : Dani Sordo (Citroën C4) – SS2 and 3 : Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4) – SS4 and 5 : MikkoHirvonen (Ford Focus) – SS6 : Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS7 : Hirvonen – SS8 : Loeb.Best performers : Loeb and Hirvonen, 3 fastest times, 2 fastest times, Sordo and Latvala, 1 fastest timeeach.
Leaders : SS1 : Sordo – SS2 and 3 : Loeb – SS4 to 8 : Hirvonen.Classification at end of day two1. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus 1h06’27’’82. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 +8’’43. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +12’’24. Latvala / Antilla Ford Focus +31’’65. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +1’10’’26. H. Solberg / Minor Ford Focus +1’46’’07. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +3’17’’68. Östberg / Andersson Subaru Impreza +3’17’’99. Andersson / Fredriksson Skoda Fabia +4’02’’310. Tuohino / Tuohino Ford Fiesta +5’09’’0
