At the end of the first day of the Rally of Turkey, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia occupy firstplace overall. Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström finish the first leg in eighth place with the CitroënJunior Team’s second C4 WRC.
The first day of the Rally of Turkey took the crews 50 kilometres to the north east of the service park,which was located in the Istanbul suburb of Pendik. The 98.42-kilometre competitive route, on the Asianside of Istanbul, took in two identical loops of four stages plus a spectator superspecial.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were able to make their mark on stages that were new to all thecrews this year. The French crew started off at a careful pace before increasing their speed to claim threefastest stage times. The former Junior World Rally Champion took the overall lead after SS3 andmanaged to hang onto it right up to the first overnight halt.
“We showed good pace all day,” said Ogier, who is currently fifth in the drivers’ championship standings.“This morning, I tried not to take any stupid risks. On the second loop I tried to stretch out a lead, butthen we had a bit of a scare over a crest on SS8. Tomorrow, we’re going to have to cope with mixedasphalt and gravel stages. We’ll also see what effect our position of first on the road will have on ourperformance.”
After scoring their first WRC points together on the Jordan Rally, Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindströmstarted this fourth round of the World Rally Championship filled with confidence. The Finnish crew founda pace very close to that of drivers with much more experience, ending up eighth overall at the end of theday.
“I’m pleased with the speed that we were able to find at the end of the second loop,” reported the winnerof the 2005 Turkish Formula One Grand Prix. “We’re making a lot of progress with the pace notes. Thismorning, we only made a few corrections to the notes over the course of the loop. I feel more and moreconfident, and this can be seen by our gap to the top drivers becoming gradually smaller. Tomorrow,we’ll try to keep this same pace.”
“It’s the first time that the Citroën Junior Team is in the lead after a day of rallying,” pointed out CitroënJunior Team manager Benoit Nogier. “Sébastien enjoyed a perfect day. He couldn’t have done better. Hepushed hard and consequently he’s first tonight. Kimi kept up the pace that he finished the Jordan Rallywith. He’s swapping times with the other drivers and constantly making progress. Both our drivers werealso very pleased with their cars. Now we need to continue like this tomorrow.”Eight stages are on the schedule for the longest day of the Rally of Turkey tomorrow, totalling 145.82competitive kilometres. By virtue of leading the event, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia will be first onthe road.
THE RALLY BY NUMBERSSébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia Kimi Räikkönen / Kaj LindströmSS1 : Darlik 1 (15.66 km) 6th +2’’2 6th +2’’2 9th +17’’1 9th +17’’1SS2 : Karabeyli 1 (8.23 km) 2nd +2’’9 4th +3’’6 9th +17’’3 9th +32’’9SS3 : Bozgoca 1 (13.52 km) 1st 1st 8th +17’’8 9th +47’’1SS4 : Halli 1 (9.60 km) 2nd +0’’4 1st 9th +11’’9 9th +58’’6SS5 : Darlik 2 (15.66 km) 1st 1st 8th +16’’7 9th +1’15’’3SS6 : Karabeyli 2 (8.23 km) 1st 1st 8th +11’’8 8th +1’27’’1SS7 : Bozgoca 2 (13.52 km) 3rd +2’’1 1st 8th +15’’8 8th +1’40’’8SS8 : Halli 2 (9.60 km) 4th +0’’6 1st 7th +7’’8 8th +1’48’’0SS9 : SSS Istanbul (2.20 km) 2nd +0’’4 1st 5th +3’’0 8th +1’50’’6
Fastest stage timesDay 1 – SS1 : Petter Solberg (Citroën C4) – SS2 : Dani Sordo (Citroën C4) – SS3 : Sébastien Ogier(Citroën C4) – SS4 : P. Solberg – SS5 and SS6 : Ogier – SS7 : Sordo – SS8 : P. Solberg – SS9 :Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4).
Best performers : Ogier and P. Solberg, 3 fastest times – Sordo, 2 – Loeb, 1.Leaders : SS1 : Solberg – SS2 : Sordo – SS3 to SS9 : Ogier.
Classification at the end of day one:
1. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 55’32’’72. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +5’’53. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +12’’24. P. Solberg / Mills Citroën C4 +18’’55. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 +24’’96. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +27’’57. Villagra / Perez Companc Ford Focus +1’42’’98. Räikkönen / Lindström Citroën C4 +1’50’’69. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +2’04’’610. Tanak / Sikk Mitsubishi Lancer +4’59’’1…
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