Rally Turkey (15-18 April 2010) – Day 2

The second day of Rally Turkey has been the theatre of a thrilling battle between five crews. Withtwo C4 WRCs in the running for the podium, the Citroën Total World Rally Team has achieved thebest overall result. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena who were fourth this morning are now in theoverall lead with 16.2s in hand over Petter Solberg and Phil Mills. Dani Sordo and Marc Marti,who are currently lying fourth only a few seconds behind Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lethinen, arealso well placed to achieve a good final result.

The second day of Rally Turkey with 145 timed kilometres was also the longest of the event. The crewshad to cover a 4-stage loop made up of very varied terrain twice. Göçbeyli (SS10/14) and Bozhane(SS12/16) were mainly asphalt, while the Riva stage (SS13/17) promised to give the tyres and the carsa real hammering.

The crews left the Pendik parc fermé under grey skies. Dani Sordo, who was second at the start of thestage, began to fall back and finished the first loop in fifth place 15.2s behind the leader: “Our tyrechoice was a bit too daring. I started off with a couple of well-run in tyres to try and find more speed onthe asphalt, but it wasn’t the right choice. I lost just a few seconds, which wasn’t a real problem. Thisafternoon, I’ll set out with six new tyres and we’ll try and stay in the leading bunch.”

Sébastien Loeb pulled back a place and closed the gap to Sébastien Ogier by ten seconds: “Overall, thefirst loop’s been pretty positive. It wasn’t easy as Ogier, Solberg and Hirvonen fought well to defend theirplaces. I had to take risks to set quick times! Like my rivals, I was hindered by the work carried out on theroads by the organisers since the recce. The layout of some corners has been modified, and I got caughtout on several occasions.”

After a thirty-minute service halt on the banks of the Bosporus, the crews set out to tackle the TurkishRally stages for the second time. By being quickest in Göçbeyli 2 (SS14), Loeb put down a marker. Hefinished second in the following one, Ulupelit 2, and took the lead in the rally for the first time. The sixtimeworld champion ended the loop with another couple of fastest times and arrived back in the parcfermé with a 16.2s lead over Petter Solberg.“ We at last managed to open up a good gap and take firstplace. Our lead is anything but comfortable as the third day will be long and difficult. The weather toocould play a role in the outcome of the rally. If it rains, being first out on the road could be an advantage.In the opposite case, we’ll just have to push very hard to stay in front.”

Dani Sordo drove a consistent race in the leading group in fourth spot, 6s behind the second-placeddriver: “The afternoon went off well, the car was good and we enjoyed ourselves in the stages. We didn’thave a puncture today, which, I think, was the most difficult. We’ll have a good starting position for thefinal loop and we can fight with Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen for a place on the podium.”

THE RALLY IN FIGURES

SS10: Göçbeyli 1 (18,17 km) 4e +2’’2 5e +26’’5 5e +5’’1 2e +10’’0SS11: Ulupelit 1 (12,98 km) 3e +1’’8 5e +21’’2 6e +7’’2 3e +10’’1SS12 Bozhane 1 (14,59 km) 2e +0’’3 5e +21’’5 3e +6’’0 3e +16’’0SS13: Riva 1 (27,17 km) 2e +1’’7 4e +15’’0 3e +7’’3 5e +15’’2SS14: Göçbeyli 2 (18,17 km) 1er 2e +8’’1 4e +8’’0 4e +16’’3SS15: Ulupelit 2 (12,98 km) 2e +0’’1 1er 5e +7’’3 4e +15’’4SS16: Bozhane 2 (14,59 km) 1er 1er 3e +2’’1 4e +17’’5SS17: Riva 2 (27,17 km) 1er 1er 4e +4’’9 4e +22’’4

Best times in the stagesDay 1 – SS1: Petter Solberg (Citroën C4) – SS2: Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) – SS3: Sébastien Ogier(Citroën C4) – SS4: Solberg – SS5 and 6: Ogier – SS7: Sordo – SS8: Solberg – SS9: Loeb.Day 2: SS10: Solberg – SS11: Hirvonen – SS12: Ogier – SS13: Solberg – SS14: Loeb – SS15:Hirvonen – SS16 and 17: Loeb.Best performers: Solberg, 5 fastest times – Ogier and Loeb, 4 each - Hirvonen, 3 – Sordo, 1.Leaders: SS1: Solberg – SS2: Hirvonen – SS3 to 14: Ogier – SS15 to 17: Loeb

Overall classification at the end of the second day1. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 2h19’13’’52. P. Solberg / Mills Citroën C4 +16’’23. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +17’’34. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +22’’45. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +3’21’’06. Räikkönen / Lindström Citroën C4 +4’37’’57. Villagra / Diaz Ford Focus +5’10’’18. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +6’16’’69. Tanak / Sikk Mitsubishi Lancer +14’33’’610. Kuypers / Miclotte Ford Fiesta +17’16’’2