Rally of Turkey (15-18 April 2010) – Day 3
Full house of points for the Citroën Junior Team
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, the leaders for 12 of the Rally of Turkey’s 23 special stages,have finished in fourth overall at the end of the event. Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström are fifth,their best-ever result with the C4 WRC. The Citroën Junior Team becomes the outfit to score themost points at the end of round four of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The third day of the Rally of Turkey was shortened by two special stages this morning. Deniz 1 andMudarli 1 were made impassable by heavy overnight rain and were cancelled by the event organisers.The competition resumed in Ballica (SS20). Sébastien Ogier, who was deprived of the opportunity tofight for a win by a tyre that exploded when he was leading yesterday, was third-fastest, less than asecond behind Sébastien Loeb: “Unfortunately there’s not so much left for us to fight for,” he said.“Things are a bit different for us today. We’re going to continue at a good pace because it’salways useful to rack up the kilometres in order to gain more experience. But it’s clear that themotivation is not the same.”
After setting a final fastest time at the end of the rally, Sébastien finished fourth: “Generally I’m quitepleased. It’s almost perfect! We’ve been able to fight at the front for a large part of the event. We’redefinitely on the right road. The car was perfect and the team has done a great job. Now I’m reallylooking forward to getting to New Zealand.”
Kimi Räikkönen also continued making progress to finish fifth, his best result in world rallying. “I feelmore and more confident with the Citroën C4 WRC,” he said. “I’m very happy with the pace that we areable to maintain without taking any risks. We are able to get closer now to the drivers who are in front ofus, which is our key objective. The hard work we have done with the team is now paying off. I’m feelingmore and more confident. We’ve got a few weeks now before our next rally but our goal remainsunchanged: we will have to continue to improve.”Thanks to the reliability of its two Citroën C4 WRCs and its crews, the Citroën Junior Team became theteam that scored the most World Championship manufacturer points in Turkey, with a total of 27. TheCitroën Junior Team reinforced its third position in the standings, behind two factory teams, after fourrounds of the World Rally Championship.“We’ve been through a rally with plenty of twists and turns,” concluded Benoit Nogier, theCitroën Junior Team manager. “Some of those things went our way, but we also had a stroke of badluck with Sébastien’s puncture yesterday. This takes nothing away from his excellent performance. Thecars had no problems at all. Our Citroën C4 WRCs are reliable and our drivers have proved that they areextremely competitive. Kimi has driven his best rally since the start of the season. It wasn’t only a rally ofattrition; he got past some of his rivals on pure pace and that is the proof that he is making progress. It’svery encouraging for the entire team. We now head to New Zealand with Sébastien Ogier, highlymotivatedto score another good result!”
THE RALLY BY NUMBERS
SS18 : Deniz 1 (16.76 km) - 5th +3’21’’0 - 6th +4’37’’5SS19 : Mudarli 1 (21.32 km) - 5th +3’21’’0 - 6th +4’37’’5SS20 : Ballica 1 (19.22 km) 3rd +0’’7 5th +3’21’’7 6th +21’’9 6th +5’00’’0SS21 : Deniz 2 (16.76 km) 5th +17’’9 4th +3’39’’6 8th +39’’3 5th +5’39’’3SS22 : Mudarli 2 (21.32 km) 2nd +16’’3 4th +3’55’’9 8th +47’’6 5th +6’26’’9SS23 : Ballica 2 (19.22 km) 1st 4th +3’46’’0 7th +27’’3 5th +6’44’’3
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).Day 2 – SS10 : P. Solberg – SS11 : Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) – SS12 : Ogier – SS13 : P. Solberg –SS14 : Loeb – SS15 : Hirvonen – SS16 and SS17 : Loeb.Day 3 – SS20 to SS22 : Loeb – SS23 : Ogier.Best performers : Loeb, 7 fastest times – Ogier and P. Solberg, 5 – Sordo, 2 – Hirvonen, 2.Leaders : SS1 : Solberg – SS2 : Sordo – SS3 to SS14 : Ogier – SS15 to SS23 (finish) : Loeb.
Final provisional classification1. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 3:01’38’’72. P. Solberg / Mills Citroën C4 +54’’53. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +1’43’’44. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +3’46’’05. Räikkönen / Lindström Citroën C4 +6’44’’36. Villagra / Perez Companc Ford Focus +7’56’’77. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +8’29’’88. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +19’44’’
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