The Citroën C4 WRCs dominate the Mosel leg
The Citroën Total World Rally Team has put itself in a dominant position on the first day of RallyGermany. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena set four fastest times out of six in the stages, and arein the lead around ten seconds in front of their team-mates, Dani Sordo and Diego Vallejo. Thecrews of the C4 WRCs will be able to tackle the next two days of the rally in a confident frame ofmind, as their nearest rivals are already over a minute behind!
After the traditional start ceremony in the centre of Trier on Thursday evening, Rally Germany begantoday with the leg in the Mosel vine yards. The first day of the event consisted of three stages to becovered twice.
The two Citroën Total World Rally Team C4 WRCs monopolized the first two places right from the start.Sébastien Loeb set the three fastest times in the morning loop and went into the lead: “ I couldn’t havewished for a better start to the rally. As I felt really at home I decided to push as hard as possible to openup a small gap. Dani also seems to be in his element as he’s not far behind me! The road conditionswere not all that easy. Even if the weather was dry, we’d put a lot of dust onto the road duringreconnaissance, and we had to be very careful to avoid the traps signaled by the reconnaissance crews.”By setting three second-quickest times, Sordo made an ideal start to his collaboration with Diego Vallejo.The Spaniards arrived back in the service park 8.2s behind their Franco-Monegasque team-mates: “Thisresult is in keeping with my aim in this rally,” smiled Dani. “We had to cope with a road that was a bitdirtier than for the cars in front, but in the end we didn’t lose too much time. We’re going to continue topush this afternoon to prevent Seb from making the break! It’s all going well with the car and with Diego.We’re doing a good job together.”
In the second loop, Petter Solberg, Loeb and Sordo shared the fastest times. Sordo was particularlydelighted to have rounded off the day with a fastest time: “We were chasing a scratch time all day. It’sgood to be second, and good to be only a handful of seconds behind Seb, but that’s not the mostimportant thing for me. I’m very pleased to have been in the rhythm in each split in each stage. I’ve beenlooking for this kind of consistency and I’m happy to have found it today. It’s all very positive but there’sno sense in getting carried away. Tomorrow’s stages are nothing like those of the Mosel leg, and we haveto drive the very long Panzerplatte stage twice.”
Loeb also had a big smile on his face thanks to his 9.5s lead: “ I love days like this! Dani and I havepulled out more than a minute over our nearest rivals. I don’t think we could have asked for much more.This afternoon, I set only one fastest time but it’s always a bit trickier second time through. The othersdon’t make the same little mistakes as in the first passage. In fact, I got caught out and stalled in ahairpin! But it’s all going well and I’m looking forward to the second day in a relaxed frame of mind.”
Classification at the end of the first day
1. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 1h 18m 52.5s2. Sordo / Vallejo Citroën C4 +9.5s3. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +1m 04.7s4. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +1m 10.9s5. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +1m 14.5s6. Duval / Giraudet Ford Focus +3m10.4s7. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +3m 151s8. Räikkönen / Lindström Citroën C4 +3m 22.8s9. P. Solberg / Patterson Citroën C4 +4m 47.7s10. Block / Gelsomino Ford Focus +5m 42.3s
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