Thanks to Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia in fourth place – currently just 6.2 seconds off third– along with Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström in eigth at the end of the opening day, theCitroën Junior Team has made a solid start in Germany.
After the traditionally popular ceremonial start in front of the Porta Nigra – a city gate that dates fromRoman times – the Rallye Deutschland got underway this morning from Trier for an opening day thatconsisted of 134.04 competitive kilometres, made up of two challenging loops of three stages.On consistently dry roads, with temperatures peaking at 27°C during the afternoon, the Citroën JuniorTeam opted for soft tyres on the first loop of stages, followed by hard tyres for the second loop. In fact, allthe leading drivers made exactly the same tyre choice on day one.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia set off running second on the road and used the opening day to getto grips with their Citroën C4 WRC on this specialised event. “It was quite a difficult morning,” said theFrenchman at midday service. “From time to time the engine kept stalling on hairpin bends. It meant thatI wasn’t able to build up full confidence on these roads and I never really found the ideal pace. We’resetting the same sort of times as our direct competitors, and our plan is to try and do a bit better thisafternoon.”
On the second loop of stages, Sébastien Ogier increased his pace in order to overhaul Mikko Hirvonenand get closer to Jari-Matti Latvala’s third place. “The afternoon was good,” added Ogier. “The car wasperfect and I was able to go quickly. Now we need to continue like this. If we were able to get a podium,that would be a fantastic result for our first Rallye Deutschland in a WRC car.”Kimi Räikkönen got off to a sensible start on what was only his second World Championship asphalt rally.“My priority was not to make any mistakes; this is also the objective for the whole rally,” he said. “Thedrivers at the front are setting a really quick pace, but I’m here to learn and make progress. The first loopof stages allowed me to get off to a good start and get used to using the handbrake on the many hairpinbends.”
The Finn’s step-by-step approach paid dividends. He improved his times by 0.7, 0.6 and then 1.0seconds per kilometre over each of the three stages respectively in the afternoon. “ We’re picking up abetter pace, ” said the former Grand Prix champion. “ I felt comfortable in the Citroën C4 WRC and I wasable to go a bit quicker without taking any risks. Tomorrow the stages will be very difficult and once moreentirely new to me. We’ll have to see how it all goes. ”
Citroën Junior Team manager Benoit Nogier concluded: “ Leaving aside the small mechanical problemthat cost him around 15 seconds or so this morning, Sébastien Ogier has once more had a great firstday. He’s heading towards third place behind the two factory Citroëns, which are in a league of their ownhere. A podium would be an amazing result for his debut in Germany with the C4 WRC. Kimi Räikkönenis going up against drivers who already know this event very well. He paid for that lack of experience inthe morning but made a lot of progress this afternoon and didn’t make any mistakes. Now he needs tocarry on like this. ”
Day 11. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 1:18’52’’52. Sordo / Vallejo Citroën C4 +9’’53. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +1’04’’74. Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C4 +1’10’’95. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +1’14’’56. Duval / Giraudet Ford Focus +3’10’’47. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +3’15’’18. Räikkönen / Lindström Citroën C4 +3’22’’89. P. Solberg / Patterson Citroën C4 +4’47’’710. Block / Gelsomino Ford Focus +5’42’’3…
