Wales Rally GB (11 – 14 November 2010) – Day 2

The second leg of Rally Great Britain was run at a searing pace and boiled down to a duel betweenthe C4 WRCs. Despite being under extreme pressure from Petter Solberg, Sébastien Loeb andDaniel Elena held on to their lead by a handful of seconds. The other Citroën Total World RallyTeam C4 WRC of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia withdrew after an accident.

At the start of the second leg of Rally Great Britain Sébastien Loeb was in the lead with Sébastien Ogier1.8s behind and Petter Solberg in third place 3.6s in arrears. The leg consisted of nine stages of a totalof 138 kilometres to sort out the three C4 WRCs. After a start as early as the previous day, the crews setoff for Builth Wells in the heart of the Welsh countryside.

The rally lost one of its victory contenders in the first stage, Radnor. Sébastien Ogier somersaulted off theroad just a few hundred metres from the finish and had to retire: “I really wasn’t looking forward to thatstage. I tackled it cautiously as you always get caught out in such tricky conditions. I came into a fast lefthandera bit too quickly and I wasn’t able to take the right line. There was very little grip and I couldn’tcontrol the car. We overturned and ended up against a tree stump”

As the rollbar was damaged retirement was inevitable: “I’m hopping mad with myself to end up like thisas the team stacked all the odds in my favour. It’s very disappointing to finish our season like this, all themore so as we’re going to lose second place in the world championship. What I’ll remember is how muchprogress we’ve made in our second year at this level. I’m now looking to the future as next week we’regoing testing the DS3WRC.”

The Citroën Total World Rally Team’s chances now rested on the broad shoulders of Sébastien Loeb,who also had a few dicey moments in the morning stages: “I didn’t take any risks in the first stage, whichI’m not very keen on. On the other hand, I pushed much harder in Monument Hill and I went straighton. I also lost five seconds doing a 360° spin in Halfway. Luckily Four Ways Crychan went off well. I wasable to let myself go on the eight kilometres of asphalt at the start of the stage. Overall, the gap to PetterSolberg is stable,” summed up the 7-time world champion* in the winter sun that lit up the Builth Wellsservice park.

In the second passage through the four stages Loeb dominated. He set three fastest times in Radnor,Monument Hill and Four Ways Crychan (SS12 to 14), and opened up the gap from 2.5s to 6.7s. Buthe didn’t have time to relax as the Norwegian fought back in Halfway. After the second passage in theCardiff Bay Super Special the gap between the two drivers was 4.8s.“Even if I’ve gained a few seconds during the afternoon, I reckon that we’ve been on level pegging,” saidLoeb when he got back to the service park. “I knew that I could open up a small gap in the morning, butI made a couple of small errors. I hope I’ll be able to maintain my advantage tomorrow, but Petter isreally going like a bat out of hell to try and win the rally and take second place in the worldchampionship. We’ve got four stages to decide the outcome.”

* Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA.

THE RALLY IN FIGURESSébastien Loeb / Daniel ElenaSS8: Radnor 1 (14,78 km) 3rd +2.1s 2nd +0.3sSS9: Monument Hill 1 (10,14 km) 2nd +2.9s 2nd +3.2sSS10: Four Ways Crychan 1 (25,14 km) 1str 1strSS1 : Halfway 1 (18,37 km) 3rd +0.2s 1strSS12: Radnor 1 (14,78 km) 1str 1strSS13: Monument Hill 1 (10,14 km) 1str 1strSS14: Four Ways Crychan 1 (25,14 km) 1str 1strSS15: Halfway 1 (18,37 km) 2nd +2.1s 1strSS16: Cardiff Bay 2 (1,70 km) 1str 1str

Fastest times in the stages

Day 1 – SS1: Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4) – SS2: Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS3: Loeb – SS4:Latvala – SS5: Ogier – SS6 and 7: Loeb.Day 2 – SS8 and 9: Solberg – SS10: Loeb – SS11: Solberg – SS12 to 14 : Loeb – SS15: Solberg –SS16: Loeb.

Best performers: Loeb, 9 fastest times – Solberg, 4 – Latvala, 2 – Ogier, 1.Leaders: SS1: Loeb – SS2: Latvala – SS3: Loeb – SS4 to 6: Latvala – SS7: Loeb – SS8 and 9: Solberg– SS10 to 16: Loeb.

Classification at the end of the second day1. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 2h32m24.0s2. P. Solberg / Patterson Citroën C4 +4.8s3. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +1m28.0s4. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +1m36.6m5. Sordo / Vallejo Citroën C4 +1M52.0s6. H. Solberg / Prevot Ford Focus +5m01.4s7. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +6m49.5s8. Räikkönen / Lindstrom Citroën C4 +8’30’’99. Ostberg / Andersson Subaru Impreza +11m02.3s10. Mikkelsen / Floene Skoda Fabia +11m04.4s