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

On slippery Welsh roads, Dani Sordo and Diego Vallejo finished the second day of the Rally GreatBritain in fifth overall. Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström gained two places today and are noweighth.

With the storm system named Carmen having passed overhead, the weather in Wales was milder today –with even some sunshine. But despite these sunny spells, the roads remained extremely slipperythroughout the day.

Just as was the case yesterday, the crews set off for mid-Wales at 0600 from Cardiff. Dani Sordo startedday two with two fourth-fastest times, which allowed him to take his place among the leading quartet,fewer than six seconds off the provisional podium.

But the Spaniard lost some of the benefit on the following two special stages. “The engine stalled at ahairpin bend on SS10,” he explained. “Then on the next stage we went off into a field because of amistake in the notes. We needed help from some of the spectators to get back onto the road.” TheCitroen Junior Team driver ended the morning in fifth overall.

Dani remained consistent throughout the afternoon and consolidated his place despite conditions thatwere still marginal. He was handicapped by a broken rear damper sustained after a heavy landing in acompression on SS11 but managed to stay in contact. The car was moving more and more with everykilometre,” he recounted. “There was a lot of understeer coming out of slow corners. I think we drovewell throughout the day and I’m optimistic for tomorrow. We’re definitely going to attack!”

Kimi Räikkönen started 10th this morning and made an increasing amount of progress throughout theopening loop of stages. “The first three stages went very well,” reported the Finn. “We had a good pace Ithink. The final stage of the loop was a bit more complicated and so I chose to be a little more careful.On the second run, we’ll see if we can increase our pace slightly and continue the progress we’ve made.”Kimi was competitive throughout the afternoon but he was forced to negotiate Halfway 2 (SS15) with abadly adjusted lamp pod. “I couldn’t see far enough ahead and I wasn’t able to drive the stage as I wouldhave wanted,” he said. “Halfway is a particularly difficult stage. On the other stages we were able to set afew good times, so I’m happy enough with what we have achieved today.”

On the final stage of the day, in Cardiff Bay, Kimi was fourth-fastest overall. “There’s another difficult dayahead of us tomorrow, with a very long stage that we will drive twice,” pointed out the Finn. “We need tocarry on like this and try to get close to the frontrunners.”

Team manager Benoît Nogier concluded: “Dani Sordo has shown once again that he is extremelycompetitive. There were two small mistakes that meant he lost contact with Latvala and Hirvonen butthere’s still everything to play for. We always have a chance of a podium. As for Kimi Raikkonen, we canonly be satisfied with the level of performance that he has shown today. He’s made no mistakes and wassometimes quicker than Matthew Wilson, as well as getting closer and closer to Henning Solberg.”

THE RALLY BY NUMBERSDani Sordo / Diego Vallejo Kimi Räikkönen / Kaj LindströmSS8: Radnor 1 (14.78 km) 4th +3’’9 4th +51’’0 7th +19’’8 9th +4’45’’1SS9: Monument Hill 1 (10.14 km) 4th +4’’1 4th +55’’1 9th +16’’5 9th +5’01’’6SS10: Four Ways Crychan 1 (25.14 km) 5th +15’’4 5th +1’07’’3 9th +50’’9 9th +5’49’’3SS11: Halfway 1 (27.88 km) 5th +15’’6 5th +1’20’’1 10th +42’’4 9th +6’28’’9SS12: Radnor 2 (14.78 km) 5th +6’’5 5th +1’26’’6 8th +22’’8 9th +6’51’’7SS13: Monument Hill 2 (10.14 km) 4th +5’’0 5th +1’31’’6 8th +15’’6 9th +7’07’’3SS14: Four Ways Crychan 2 (25.14 km) 4th +10’’1 5th +1’41’’7 7th +37’’7 9th +7’45’’0SS15: Halfway 2 (27.88 km) 5th +11’’5 5th +1’51’’1 8th +47’’3 8th +8’30’’2SS16: Cardiff Bay 2 (1.70 km) 5th +0’’9 5th +1’52’’0 4th +0’’7 8th +8’30’’9

Fastest stage times

Day 1 – SS1: Loeb (Citroën C4) – SS2: Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS3: Loeb – SS4: Latvala – SS5: Ogier(Citroën C4) – SS6 and SS7: Loeb.Day 2 – SS8 and SS9: Solberg – SS10: Loeb – SS11: Solberg – SS12 to SS14: Loeb – SS15: Solberg– SS16: Loeb.Best performers: Loeb 9 fastest times, Solberg 4, Latvala 2 and Ogier 1.Leaders: SS1: Loeb – SS2: Latvala – SS3: Loeb – SS4 to SS6: Latvala – SS7: Loeb – SS8 to SS9:Solberg – SS10 to SS16: Loeb.

Classification at the end of day two1. Loeb / Elena Citroën C4 2:32’24’’02. P. Solberg / Patterson Citroën C4 +4’’83. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus +1’28’’04. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus +1’36’’65. Sordo / Vallejo Citroën C4 +1’52’’06. H. Solberg / Prevot Ford Focus +5’01’’47. Wilson / Martin Ford Focus +6’49’’58. Räikkönen / Lindström Citroën C4 +8’30’’99. Ostberg / Andersson Subaru Impreza +11’02’’310. Mikkelsen / Floene Skoda Fabia +11’04’’4...

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