Inside Rally

Sebastien Ogier ended today’s second leg of Rally de Portugal with a comfortable 34.8sec lead over Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.

The Polo R drivers dominated this longest leg of the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Latvala won the opening two stages before Ogier claimed the remaining four tests.

Higher temperatures and rocky gravel roads in the hills above the Algarve made the going tough. Conditions were at their worst this afternoon when the morning stages were repeated and drivers had to manage their tyres on roads worn to the bedrock.

Ogier was still handicapped by the virus which has affected him for the past two weeks. “I started to feel a bit better this afternoon,” he said. “I think I saved my tyres better than the others. It was a good day but tomorrow has two long stages so it’s going to be tough as well.”

Ogier’s closest challenger yesterday was Dani Sordo but the Spaniard retired his Citroen DS3 on today’s opening stage. “I misunderstood a pace note. After a small crest the car slid wide onto the loose. At the end of the corner was a small tree and we hit it with the rear wheel which broke,” he said.

Latvala climbed to second, getting to grips with the Polo R for the first time this season. “It’s the first day this year when I have been smiling,” said the Finn, whose only problem was a slow puncture at the end of the last stage.

Mikko Hirvonen completes the podium places in a Citroen DS3, 1min 08.5sec behind Ogier. “It was so rough and so hot that the tyres were at their limit this afternoon. I don’t have any new tyres for either of tomorrow’s loops so that will slow me,” he said.

Credit:WRC.com

After day 1 of Rally Portugal, it’s VW’s Sebastien Ogier who holds the lead of just 4.4sec over Citroens Dani Sordo.
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Ogier took the lead in his Polo R WRC on the 1st stage and was the only WRC driver to use Michelin’s soft-compound tyres that especially suited the cooler, slightly damp early conditions. But many question if they were the correct choice for the following stages.

On the next stage the temperature started to rise, the surface dried and M-Sports Mads Ostberg took the lead. Ostberg setting a great pace on the event he gain the win on last year. But on the third stage, the Norwegian misheard a pace note, went into the corner 1 gear to high, hit the bank and rolled out into retirement. This moved Ogier back into the lead and Dani Sordo second.

Jari-Matti Latvala is third, 11.4sec behind his Volkswagen team-mate Ogier and feeling more at home with the handling of his car. Citroens Mikko Hirvonen is fourth, 16.2sec off the lead in his DS3. The Finn found his car’s suspension too stiff for Friday’s stage conditions but with no service he was stuck with the set-up all day.

Day 2 consists of 6 stages 153km’s of competitive racing with a mid-day Service

For the UK Rally Fans the WRC Rally Portugal 1 hour TV highlights are listed to be on ITV4 on Thursday 18th at 8pm.

Around 86,000 people sat down to watch the first showing of Rally Mexico highlights on ITV4.

Today is Qualifying for Rally Portugal 2013, and going fastest was Citroen’s Dani Sordo. The Spanish driver through the 4.98km Vale do Judeu stage in 3 mins 0.7 quicker than VW’s Sébastien ogier.

Qualifying Results;

Dani Sordo 3:01.6
Sébastien Ogier +0.7
Jari-Matti Latvala +0.8
Mads Østberg +0.9
Mikko Hirvonen +1.3
Evgeny Novikov +1.6
Thierry Neuville +2.0
Andreas Mikkelsen +6.0
Nasser Al-Attiyah +6.6
Khalid Al-Qassimi (set same time as Al-Attiyah, in tenths of second) +6.6
Martin Prokop +7.8
Michal Kosciuszko +10.4
Dennis Kuipers +12.2

Drivers make their starting position picks at 1300 local time…