Inside Rally

The forecast could make for an interesting days rallying. It’s currently raining in Valence with temperatures around -5C. Reports are that, SS11 & SS12 are wet with sheet ice reported in middle section of SS12. The ice crews will have their work cut out for them.

3 Special stages today, as the rally Travels from Valence down to Monaco

10:02 SS11 – St Jean en Rogans (23.28Km)

10:42 SS12 – Cimetiere de Vassieux (24.13km)

12:18 Service Valence

15:11 SS13 Montauban (29.89km)

19:56 – Parc Ferme Monaco

Loeb leads after day 2, extending the gap to 1minute 37 seconds.

The Closest battle was for 2nd place between petter Solberg & Dani Sordo. But throughout the day Petter seemed to have the upper hand and 2nd place, up until Sordo fought back and went fastest on Stage 8 and retook his 2nd place, dropping Solberg down to 3rd and finished the day 3.7 seconds behind.

Ogier driving in VW’s S2000 Skoda had a heavy crash on a high speed section of the final stage, both are ok but it’s the end of the rally for them.

1 Loeb
2 Sordo 1:37.2
3 Solberg 3.7
4 Hirvonen 1:59.9
5 Novikov 11.1
6 Delecour 1:28.4
7 Compana 1:29.7
8 Tanak 1:29.7

Day 2 of the Monte Carlo Rally kicks off with the 19km Labatie d’Andaure stage. the road conditions were expected to be better than on day 1, with patches of frost in SS5, damp to wet roads in SS6 and dry in SS7.

The current Rally leader was Loeb, with over a minute lead he didnt take to many risk’s but went out to extend the gap slightly. The closest battle of the morning was that for 2nd place between the remaining works Ford driver Petter Solberg and Mini driver Dani Sordo. Solberg took a mix tyre choice of 2 soft’s & 2 Super Softs. the norwegian felt comfortable with them once they warmed up and was 2nd fastest on the opening stage. Moving him up to take 2nd place with Sordo dropping to 3rd.

But on the following stage, the infamous 25km St Bonnet stage. Sordo fought back and went 3rd fastest, taking 2.2 out of Solberg and re-taking his 2nd place back. Loeb was once again fastest, saying at stage end, “It was OK, no problem at all at the moment, the Stages are cleaning, bit humid, some black stuff, no ice. Tyres are working very well on this one, maybe not the best for the last one, but a lot to lose in these conditions”. Loebs new team mate an ex-Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen was 2nd fastest on SS6 once he got up to speed and found a good rhythm. Delecour had a moment and came to stage end without his front bumper, having intercom problems he was unable to hear the pace notes from his co-driver.

In the final stage of the morning Loeb once again went fastest, extending his overall lead to 1:23.2 as the battle for 2nd continued. Despite Petter Solberg saying that he is driving for team and points, meaning no risk taking, he went 2nd fastest and Solberg and Sordo once again swapped places, with Solberg re-claiming his 2nd place going into mid-day service.

1 loeb

2 Solberg +1:23.2

3 sordo +3.7

4 hirvonen +1:39.1

5Ogier +7.4

6 Novikov + 2.6

7 Delecour +51.9

8 Compana +1:23.7

Day 2 of Rally monte Carlo consists of 6 Stages, 3 in morning and then re-run after Service in Valence. The weather forecast for today is Sunny and not expected to be as unpredictable as yesterday’s conditions, with temperatures of around 11C

SS5: 09:33 Labatie d’Andaure – Lalourese (19km)

SS6: 10:14 St Bonnet (25.22km)

SS7: 11:37 Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussiere (21.66km)

Service in Valence

SS8: 14:50 Labatie d’Andaure – Lalourese (19km)

SS9: 15:28 St Bonnet (25.22km)

SS10: 16:54 Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussiere (21.66km)

18:02 – Evening Service in Valence