Inside Rally

What a fantastic rally we had here in Portugal. Hot and Dusty, and so was the battle for the rally up untill the final two stages on saturday, then it was a cruise to the end for Sebastien Ogier. Winning Rally Portuga for the second time.

Photo:D.Darrall

As always the event was full of adventure, but out on the stages the crews had a real battle, Petter Solberg Dropped out of contention after he had 4 punctures, and with the rule that you have to make it back to service on all 4 wheels he retired before the end of the last stage. The Fords did a great job on the opening day to finish 1st and 2nd.
On saturday it was a battle between Citroen and Ford, but on the final two stages, disaster struck for the Ford crews. First Jari-Matti with a broken rear drive shaft, then on the final stage he had a puncture and was past on stage by his team mate Mikko Hirvonen, who then dropped time on mid way through stage with broken suspension and Latvala had to re-pass him back on the same stage. Handing Citroens the top two places.
On Sunday, because of such large gaps between the positions, most just took it steady and saved them selfs and the cars for the final ‘Power Stage’, Which was first run as the 2nd stage of the morning, and the drivers found the 31Km long stage very tricky in places. The final day was all about the Power stage, and who could take thoughs bouns points for the drivers championship. Loeb said in the morning that he wouldn’t risk his 2nd place and would just drive to the finish. But clearly once that helmet was on and the 31km Santana de serra stared at him on the start line, he went for it. Watching from the big screen in the service park, You could tell he was really pushing to bag thoughs points. As many fans kept moving between the big screen and the timing screen in the service Park to see who was leading. Loeb comes through to beat Fords Jari-Matti by 1.7 seconds to claim the 3 bouns points, which could prove to be the deciding factor to the championship on the final rally of the year.
But the Glory of the Rally went to the younger frenchman of Sebastien Ogier, to take his 3rd WRC win. Meaning that we have had 3 different winners on the 3 rounds of the 2011 championship. Ogier also took 3rd on the power stage to grab that last bouns point for the championship. Overall that means Both Hirvonen and Loeb are on equal points of 58, thanks to the bouns points Loeb took this weekend, and the bouns points Hirvonen got from winning the Mexican Power stage. And ford still hold the Manufactures Championship by 10 points.
Down in the PWRC, Hayden Paddon took the win on his 2011 debut in his symtech racing prepared Subaru. And by a massive margin due to others having problems.

Photo: D.Darrall

So the battle for top dog in the Citroen team is still on, Ogier did his Portugal magic, Fords still with car problems, Paddon takes his first win and i’m covered in gravel. What will the rest of the season bring…

Results Of Rally portugal
1st S.Ogier
2nd S.Loeb +31.8
3rd J-M.Latvala +3:22.1
4th M.Hirvonen +6:16.3
5th M.Wilson +7:48.5
6th P.Solberg +10:17.4
7th K.Raikkonen +10:54.1
8th f.Villagra +11:38.8
9th H.Solberg +14:16.4
10th D.Kuipers +17:54.6

An interesting final morning here in Portugal, with the gaps so big, most are just driving to the end, with just two stages left, including the final ‘Power stage’.

Photo: D.Darrall

Hirvonen set the fastest time in the first stage of the morning trying to make up a bit of time after the problems on the final stages yesterday where Latvala described that final stage as something out of the Dakar rally, with the amount of times he past his team mate on stage, and with Loeb stuck again in the dust. But a much better start to this morning for the Fords with Latvala 2nd quickest. Solberg 3rd fastest after trying to grab any points he can get after 4 punctures on day 1.
SS15 Was a bit more eventful, the 31km stage was very difficult and technical and will be used for the ‘Power Stage’ this afternoon. Hirvonen’s bad luck hit him again, and suffered a broken driveshaft, dropping back to 5th, allowing Stobarts Matthew Willson to get that 4th position. Solberg was fastest on the stage, maybe getting the practice in for when its used as the ‘Powerstage’ to try and get thoughs 3 extra points and is in 9th overall. Latvala 2nd quickest on stage.
Citroens of the two Seb’s taking it easy to get to the end in 1st and 2nd Overall, and a big gap until Latvala in 3rd so they have plenty of time to just drive to the end. ex-F1 star Kimi Raikkonen is taking it steady and keeping it on the road and is holding 7th overall 7 seconds behind Henning Solberg.

Photo: D.Darrall

PWRC leader Hayden Paddon Had a scare when his rear suspension broke, but because of his massive lead that hes accumulated over the weekend of 8minutes due to others behind having problems, he wasn’t to worried, and is on the way to service to get it fixed. Jukka Ketomaki holds 2nd and Martin Semerad in 3rd.
Two stages left to go this Afternoon.