Ogier leads day 1 of Mexico with final super specials to go

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Sebastien Ogier leads Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb to run first on the road on Saturday, with just the two super specials to go.

By D.Darrall

After a tricky day out on the high gravel stages of Mexico. Sebastien Ogier leads by 1.6 seconds after SS8 in Mexico, meaning the younger Frenchman will have to run first on the road for day 2 on Saturday. However, Ogier is still the subject of a stewards enquiry due to a possible rule infringement prior to midday service, After leading through the morning, Ogier arrived back in Leon in second place, just 1.3 seconds behind Loeb. Ogier now faces the possible threat of exclusion after taking a wrong turn after time control.The Frenchman drove his Citroen DS3 WRC straight into service instead of going into a 20-minute re-group which preceded the half-hour service.

But as it stands at the moment, the young frenchman will be tasked with the tough job of cleaning the road of the loose surface gravel for the drivers running further down the order on day two. He said: “For the team it’s important to stay in the lead.”

Petter Solberg was lying in 3rd overall for most of the day, and on stage 5 was just 18.4 seconds down on leader sebastien Loeb. But on Stage 6 Solberg’s car sounded very sick, his Citroen crawled over the stop line, sounded more like a motor boat than a rally car. At stage end he said, “I don’t know I can’t go. That’s bad when we are trying to get a good start to the championship.” It was very similar to the problem that Ken Block had before the start. On the road section, they discovered it was caused by a broken wire, and managed to repair it to be 2nd quickest on the final gravel stage of the day. but finished the day in 13th overall.

The Fords of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala haven’t been able to challenge the Citroens at the top three. Hirvonen has not been able to keep up with Ogier and Loeb either, and while he still holds third, he is now 1m19.6s adrift. After his morning puncture, Jari-Matti Latvala benefited from problems from others, plus his own speed to vault from ninth up to fourth in just three stages this afternoon, ending SS8 just ahead of Stobart Ford’s returnee Evgeny Novikov.

Stobarts M-sport and brit driver Matthew wilson was up to a career best 4th place, but then on stage 7 came to a halt with suspected mechanical problems. Ken Block is reported to have stopped in stage 8 in his Monster World Rally Team Fiesta with a suspected mechanical problem.

The cars and Crews are now returning to service in Leon, with two more runs around the street-based superspecial.

Photo: D.Darrall

Leading positions after SS8:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap

1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 1h24m04.2s

2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 1.6s

3. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1m19.6s

4. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 2m51.3s

5. Evgeny Novikov Stobart Ford + 2m54.3s

6. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 3m11.7s

7. Dennis Kuipers Ferm Ford + 4m55.9s

8. Nasser Al-Attiyah Barwa Ford + 5m01.5s

9. Ott Tanak MM Ford + 5m25.7s

10. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 5m52.1s

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Solberg drops out of Mexico fight

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Petter Solberg stopped on SS6 just a few metres away from the flying finish with Engine problems. With the DS3’s engine mis-firing. Petter Solberg and Co-Driver Chris Patterson managed to crawl to the end of the stage.

By D.Darrall

 

Petter Solberg’s very sick sounding Citroen crawled over the stop line, sounded more like a motor boat than a rally car. At stage end he said, “I don’t know I can’t go. That’s bad when we are trying to get a good start to the championship.” Petter was lying in 3rd overall 18.4 seconds down on leader sebastien Loeb

Tried to reset the car in attempt to fix the problem, its suspected to be an electrical problem, similar to that of Ken Blocks problems before the start ramp on Thursday night.　

Ogier was fastest on the stage and has retaken the rally lead from Loeb by just 0.5s, but the younger Frenchman remains at risk of being penalised or even excluded for taking a wrong turning and driving straight into service before the scheduled re-group earlier today.

Mikko Hirvonen is now up to third for Ford, with Brit driver Matthew Wilson in 4th.

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Ogier to face steward’s investigation

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Sebastien Ogier’s participation at the front of the field in Rally Mexico is under threat after the Frenchman took the wrong route on his way into the service park.

After leading through the morning, Ogier arrived back in Leon in second place, just 1.3 seconds behind Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb. Ogier now faces the possible threat of exclusion after taking a wrong turn after a time control.The Frenchman drove his Citroen DS3 WRC straight into service instead of going into a 20-minute re-group which preceded the half-hour service.

The Citroen team declined to comment on the situation.

Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson said: “The organisers of the rally are aware of the situation and we have to wait and see what happens. From what we’ve heard, he seems to have deviated from the route and come into service before the re-group. This will be a stewards’ decision which we will hear about this evening.”

After the Following stage, Ogier commented on the situation saying “There was nothing to say where to turn, we turn wrong way, after, we realised and came back out.” – Stewards are currently investigating the situation.

Credit: Autosport

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SS1 – Solberg leads after Mexican street Stage

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Petter Solberg leads by 0.2 after stage 1 and survives a brush with a tunnel wall in Mexico as Ken Block hits trouble.

Stage 1 got underway after the ceroninial start, under the darkness through the streets of Guanajuato. Where 2003 world champion, Petter Solberg took the stage win, beating Loeb by just two-tenths of a second on the very short 1.05 kilometre street stage, Heading into Fridays Stages. 

Solberg emerging through the short tricky city course in a time of 53.2 seconds. Although after nudging a wall in the tunnel section, the damage was restricted to a scuffed tyre and Solberg was able to make it to the finish line. “It was crazy in there with so many people, we had a moment in the tunnel but we’re okay,” said Solberg.

7 times World Champion Sebastien Loeb, and last year’s Rally Mexico winner said: “There was a great atmosphere, the stage was good and it was a very nice show.” Team mate Ogier finished 3rd 0.5 seconds off the lead.

Ford boys Jari-matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen finished 4th & 5th, over a second down from Solberg. “It’s a nice stage for the people but it was very slippery although not as difficult as I expected,” said Latvala. “The fans are such an important part of the sport and these people may not have the chance to go to the [gravel] stages so it’s good they can see the cars in their home city.”

However, there was despair for American Ken Block, whose Ford Fiesta RS WRC suffered an electrical failure in between crossing the ceremonial start ramp and taking the stage start. “There was some sort of electrical glitch,” said Block. “It happened first on the road section and it’s just got worse.”

Making a return to the WRC after a years absence, Evgeny Novikov Finished the evening stage in joint 7th with Brit Matthew Wilson. The real action starts Friday morning on the Gravel stages. With championship leader Mikko road sweeping after his win in Sweden.

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