2009 WRC : Day 2 - Loeb leads Rally Portugal by 26 seconds

Sebastien Loeb - Citroen WRT

VASCAO, Portugal : April 04, 2009 - Citroen Total team driver Sebastien Loeb will take a lead of 26.8 seconds into Sunday’s final day of Rally Portugal after a clean sweep of six stage wins today.


Loeb restarted this morning in third place, and capitalised on a start position of third on the road to catapult into the lead on the day’s second test. He pulled further ahead with every kilometre that followed.

As rally leader, Loeb will be first to tackle Sunday’s final five stages and will face the worst of the loose and dusty road conditions. But at the end of today’s final stage the Frenchman felt he couldn’t have wished for a better comfort margin.

“It’s been a very good day,” said Loeb “I did all I could to increase my lead. The road cleaning effect was inconsistent, with some stages cleaning more than others, but the most important thing is we have a good lead for tomorrow. Maybe it’s not going to be enough to balance being first on the road, because tomorrow’s stages are a bit more twisty and dusty, we’ll just have to wait and see. Overall I couldn’t have hoped for better.”

After slipping to second place on SS9, BP Ford Abu Dhabi team driver Mikko Hirvonen fought strongly with Sebastien throughout most of the day, keeping the gap to less than 10 seconds until the final two stages when his challenge faded.

Arriving at the finish of SS13 with rubber flailing from a front tyre of his Ford Focus, Hirvonen remained optimistic about his chances on Sunday. “I did all I can on this stage but my tyres are finished,” he said. “Tomorrow is a long day and I will have a cleaner road position than Sebastien. As long as I don’t have any problems with dust in the air, or anything like that there’s still a chance of catching him. I’ll try. There’s no other option.”

Dani Sordo holds third overnight in his Citroen Total team C4 WRC. “I’m happy to be here just a bit disappointed to have made a mistake earlier - that’s motorsport, I guess,” he said.

Petter Solberg rounded off the top five places in his 2005 specification Citroen Xsara - a car estimated to have 10 per cent less power than his manufacturer team rivals. Despite a last stage scare, the Norwegian said he was delighted with his day. “Our right-hand rear tyre lost all its tread, so it was a bit scary in some of the corners,” explained Petter. “I had to calm right down over the final 10km, but generally it’s been a good day. Better than I expected, actually.”

Briton Matthew Wilson ended the day sixth, but only just, following a sustained attack from his Stobart Ford team-mate Henning Solberg. The Norwegian whittled the gap to Wilson from 25 seconds after SS8, to 0.9 seconds at the end of the day. “Henning has been chasing hard; its going to be a struggle to keep him behind tomorrow,” acknowledged Wilson. “But it’s okay. I’ve kept the good feeling in the car we had in Cyprus, and we’re hoping to get fifth tomorrow.”

Having struggled initially to adapt his driving style to the Portuguese roads, Henning ended Saturday excited at the prospect of a last day battle for fifth with his team-mate. The Norwegian said: “I feel the car very well now and I’m enjoying it. It will be a good battle tomorrow I hope. If Matthew wants the place he can try, but I will have a go too!”

Behind Solberg another close battle raged on between Evgeny Novikov and Mads Ostberg, with Novikov ending the day ahead in seventh by 0.8sec. Subaru driver Ostberg said he was looking forward to fighting for the position on Sunday. “I tried to catch him on the last stage, but we’ve ended up in a good position now to carry the fight on tomorrow,” he said.

Day 2 : Top 20 - Race Result

Pos	No	Driver	Time	Diff. next	Diff. 1st
1.	1	Sébastien LOEB	2:56:15.6	0.0	0.0
2.	3	Mikko HIRVONEN	2:56:42.4	+26.8	+26.8
3.	2	Dani SORDO	2:57:12.0	+29.6	+56.4
4.	11	Petter SOLBERG	2:58:03.5	+51.5	+1:47.9
5.	5	Matthew WILSON	2:59:38.5	+1:35.0	+3:22.9
6.	6	Henning SOLBERG	2:59:39.4	+0.9	+3:23.8
7.	7	Evgeny NOVIKOV	3:01:15.0	+1:35.6	+4:59.4
8.	16	Mads OSTBERG	3:01:15.8	+0.8	+5:00.2
9.	8	Conrad RAUTENBACH	3:03:06.2	+1:50.4	+6:50.6
10.	9	Federico VILLAGRA	3:05:50.7	+2:44.5	+9:35.1
11.	14	Khalid AL QASSIMI	3:11:53.1	+6:02.4	+15:37.5
12.	147	Armindo ARAÚJO	3:12:42.6	+49.5	+16:27.0
13.	149	Eyvind BRYNILDSEN	3:14:57.1	+2:14.5	+18:41.5
14.	131	Martin PROKOP	3:15:58.0	+1:00.9	+19:42.4
15.	75	Hermann GASSNER JUNIOR	3:17:59.5	+2:01.5	+21:43.9
16.	32	Michal KOSCIUSZKO	3:18:28.7	+29.2	+22:13.1
17.	74	Ricardo TEODÓSIO	3:20:40.7	+2:12.0	+24:25.1
18.	70	Vitor PASCOAL	3:20:50.3	+9.6	+24:34.7
19.	145	Patrik FLODIN	3:22:35.7	+1:45.4	+26:20.1
20.	160	Ricardo MOURA	3:22:45.0	+9.3	+26:29.4

Images : 2009 WRC - Portugal Rally Day 1-2

[Source : WRC, CITROEN, FORD]