Rally Russia: Thursday 10 July 2008
Flying Finn Juho Hanninen is leading the opening leg of the Rally Russia on his debut in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 car, after four special stages totalling just over 50 kilometres.
Following the opening four stages near Vyborg, the crews headed south for a spectacular ceremonial start in the historic city centre of St Petersburg.
In contrast to last year’s warm conditions, cold and wet weather greeted the crews as they left the service park in Vyborg. Two loops of a pair of stages made up today’s action, with service back at Vyborg in between them.
Hanninen made his intentions clear from the outset, winning three out of the four stages run today to head to St Petersburg with a 21-second advantage over Abarth driver Giandomenico Basso. The Italian’s team mate Anton Alen – last year’s Rally Russia winner – took the fight to Hanninen initially, but Alen picked up two punctures just one kilometre into SS4 that cost him a minute and dropped him from second to sixth place.
In third place at the end of the opening leg was Jan Kopecky: a remarkable achievement considering that the Czech’s participation was looking doubtful after an accident that damaged his car badly on the Ypres Belgium Rally two weeks ago. The Peugeot Belgium duo of Nicolas Vouilloz and Freddy Loix were fourth and fifth – split by just over a second.
Loix was the only person other than Hanninen to set a fastest time today, with a blistering run through SS3. He lost a bit of time with a slow puncture on SS1, but soon made up for it. "I certainly wasn’t expecting to be leading tonight, so it’s a big surprise to me," said Hanninen, who only got the chance to complete 60 kilometres of testing before the start of the rally.
"In some places I was pushing quite hard, but I also made a few mistakes that were down to me not being particularly used to the car. I was expecting Anton Alen to be quick: it’s a pity he had the problem with the punctures but I am sure he will be fighting back now."
The top driver in the IRC 2WD Cup is Englishman Guy Wilks, making his IRC debut in the Honda Civic Type R R3. Wilks ended day one in a remarkable 10th overall, having been the fastest two-wheel drive car on every stage. "We had a good run, despite bending the steering against a rock on SS3," he said. "The roads are very slippery but it’s the same for everyone."
Despite the roughness of the conditions, most of the drivers managed to steer clear of trouble, although privateer Abarth driver Dani Sola joined the list of retirements with an engine problem on SS3 – having run strongly in the top six up until then.
Former World Rally Champion Didier Auriol damaged his suspension against a rock but will re-join under the super rally system tomorrow, while Brice Tirabassi was delayed by clutch problems. The top local driver was Andrej Zhighunov, who ended the first day in seventh overall with his Mitsubishi Lancer.
www.rally-irc.com
TV Times
Eurosport will broadcast the Rally Russia regularly, and it is also possible to watch the rally live on www.rally-irc.com, and the Yahoo Eurosport platform thanks to Eurosport’s live streaming system.
To watch, simply log onto the website and click on the ‘watch live streaming’ message in the flash news banner. Alternatively, click on the flag of your preferred language in the Yahoo Eurosport box. All times listed below are Central European Times.
There are two live streaming broadcasts on Friday and two on Saturday. At the end of each leg, there will be on-demand video highlights posted in the ‘video highlights’ section.
Friday 11 July
11.15-11.45 LIVE (Eurosport 2)
17.30-18.00 LIVE (Eurosport) Regular repeats overnight on Eurosport 2 until 07.30
Saturday 12 July
10.00-10.30 LIVE (Eurosport 2)
17.30-18.00 LIVE (Eurosport) Regular repeats overnight on Eurosport 2 until 07.30
- Anthony Peacock -
More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
