rally-italia-sardegna-ford-increase-hirvonen-latvala-jari-matti-mirko

Latvala and Hirvonen were the fastest two drivers through Saturday’s second stage - making further progress up the leaderboard and increasing the pressure on the leading Citroens.

Third placed Hirvonen narrowed the gap to Dani Sordo from 17.5sec before the stage to just 0.9sec. While Latvala’s fourth stage win of the rally moved him up to fourth - ahead of Galli - 18.4sec behind his BP-Ford team-mate.

After the disappointment of the first stage there was more bad news for Petter Solberg who lost about five minutes when he stopped to change a puncture. He dropped to 14th.

SS7: Ford drivers on the move

Ford Focus RS WRC drivers Jari-Matti-Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen and Gigi Galli set the three fastest times through Saturday’s opening test - and each made progress up the overall leaderboard.

Hirvonen, who leads the drivers’ championship by five points, moved up to third, while Gigi Galli jumped from sixth to fourth.

"That was quite okay," said Hirvonen. "But the jump in the there was very big. We had early cautions in our notes but it was still like Chris Atkinson’s a few years back - we did an unbelievable jump! Luckily the car seems to be alright."

After going off the road and losing the lead of the rally on the second stage, Latvala’s strong recovery continued on SS7. The Finn - who was 14th after SS2 - set another stage wining time and moved up to sixth. "That was the maximum," said Latvala at the stage end. "I went a bit wide and hit a gate post there, so I need to calm down a little now. But I think it might still be possible to get a top three."

The three Ford drivers benefited from problems for Petter Solberg who started the day third but dropped 40 seconds - and four places - through the 18km section.

Rally leader Sebastien Loeb had a trouble free run, slightly increasing his advantage over second placed Dani Sordo. Rain before the stage should have improved the road conditions slightly for Loeb - who tackles Saturday’s stages first - but at the finish the Frenchman said it had still been tricky.

An additional problem for Loeb - and the other crews - was a lack of information on the pace of other competitors because the radio communications plane was grounded and there were no split times.

"With no splits I don’t really know I’ve done," said Loeb. "Okay, I had a clean drive but it’s still very slippery and there wasn’t enough to make much of a difference to the grip. The start was okay but after that it was very slippery. I tried hard - We’ll have to see if that’s enough."

Loeb’s team-mate Sordo said he was satisfied with his own start to the day, but had some small handling issues. "The road is cleaning a bit, and it’s really slippery at the moment," he said. "The car feels a bit like it did yesterday - we have a little understeer - but generally I’m happy."

More information, full results on www.wrc.com

- WRC - photos Willy Weyens

Photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - WRC Rallyes

Rallye de Sardaigne : Regarder devant et oublier le passé ! 22.05.08

Après un résultat inespéré au Rallye de Jordanie, Gilles Schammel s’alignait au départ de la deuxième manche du JWRC avec un moral gonflé à bloc. Grâce à sa meilleure connaissance du terrain Sarde, il pouvait partir plus confiant : « C’est vrai...

WRC-Lauf auf Sardinien: Loeb dominiert erneut mit Pirelli-bereiften Citroën 22.05.08

Bei der Rallye "Italia-Sardegna" erlang das Duo Sebastien Loeb und Daniel Elena ihren vierten Saisonsieg. Auf ihrem Pirelli Scorpion-bereiften Citroën C4 WRC kamen sie vor den Werks-Fords der Teams Latvala/Anttila und Hirvonen/Lehtinen ins...

Aaron Burkart - Platz 3 beim Schotterfestival 21.05.08

Für Aaron Burkart war sein zweiter Einsatz in der noch jungen Junior Rallye WM-Saison ein Erfolg. Mit dem nötigen Quäntchen Glück und einer konstanten Leistung sicherte sich der deutsche Rallye-Pilot einen Platz auf dem Siegerpodest. Ganz...

WRC Rallyes SS12 -Su Filigosu 2 overall results top50 17.05.08

RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA 2008 After Stage 12 - Su Filigosu 2 Length - 19.46kms 1 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 02:59:21.5 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 02:59:50.9 +29.4 3 4 LATVALA FORD 02:59:50.9 +29.4 4 7 GALLI FORD 03:00:39.2 +01:17.7 5 2 SORDO CITRÖEN...

WRC Rallyes SS11 - Monte Lerno 2 -stage & overall results top10 17.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna SS11 Length - 29.31kms After Stage 11 - Monte Lerno 2 stage results top 10 1 4 LATVALA FORD 19:19.9 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 19:24.2 +04.3 3 7 GALLI FORD 19:30.4 +10.5 4 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 19:32.3 +12.4 5 2 SORDO...

WRC Rallyes After Stage 10 - Punta Pianedda 2 stage & overall results top20 17.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna ss10 Length - 18.53kms After Stage 10 - Punta Pianedda 2 stage results top20 1 4 LATVALA FORD 11:09.3 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 11:14.6 +05.3 3 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 11:18.4 +09.1 4 7 GALLI FORD 11:18.8 +09.5 5 2...

WRC Rallyes SS10 - Punta Pianedda 2 stage & overall results top20 17.05.08

Raly Italia Sardegna SS10 Length - 18.53kms After Stage 10 - Punta Pianedda 2 stege results top20 1 4 LATVALA FORD 11:09.3 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 11:14.6 +05.3 3 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 11:18.4 +09.1 4 7 GALLI FORD 11:18.8 +09.5 5 2...

Michal Kosciuszko leads J-WRC after Saturday morning stages 17.05.08

Polish driver Michal Kosciuszko made the most of his two fastest times this morning to move into a 1.5-second lead from Citroen’s Martin Prokop as the scrap for Junior World Rally Championship honours continues to keep the Italian fans on the...

WRC Rallyes Petter Solberg loses third 17.05.08

Petter Solberg’s chances of a podium in Sardinia were dealt a blow on Saturday’s opening test when the Norwegian was 40 seconds off the stage winning pace. The Subaru World Rally Team driver declined to comment on his performance at the end of...

WRC Rallyes SS9- Su Filigosu 1 stage & overall results top15 17.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna After Stage 9 - Su Filigosu 1 stage results 1 4 LATVALA FORD 12:43.3 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 12:49.3 +06.0 3 7 GALLI FORD 12:51.4 +08.1 4 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 12:56.1 +12.8 5 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 13:04.0 +20.7 6 16 AAVA...

WRC Rallyes SS8 - Monte Lerno 1 stage & overall results top10 17.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna Stage 8 - Monte Lerno 1 SS8 - Monte Lerno 1 Length - 29.31kms stage results 1 4 LATVALA FORD 19:46.3 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 19:51.7 +05.4 3 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 19:57.1 +10.8 4 7 GALLI FORD 20:05.1 +18.8 5 2 SORDO...

WRC Rallyes SS7 - Punta Pianedda 1 stage & overall results top20 17.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna SS7 Length - 18.53kms After Stage 7 - Punta Pianedda 1 stage results 1 4 LATVALA FORD 11:27.8 +00.0 2 3 HIRVONEN FORD 11:36.2 +08.4 3 7 GALLI FORD 11:40.5 +12.7 4 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 11:40.9 +13.1 5 2 SORDO...

Galli glides back into form on opening day of Rally d’Italia Sardegna 17.05.08

STOBART VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team FIA World Rally Championship Rally d’Italia Sardegna, 16 May 2008 Day 1 The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team occupy a strong position on the leaderboard on conclusion of the opening day of Rally d’Italia...

Conrad Rautenbach day one review 17.05.08

Rally d'Italia Sardegna FIA World Rally Championship, round 6/15 Olbia, Italy 16.05.08 Day one Weather: Overcast Temperature range: 16-24 Celsius Time difference: Italy is GMT +2hours Sporting: Conrad Rautenbach spent the day on the...

Savoureux "antipasti" pour les Citroën de Loeb et Sordo 17.05.08

5e Rally d'Italia Sardegna (15-18 mai 2008) Le hors-d'oeuvre du 'Rally Italia Sardegna' a été superbement négocié par l'équipe Citroën Total qui place ses deux voitures sur les deux plus hautes marches du podium. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena...

Loeb in control after day one in Sardinia 16.05.08

After a faultless drive through the first day of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna, Sebastien Loeb of the Total Citroen team holds a healthy overall lead, 35 seconds ahead of the man who holds second place - his team-mate Dani Sordo. Loeb took the...

WRC Rallyes SS6- Terranova 2 Overall results top 50 16.05.08

After Stage 6 - Terranova 2 Length - 15.39kms 1 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 01:31:27.6 +00.0 2 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 01:32:03.3 +35.7 3 5 SOLBERG SUBARU 01:32:21.4 +53.8 4 3 HIRVONEN FORD 01:32:26.5 +58.9 5 6 ATKINSON SUBARU 01:32:36.6 +01:09.0 6 7 GALLI...

WRC Rallyes SS5 - Crastazza 2 overall results top20 16.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna After Stage 5 - Crastazza 2 Length - 33.96kms 1 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 01:20:54.2 +00.0 2 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 01:21:23.7 +29.5 3 5 SOLBERG SUBARU 01:21:43.1 +48.9 4 3 HIRVONEN FORD 01:21:44.8 +50.6 5 6 ATKINSON SUBARU...

WRC Rallyes SS4 - Monte Corvos 2 overall results top 15 16.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna After Stage 4 - Monte Corvos 2 Length - 16.43kms 1 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 57:32.8 +00.0 2 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 57:54.8 +22.0 3 3 HIRVONEN FORD 58:11.6 +38.8 4 5 SOLBERG SUBARU 58:12.0 +39.2 5 6 ATKINSON SUBARU 58:13.7 +40.9 6...

Subaru Driver quotes from Service A after SS3 16.05.08

A solid first morning in difficult conditions sees both Imprezas in the top five Impreza No. 5 Petter Solberg: "The stages were quite rutted for me this morning, but I didn’t have any real problems in them. They’re quite soft though and there’s...

WRC Rallyes SS3 - Terranova 1overall results top20 16.05.08

Rally Italia SardegnaSS3 After Stage 3 - Terranova 1 overall results top15 1 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 46:16.5 +00.0 2 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 46:39.0 +22.5 3 3 HIRVONEN FORD 46:55.3 +38.8 4 6 ATKINSON SUBARU 46:55.3 +38.8 5 5 SOLBERG SUBARU 47:00.8...

WRC Rallyes SS2 - Crastazza 1 stage & overall results top20 16.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna SS2 Length - 33.96kms Stage 2 - Crastazza 1 stage results top20 1 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 23:56.1 +00.0 2 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 24:14.3 +18.2 3 3 HIRVONEN FORD 24:17.0 +20.9 4 6 ATKINSON SUBARU 24:21.3 +25.2 5 5 SOLBERG...

WRC Rallyes SS1 - Monte Corvos 1 stage & overall results top20 16.05.08

Rally Italia Sardegna Length - 16.43kms After Stage 1 - Monte Corvos 1 stage results top20 1 4 LATVALA FORD 11:24.3 +00.0 2 2 SORDO CITRÖEN 11:31.3 +07.0 3 7 GALLI FORD 11:31.7 +07.4 4 1 LOEB CITRÖEN 11:32.1 +07.8 5 18 MIKKELSEN FORD...

Stage summaries with Phil Mills 16.05.08

SS1/SS4 Monte Corvos (16.43km) We start with a reverse direction stage from last year which is very narrow, bumpy and lots of mud. There are lots of trees that line the sides of the road so its very easy to slide off and into a tree or a tree...

Conrad Rautenbach Shakedown review 15.05.08

Rally d'Italia-SardegnaFIA World Rally Championship, round 6/1515.05.08 ShakedownWeather: SunnyTemperature range: 16-23 CelsiusTime difference: Italy is GMT +2hours Shakedown report: Reigning FIA African Rally Champion Conrad Rautenbach's...

[:: previous ] [ next ::]