Saturday morning stages review in Bulgaria 10.07.2010: SS7 cancelled on safety grounds Huge numbers of spectators force organisers to scrap SS7, rest of Saturday's schedule delayed by 27 minutes The last of Saturday morning's loop of stages - the 24km Lyubnitsa SS7 - has been cancelled on safety grou

SS7 cancelled on safety grounds


Huge numbers of spectators force organisers to scrap SS7, rest of Saturday's schedule delayed by 27 minutes

The last of Saturday morning's loop of stages - the 24km Lyubnitsa SS7 - has been cancelled on safety grounds because of large numbers of spectators trying to gain late access to the end of the stage.

Organisers took the decision on the recommendation of the FIA safety delegate who monitored the situation from a helicopter.

The stage was delayed by almost an hour while attempts were made to move the spectators. After the cancellation was confirmed, crews drove the stage as a non-competitive road section and made their way back to Dolna Banya for the midday service.

Much of the time lost will be made up in the pre-service regroup but the rest of this afternoon's itinerary will run 27 minutes late.




SS6: Sordo pips Loeb to stage win


Dani Sordo ended Sebastien's perfect stage winning record in Bulgaria on SS6, completing the 18km Peshtera test 3.5 seconds faster than his Citroen team-mate - who now holds an overall lead of 30 seconds.

After rain earlier, much of the Peshtera asphalt had dried by the time the WRC crews tackled it, although there were still damp patches in shaded areas.

Citroen privateer Petter Solberg took the third fastest time, with Sebastien Ogier fourth and Jari-Matti Latvala fifth.



SS5: Citroens shine in the wet


After a fine and dry opening day on Rally Bulgaria, day two got underway with an unpredictable mix of localised rain, dense fog and cool temperatures in the Rila Mountains where today's stages are based.

The first stage, the 27km Sestrimo, turned out to be mostly damp - although teams didn’t know that when tyre choices were made at the Service Park 45 minutes before it was run.

With a couple of exceptions, Citroen and Ford chose opposite tyre strategies - with the Citroens on Pirelli's soft compound PZero and Ford, hoping for drier conditions, on the hard compound.

In the event Citroen got it right, which allowed rally leader Sebastien Loeb to take his fifth stage victory of the rally. Fellow Citroen C4 drivers Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg were his closest rivals.

Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala were the highest profile casualties of the hard compound decision. Both lost more than a minute to the leaders as they struggled for grip. They dropped to fifth and sixth place respectively as Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier leapfrogged them both.

- full results, videos and more on www.wrc.com

photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS SLIDESHOWS and PHOTOS Ecards  WRC RALLYES