Written by Evan Rothman
The many thousands of spectators lining the stages on the opening day of the WRC Rally Spain were treated to a thrilling high-speed game of cat-and-mouse. Rallying is popular for its unpredictable nature, for the rally crews and spectators alike, and the start of this weekend’s event couldn’t have been more unpredictable if Hollywood’s best screenplay writers scripted it.
Prior to the event’s official start, Kimi Raikkonen and Kaj Lindstrom (Citroen Junior Team) crashed out of the Shakedown Stage. The crew emerged from the car unscathed, but the Citroen C4 WRC was less fortunate. After an inspection of his car, it was found that the rollcage was severely damaged and could not be repaired. This effectively ruled him out of the event, without even 1km of the rally completed.
The rally proper got underway early on Friday morning with a loop of three stages that were then repeated in the afternoon. These mixed-surface stages caught a number of crews out, but more on that in a moment.
After 125km of competition over the fast and sweeping roads while equipped with asphalt tyres on gravel sections, it is Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen Total World Rally Team) who lead the field at the overnight halt. A surprise for all in the Service Park as the hometown crew of Dani Sordo/Diego Vallejo (Citroen Total World Rally Team) was expected to the overall standings. However, Sordo was unable to find a rhythm behind the steering wheel of his Citroen C4 WRC and had to settle for a languid sixth overall.
A mere 3.8 seconds behind Loeb was the young WRC sensation Sebastien Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassi (Citroen Junior Team). Ogier has the pace to lead this event, but it in a clever tactical move he’s ended Day One second overall. Ogier will, however, pick at Loeb’s thin cushion throughout Day Two and will be perfectly positioned to challenge for the overall lead.
The factory Ford crews of Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Antilla and Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (both in the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) are lying in a respectable third and fifth overall, showing improved asphalt pace this weekend. Latvala is only 19 seconds adrift of the rally lead, and will most certainly be driving for a podium position on Day Two while his team-mate is locked in a battle for fifth with Sordo.
Separating the two Ford works drivers are privateers Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson. In his Citroen C4 WRC, Solberg has blitzed through the opening day’s stages to remind his rivals of his outright pace. On the opening speed test Solberg unfortunately lost 20 seconds to Loeb. Had this not occurred, he’d be less than 3 seconds behind Loeb at the end of Day One.
In a solid seventh overall is Britain’s fastest rally driver Matthew Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin in their Stobart Ford M-Sport Focus RS WRC. Federico Villagra, Ken Block and Henning Solberg (all driving Fords) round out the top ten on Day One.
Day Two sees competitors take in 126.62 competitive kilometres over six stages divided into two loops of three stages. These stages are traditional asphalt Spanish tests, and will see speeds increase even more and will test the bravery of all.