Day One of the WRC Rallye de France has been concluded with even more drama. After Championship leader Sebastien Loeb (Citroën Total World Rally Team) retired from the rally with engine problems, his team-mate Sebastien Ogier’s overall speed was hamstrung by engine gremlins and saw his marginal lead over the privateer Citroën DS3 WRC of Petter Solberg (Petter Solberg World Rally Team) move into the lead after setting the fastest stage time through SS7. This however was changed in the day’s final stage, SS8, when Dani Sordo (MINI WRC Team) storm into the lead past both Ogier and Solberg after he won SS8 to bring his total to two scratch times this weekend.
This year’s rally has also seen the factory Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala struggle to match the pace set by the Citroëns and MINIs of Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke.
Sordo is leading a rally for his new team and highlighting the pace on asphalt of this new rally machine. Has Citroën met their match on sealed surfaces?
Action gets underway tomorrow for Day Two at 08h23.
Overall Standings at the end of Day One:
01) D. Sordo – MINI – 01h 23m 02.1s
02) P. Solberg – Citroën + 1.0s
03) S. Ogier – Citroën + 2.8s
04) K. Meeke – MINI + 54.5s
05) J-M. Latvala – Ford + 01m 13.7s
06) M. Hirvonen – Ford + 01m 20.6s
07) A. Araujo – MINI + 02m 23.1s
08) M. Ostberg – Ford + 02m 36.8s
09) D. Kuipers – Ford + 02m 46.8s
10) H. Solberg – Ford + 03m 18.0s
