| Citroen deliver a 1 - 2 in rain-lashed Ireland | |||||
 |
|||||
| Loeb started 2009 where he left off - by winning Rally Ireland | |||||
| Les Kolczak | |||||
| © www.worldrallypics.com | |||||
| 1 February 2009, 6:28 pm | |||||
| Rally Ireland returned to the FIA World Rally Championship after a year's absence to replace Monte Carlo as the curtain raiser for this seasons 12-round Championship. | |||||
| The thirty-six starters left the Sligo start in prolonged and torrential rain which flooded the first eight fast bumpy and narrow special stages on the first day. In fact, road conditions become so treacherous that stages seven and eight were later cancelled on safety grounds. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in their BP Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus WRC opted for Pirelli Sottozero snow tyres for the opening stage and combined with a brilliant drive were fastest by 17 seconds. Unfortunately they aquaplaned off the road in stage two and into retirement. They restarted on Saturday under SupeRally rules and eventually finished 14th. New recruits to the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team, Urmo Aava and Kuldar Sikk, also opted for the Pirelli snow tyre and with consistently quick times were leading the event after three stages but the Estonian’s bid for victory ended in a water-filled ditch on stage six. They too re-started under SupeRally rules and finished 10th, earning Manufacturer points. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena in the number one seeded Citroën C4 WRC opted for the PZero asphalt tyre from Pirelli for the first group of stages, which did not work as well as the snow tyre on the flooded and slippery roads. Despite a slow time on the first stage the defending and five-times WRC Champion mastered the conditions to set fastest time on five of the day’s six stages. When the three day rally concluded with a race around the streets of Donegal Town, Loeb had recorded 11 fastest times and ended the event 1 minute 27.9 seconds ahead of his Spanish team mates Dani Sordo and Marc Marti to give the Citroen Total World Rally Team a maximum of 18 points in the defence of their FIA Manufacturers' Championship title. "Even though we weren't on the ideal rubber for the first loop, we were able to control from in front," commented the Frenchman. "Don't get me wrong; this weekend's win was no stroll. Given the delicate conditions, it was essential to have a car that was easy to drive and my C4 WRC was perfect from start to finish. Today's victory was obviously the best way possible to kick off this year's Championship." Mikko Hirvonen and Mikka Antilla finished third overall, recording five fastest stage times and earning them and Ford six points apiece in the FIA Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships. "This is the more difficult of the two asphalt events in the calendar and six points is a good start to the year," said Hirvonen. "I'm pleased with that but would have been even happier with more. It's a shame about our power steering problem because it meant I couldn't fight with Dani to the end." Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot, on their first event with the Citroen Junior Team, overhauled Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team driver Henning Solberg to take fourth overall on Sunday’s opening stage but the Australian slid off the road for a minute in the penultimate test, allowing the Norwegian to regain the place. Sébastien Ogier, 2008 Junior World Champion, and Julien Ingrassia finished sixth, with the third members of the newly-formed Citroen Junior Team, Conrad Rautenbach and Lancashire’s Daniel Barritt, in 18th place. The Cumbria-based Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team secured a triple points result with Solberg in fourth, Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin in seventh and Aava in 10th and left Ireland on equal points (8) with BP Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford. Khalid Al Qassimi with Ulsterman Michael Orr in the third BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team car finished eighth on his first visit to Ireland. Despite hitting a tree on Friday’s opening day, he recovered to be the first United Arab Emirates driver to score a WRC point. Irish Champion Eamonn Boland and Damien Morrissey were the highest placed Irish crew in 9th place. Aaron Burkart (Suzuki Swift) was first WRC Junior in 16th place. There were 28 classified finishers. For news and results from Rally Ireland (29/1 – 1/2), the first event in the 12-round 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, visit www.rallyireland.org/ For all the latest news, video clips, audio, etc, from the FIA World Rally Championship go to www.wrc.com WRC Manufacturer Team websites BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team www.bpfordwrc.com Citroën Total World Rally Team www.citroen-wrc.com Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team www.stobartmotorsport.com Other WRC websites The next and second round of the FIA WRC is Rally Norway, 13th to 15th February www.rallynorway.com The 12th and final round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship is Wales Rally GB starting in Cardiff on Thursday 22nd October. |
|||||
|
www.visitcardiff.com/ or contact the Cardiff Visitor Centre on 08701 211258 or visitor@cardiff.gov.uk
Click HERE for audience statistics for the WRC and the 2008 Wales Rally GB.
