Sébastien Ogier flying enroute to his second win in Portugal.
A year after they won their first victory in the FIA World Rally Championship in Portugal, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, after driving a tactically perfect race, have won the event for a second time in a row.
By Roberto Motta
Photos by Citroën Communication Citroën Racing, Ford Motor Company and
Rally de Portugal – media
March 23-27th
After the dusty gravel roads in Mexico, the WRC returned to old Europa for the continuing battle between the Citroën DS3 and Ford Fiesta RS. The fans had great expectations for this third round of the Championship because of the emotional rivalry between the teams. Even Americans had a favorite—Ken Block was entered in a Ford Fiesta WRC.
The first rally of the year in Sweden was won by the Ford Fiesta of Mikko Hirvonen, while in Mexico the Citroën came through for Frenchman Sébastien Loeb. Coming into the Rally Portugal, Hirvonen led Loeb by nine points. In Portugal the dirt surface favored the Citroëns, while Sebastion Ogier was going to be challenging from the start; he won the Rally of Portugal last year with the Citroën C4 WRC of the Junior Team, Ogier’s first major rally victory.
Mini was very impressive in the hands of Armindo Araujo.
Adding to the excitement was the competition debut of the Mini John Cooper Works rally car in Super2000 form. It’s a lesser class but a full World Rally Car version will launch later this year. Two Minis were due to be competing this weekend, one in the hands of Brazilian driver Daniel Oliveira. But the second Mini driver really created excitement for the locals, as the car was entrusted to double PWRC and former Portuguese champion, Armindo Araujo. The likeable Armindo was also excited at the prospect of introducing the Mini in front of his home crowd. Petter Solberg, Kimi Räikkönen and Peter van Merksteijn had at their disposal the DS3 WRC, painted with their own team colors.
The rally had total of 75 cars on the entry list, and they had to complete the 17 stages and 385 kms. The surface was gravel and the final stage of the rally, SS17, was to be the Power Stage.
Hirvonen and Fiesta placed fourth.
23 March – In the Shakedown for this weekend’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal Ogier made the fastest time of 3:08.5s, just 0.1s faster than team-mate Loeb. Unfortunately, the American driver Ken Block (11°), crashed his Ford Fiesta WRC heavily halfway through his fourth run. Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino were taken to hospital for precautionary checks but were subsequently cleared with no serious injuries. The same thing could not be said for their Fiesta WRC. The accident caused the shakedown stage to be stopped for 30 minutes.
Wednesday also was the debut of the Mini John Cooper Works S2000 but Armindo Araujo suffered a run off the road; however, that proved to be harmless. He was at least 10 seconds faster than the nearest previous generation S2000 and a full 20 seconds quicker than Brazilian driver Daniel Oliveras at the wheel of the other Mini. Citroën and Ford should be on their guards.
Press conference for Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team at Portugal.
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24-march- Rally Portugal is one of the most popular events in the FIA World Rally Championship and confirmed its reputation in 2011. The Rally returned to Lisbon for the first time after 40 years for the start. There, almost 40,000 fans gathered to see the best drivers in the world in action on the asphalt and on the cobbled streets.
Before the rally start there was an official launch for the FIA Academy, a new series dedicated to young drivers. All the drivers were at the wheel of identical R2 Ford Fiesta rally cars and the fact that 18 cars are competing in Portugal demonstrates the importance of this “Formula Junior of the WRC” series.
At the end of the first day Mikko Hirvonen and his Ford Fiesta RS turned up the wick and won, 1.3 seconds ahead of Loeb and his Citroën DS3. Third fastest was Petter Solberg in the Citroën with Ogier in fourth.
Results after Day 1
01. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford – 2:49.6
02. Sebastien Loeb – Citroën – +1.3
03. Petter Solberg – Citroën – +2.1
04. Sebastien Ogier – Citroën – +2.9
05. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford – +3.7
06. Federico Villagra – Ford – +3.9
07. Kimi Raikkonen – Citroën – +5.1
08. Matthew Wilson – Ford – +6.2
09. Henning Solberg – Ford – +6.5
10. Armindo Araujo – Mini – +8.0
Latvala and Fiesta.
25 March- After an overnight rain, the first car left Algarve Stadium at 08.00 hours. The rain helped Latvala and his Ford Fiesta lead during the first two stages, but then he was overhauled by Ogier in the third stage. The French driver led the race until the final stage when he tactically slowed to ensure he did not run first on the dusty road tomorrow, trying to limit the risk of punctures.
Results after Day 2
01. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford – 1:23:31.4
02. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford – +11.5
03. Sebastien Loeb – Citroën – +13.7
04. Sebastien Ogier – Citroën – +16.7
05. Henning Solberg – Ford – +2:06.5
06. Matthew Wilson – Ford – +2:11.2
07. Armindo Araujo – Mini – +3:43.7
08. Federico Villagra – Ford – +4:31.9
09. Kimi Raikkonen – Citroën – +4:33.1
10. Khalid Al Qassimi – Ford – +4:35.2
Loeb took second in Portugal.
26 March Loeb and Ogier took full advantage of their strategy adopted the previous day, letting other cars clean the road before they departed. Ogier left the service park in fourth place, and gained a position in each stage and went into the lead at the end of Loulé 1 (SS10). The Citroën Total World Rally Team was able to gain an important advantage through the dusty roads of the stages in the Algarve. Mikko Hirvonen had a disappointing day: the Finn had to stop and change a puncture in the morning, re-starting just ahead of Loeb, and then lost over three minutes in the final stage with a broken rear suspension. Retirements from the day include the impressive Armindo Araujo, who was forced out with engine problems, and Khalid Al Qassimi with broken suspension after hitting a rock.
Results after Day 3
01. Sebastien Ogier – Citroën – 2:59:30.2
02. Sebastien Loeb – Citroën – +37.6
03. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford – +4:14.6
04. Matthew Wilson – Ford – +5:26.8
05. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford – +5:32.5
06. Henning Solberg – Ford – +7:46.4
07. Kimi Raikkonen – Citroën – +8:55.2
08. Federico Villagra – Ford – +9:10.0
09. Petter Solberg – Citroën – +11:27.1
10. Dennis Kuipers – Ford – +13:07.9
Raikkonen explains his rally technique.
27-march- The final day of this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal saw a perfect result for the Citroën Total World Rally Team. Citroën started last day of Rally Portugal with a lead of more than four minutes over its rivals, and controlled the race to the end. Over the whole of the 31,04 kilometers making up Santana de Serra 1 (SS15), the two Citroën crews got down to validating their pace notes to prepare for the second passage rewarded by the points for the Power Stage. They spent the rest of the morning nursing their cars and tires until the start of the final run. Loeb won the Power Stage and added an additional three points to his tally, while Latvala and Ogier claimed two and one point respectively for finishing second and third in this single stage. Mikko Hirvonen was fourth after the opening stage this morning. Then, in the final stage, he broke a damper on the Fiesta RS WRC and was lucky to maintain position. Fifth overall was Matthew Wilson, and sixth Petter Solberg. Kimi Räikkönen lost out to Solberg in the final stage, but still finished a solid seventh. After the third round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, both Hirvonen and Loeb have 58 points, although Hirvonen will lead the contenders into the following round according to the regulations.
The fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews to Rally Jordan (14-16 April).
Sébastien Ogier
Rally winner Ogier again.
Loeb on shakedown
More Loeb.
Final Results (subject to final scrutineering)
1. Sébastien Ogier-Citroën DS3 WRC – 4 hr 10 min 53.4sec
2. Sébastien Loe-Citroën DS3 WRC – 4 hr 11 min 25.2sec
3. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford Fiesta RS WRC – 4 hr 14 min 15.5sec
4. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford Fiesta RS WRC – 4 hr 17 min 09.7sec
5. Matthew Wilson – Ford Fiesta RS WRC – 4 hr 18 min 41.9sec
6. Petter Solberg – Citroën DS3 WRC – 4 hr 21 min 10.8sec
7. Kimi Räikkönen – Citroën DS3 WRC – 4 hr 21 min 47.5sec
8. Federico Villagra – Ford Fiesta RS WRC – 4 hr 22 min 32.2sec
9. Henning Solberg – Ford Fiesta RS WRC – 4 hr 25 min 09.8sec
10. Dennis Kuipers – Ford Fiesta RS WRC – 4 hr 28 min 48.0sec
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 3 of 13 rounds)
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 58 points
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 58 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 48 points
Sébastien Ogier (FRA) 41 points
Petter Solberg (NOR) 31 points
Mads Östberg (NOR) 28 points
Matthew Wilson (GBR) 12 points
Henning Solberg (NOR) 10 points
Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) 10 points
Martin Prokop (CZE) 6 points
Per-Gunnar Andersson 6 points
Federico Villagra (ARG) 6 points
Juho Hanninen (FIN) 4 points
Dennis Kuipers (NLD) 1 point
Khalid Al Qassimi (ARE) 1 point
Ott Tänak (EST) 1 point
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 3 of 13 rounds)
Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 100 points
Citroën Total World Rally Team 90 points
M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Tm 40 points
Petter Solberg World Rally Team 22 points
Ice 1 Racing 16 points
Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team 12 points
Team Abu Dhabi 7 points
Ferm Power Tools World Rally Team 6 points
Monster World Rally Team 6 points