Narrow victory in the desert for Citroën .
By Roberto Motta
The past weekend the battle for the FIA World Rally Championship was fought in Jordan. The third running of the ‘Blue Riband Event in the Middle East’ was conducted over its usual itinerary. The service park overlooks the Dead Sea and the start was in the ancient city of Jerash, while the stages were in the Jordanian desert.
After the cancellation of the first day caused by a logistical problem making the WRC-cargo arrive late in the Israeli port of Haifa, the event began with the ‘shake down’.
Jari-Matti-Latvala enjoys the dust storm he creates on the way to second.
At the finish of this first stage of the Jordan Rally, Solberg was ahead with his Citroen DS3, with a time of 1 minute, 15 seconds and 1 tenth. Behind him, his crew mate Sebastien Loeb with a delay of 0.4 followed by the two Fords, with Jari-Matti Latvala ahead of Mikko Hirvonen.
Sebastien Loeb (inset) finished the shakedown in second.
Shakedown
01. Petter Solberg – Citroen – 1:15.1
02. Sebastien Loeb – Citroen – 1:15.5
03. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford – 1:15.8
04. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford – 1:15.9
05. Sebastien Ogier – Citroen – 1:15.9
06. Matthew Wilson – Ford – 1:16.8
07. Kimi Raikkonen – Citroen – 1:16.8
08. Henning Solberg – Ford – 1:16.9
09. Mads Ostberg – Ford – 1:17.8
10. Nasser Al-Attiyah – Ford Fiesta – 1:18.0
15 April 2011- The first day of the regular rally stages started from the “theoretical”seventh special stage. At the end of the day, Ogier was in front having maintained a frantic pace. Loeb had some problems during the last special of the day, but so did Mikko Hirvonen who had problems with power steering. “We have done the last 15 miles without the power steering, we were lucky to have reached the end of the special said Hirvonen. The only Mini entered in the Jordan Rally, the S2000 entrusted to the Brazilian Daniel Oliveira, finished the day in 21th position.
Inset, Ogiers looking for a victory. He got it.
Jordan Rally – Results after Day 1
01. Sebastien Ogier – Citroen – 1h32:53.4
02. Sebastien Loeb – Citroen – +31.6
03. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford – +33.1
04. Petter Solberg – Citroen – +35.3
05. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford – +2:30.9
06. Kimi Raikkonen – Citroen – +2:45.8
07. Matthew Wilson – Ford – +2:57.8
08. Khalid Al Qassimi – Ford – +4:49.7
09. Federico Villagra – Ford – +4:54.2
10. Nasser Al-Attiyah – Ford – +5:19.3
Mikko Hirvonen is beginning to face an uphill battle with the Citroen team.
16 April 2011- The closing day of competition took in two loops of four stages, and the battle concluding with the Power Stage. The day was set for an exciting finale, with four drivers fighting for victory. Ogier maintained his lead throughout the day, but then lost out to a charging Latvala in the penultimate stage of the rally, and the two drivers went into the final Power Stage divided by only five-tenths of a second. During the power stage, Ogier achieved the best time, and then gained an overall victory, an exciting win by only two-tenths of a second. For Ogier, this is the second world rally victory this year. Loeb, remained in the fight for most of the day, but lost second position to Latvala in stage 15 when he overshot a hairpin. Loeb lost a bit of time in the Power Stage, going off the road, and finished third but remains the Championship leader. Hirvonen has finished at the fourth place, the Finn driver moving up the leaderboard after potential winner Petter Solberg went off the road and retired in stage 17.
F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonenk still trying hard.
Jordan Rally – Final Results (subject to final scrutineering)
01. Sebastien Ogier – Citroen – 2:48:28.2
02. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford – +0.2
03. Sebastien Loeb – Citroen – +27.7
04. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford – +2:44.7
05. Matthew Wilson – Ford – +5:44.9
06. Kimi Raikkonen – Citroen – +6:14.9
07. Federico Villagra – Ford – +9:18.7
08. Khalid Al Qassimi – Ford – +9:43.7
09. Dennis Kuipers – Ford – +14:27.5
10. Bernardo Sousa – Ford – +15:05.5
Result Power Stage (Top 3)
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen Total WRT DS3 WRC 5mins 21.7secs M
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford Abu Dhabi WRT Fiesta RS WRC +00mins 00.0secs M
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT DS3 WRC +00mins 00.3secs M
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 4 of 13 rounds)
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 74 points
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) 72 points
Sébastien Ogier (FRA) 69 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) 66 points
Petter Solberg (NOR) 31 points
Mads Östberg (NOR) 28 points
Matthew Wilson (GBR) 22 points
Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) 18 points
Federico Villagra (ARG) 12 points
Henning Solberg (NOR) 10 points
Martin Prokop (CZE) 6 points
Per-Gunnar Andersson (SWE) 6 points
Khalid Al Qassimi (ARE) 5 point
Juho Hanninen (FIN) 4 points
Dennis Kuipers (NLD) 3 point
Ott Tänak (EST) 1 point
Bernardo Sousa (PRT) 1 point
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 4 of 13 rounds)
Citroën Total World Rally Team 130 points
Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 130 points
M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team 43 points
Ice 1 Racing 26 points
Petter Solberg World Rally Team 22 points
Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team 20 points
Team Abu Dhabi 13 points
Ferm Power Tools World Rally Team 10 points
Monster World Rally Team 6 points