Sebastien Ogier has jumped into the lead of Repco Rally Australia after tonight’s two tarmac Tweed Super Special Stages.
With all crew running gravel tyres on the road course, the Citroen Junior Team driver put himself into the number one spot after setting fastest times in both Tweed 1 and Tweed 2’s Super Specials around the 2.55km tarmac road stages in the heart of Murwillumbah town.
“It was very good, but very slippery,” said Ogier, who set his times despite having problems with his spotlights not working.
Fastest on Tweed 1 by 0.8 seconds to Henning Solberg and 2.3 seconds on Tweed 2 to Loeb, Ogier goes into day one of Repco Rally Australia tomorrow with a lead of 3.5 seconds.
Henning Solberg is second placed and the leading Ford driver, setting a stunning pair of times to be 0.8 seconds faster than Sebastien Loeb, himself an equally slim margin ahead of Dani Sordo in fourth, with Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen in fifth and sixth respectively.
Leading the Australian charge is Neal Bates, who was 13th outright and third in the P-WRC class, 5.1 seconds behind championship leader Armindo Araujo (Mitsubishi Evo IX) and Bernardo Sousa (Fiat S2000).
“We had tyre problems, and I was really unhappy with the tyres,” explained Bates.
The night’s two super specials officially kicked off Repco Rally Australia with cars released three at a time, 15 seconds apart in a ‘chase’ format, for two laps around the town’s street stage. They are the first two of 35 competitive stages around New South Wales’ Northern Rivers region.
Australian music legend Jon Stevens started celebrations, singing the Australian national anthem followed by a live on stage finale and free two hour spectacle at Wharf St.
Festivities included and an official welcome and dance from the Bundjalung Kunjiel, performing to thousands of spectators packed into Murwillumbah combining to create an electric atmosphere and setting the stage for the next three days of rally action.
The rally gets underway in earnest with a marathon of 13 gravel stages tomorrow between 3km and 23km long, over 102 competitive kilometres.
REPCO RALLY AUSTRALIA RESULTS After SS2
| Pos | Driver/Car | Time |
| 1. | Sebastien Ogier, Citroen | 3m:35.1sec |
| 2. | Henning Solberg, Ford | +3.5s |
| 3. | Sebastien Loeb, Citroen | +4.3s |
| 4. | Dani Sordo, Citroen | +5.0s |
| 5. | Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford | +5.1s |
| 6. | Mikko Hirvonen, Ford | +8.1s |
| 7. | Matthew Wilson, Ford | +13.3s |
| 8. | Federico Villagra, Ford | +13.5s |
| 9. | Khalid Al Quassimi, Ford | +16.4s |
| 10. | Conrad Rautenbach, Citroen | +19.8s |
P-WRC
| 1. | Armindo Arousa, Mitsubishi | 3m:56.3s |
| 2. | Bernardo Sousa, Fiat | +2.9s |
| 3. | Neal Bates (AUS), Toyota | +5.1s |
