At the midday service point of day two, five drivers are proving capable of winning Repco Rally Australia.
BP Ford Abu Dhabi driver Jari-Matti Latvala has extended his lead from 2.2 to 3.5 seconds, but the close-running pack from second to fifth has shuffled order and is well within striking distance.
Over the morning’s four competitive stages, SS16-SS19, the trailing pack of Loeb, Hirvonen, Ogier and Sordo has moved 7.1 seconds closer to the leading Finn, with just 16.5 seconds separating first to fifth.
Suffering from his position as first on the road today, the best Latvala could manage was stage times between third and fifth, but it was still good enough to maintain the lead.
Biggest mover was Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb. With two stage wins this morning, in the last five stages he’s moved from fifth place to second, closing the gap to Latvala from 24.4 seconds down to just 3.5 seconds – almost half a second per kilometre.
I had to really try hard. It was a very fast, very beautiful stage, just keep pushing,” said Loeb. “Really enjoyed that one [SS16], very muddy and fast! I am just happy to take time from Latvala.”
Mikko Hirvonen claimed the win on the day’s first stage, Dayco 1, jumping him up to third place in the process and closing the gap to teammate Latvala from 23.6 to 7.9 seconds. “We went wide at one point and I hit a mailbox. Very, very slippery. This rally is going to be a big fight!”
Sebastien Ogier has suffered most from the slippery conditions. Second on the road today, his Citroen lost 15 seconds to the leader on Dayco 1, the day’s longest stage at 20.31km but it wasn’t all down to the conditions: “Something went wrong with the brakes and I came off the road. I got straight back on and kept going. The rally is still long, a lot of things can still happen.”
Dani Sordo closed the gap to Latvala by 6.3 seconds but still slipped one position to fifth. At 16.5 seconds off the lead, he rounds out the top five drivers who are all within sight of the rally win.
With his car caked in mud from the morning’s stages, Sordo said; “Most of the corners are very slippery, not easy! Very tricky stages. The conditions were quite solid yesterday but today there is mud all over the road.”
Sordo on SS18: “I found this stage very difficult, very narrow. There seems to be a problem with the car.”
Henning Solberg is in his own fight for sixth with Matthew Wilson, two minutes off the leader’s pace but just 9.6 seconds ahead of his fellow VK Stobart M-Sport Ford driver.
Federico Villagra is a further 55 seconds back in eighth, with Hayden Paddon’s Mitsubishi is ninth ahead of the first P-WRC driver, Martin Prokop in 10th.
P-WRC early leader Martin Prokop has regained his lead after hitting a rock yesterday and losing time. He has moved to be 4.1 seconds ahead of Richard Mason, with leading Australian driver Cody Crocker another 10.6 seconds back. Australia’s Neal Bates dropped out of contention with problems on SS19 that lost him five minutes.
Citroen Junior team driver Conrad Rautenbach also lost almost three minutes on SS19 and has slipped from 9th to 15th.
Yesterday’s only WRC class retirement, BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Khalid Al Qassimi is back running after his damaged steering was fixed overnight. He is currently placed 30th.
Three of the four afternoon’s stages are repeats, with 60.96km of racing including the third and final night at Murwillumbah for the two tarmac Tweed Super Special stages. With 124km of stages tomorrow and road position decided after SS23, tactics could play an important part later today.
REPCO RALLY AUSTRALIA RESULTS After SS19
Pos Driver/car Time
1. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +1:21m:09.3s
2. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen +3.5s
3. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +7.9s
4. Sebastien Ogier, Citroen +10.2s
5. Dani Sordo, Citroen +16.5s
6. Henning Solberg, Ford +2:09.9s
7. Matthew Wilson, Ford +2:19.5s
8. Federico Villagra, Ford +3:15.2s
9. Hayden Paddon, Mitsubishi +6:50.5s
10. Martin Prokop, Mitsubishi +7:08.3s
P-WRC
1. Martin Prokop, Mitsubishi 1:28m:17.6s
2. Richard Mason, Subaru +4.1s
3. Cody Crocker (AUS), Subaru +14.7s
STAGE WINS
Latvala 6
Ogier 5
Hirvonen 3
Loeb 2
Sordo 1
