WRC 2010 *Round 3 - Jordan*

[phil1993]

6th or 7th was achievable for Kimi so he crashed and got 30th in easily one of the top cars... not great if you ask me.

[iceman1]

Raikkonen sure Mexico will be easier

Kimi Raikkonen is optimistic that he will fare better in the Rally Mexico, the next round of the World Rally Championship, having reached the finish in Sweden today.

The former Formula 1 world champion lost nearly half an hour when he slid into a snow bank on Friday, but was able to rejoin and set some promising stage times on his way to 30th overall.

"We lost a bit in the snow bank on the first day, and we spun three times, but we got to the finish and we learned a lot," Raikkonen said.

"We knew this was going to be a very difficult rally. We improved a bit all the time and that was our goal. Okay, I'm a bit disappointed to lose the time in the snow but that's a part of rallying."

The Finn thinks the gravel surface in Mexico will be easier for him to handle than the Swedish snow.

"For sure everything should be a bit easier on the gravel that I know from the past a little bit," said Raikkonen. "Everything I've done on snow before has always been a little bit tricky.

"We'll see how it goes in the test next week and hopefully we can improve in Mexico. We should be able to."

One of Raikkonen's targets is to make his pace notes more accurate.

"Of course it's much easier when you go second time [through the stages] but we had particularly good notes today and yesterday on some stages, and that makes a massive difference when you're not sure if the notes are completely right," he said.

"When you go through for the second time you can change them a bit and it makes it much, much easier. I'm sure experience makes a big, big difference. If we come here next time it's going to be a hell of a lot easier. But that's how it goes, you need to get the experience and then you can start pushing hard.

"I don't think it's the driving so much, you just need to get experience and get everything right, and the notes need to be really perfect to go fast."

Despite Raikkonen's incidents, his Citroen Junior team boss Benoit Nogier was delighted with his performance.

"Kimi has made a remarkable start on his first world championship event with us," Nogier said.

"We stuck completely to the plan that we had set out beforehand. Kimi got progressively quicker, but also remained calm in the face of all the new things that he had to learn."

[phil1993]

But he can't say: 'Don't talk to me in the middle of a corner'

[geewhiz14]

Go, Mikko! Hirvo FTW this season.

[phil1993]

Kimi has hit big problems - alternator failure and hitting a rock after SS2

Meanwhile, up front we have an odd line up:

Petter Solberg has a 17s lead after SS3 with Ogier 2nd. Loeb is a further 8.8s back with Sordo 4th. Latvala leads Hirvonen with the latter already 54s off the lead thanks to running first. H. Solberg is 7th, Wilson 8th, Block 9th and Villagra 10th

EDIT: Kimi is 36 minutes down after SS2

[phil1993]

Solberg dominates early stages

Petter Solberg has charged into a commanding early lead in the Rally Mexico.

The former world champion benefited from being seventh in the running order and therefore getting better stage conditions than the championship leaders - who have swept the dust clear for the following cars.

Solberg capitalised on that advantage to build a 17.1s lead after the first four stages, while Citroen Junior's Sebastien Ogier made the best of his fifth place on the road to take second.

Title rivals Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb have both been hampered by their position in the running order - but while Loeb has managed to at least stay in third for Citroen, half a minute behind Solberg, Hirvonen is a lowly sixth, nearly a minute off the pace.

The Ford driver confessed his driving had not been good enough on the opening stage, but after that felt the road conditions were simply impossible for him.

Loeb and Hirvonen's team-mates Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala hold fourth and fifth at present.

Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson complete the initial top eight, while Monster Ford's newcomer Ken Block has got his World Rally Championship campaign off to a very respectable start. The American is only 16s behind Wilson in ninth, and ahead of championship regular Federico Villagra (Munchi's Ford).

It was another bad start to a rally for Kimi Raikkonen, though. The Citroen Junior driver was slightly slowed when he clipped a rock and bent a steering component on SS1, then stopped for over half an hour on SS2 while he rectified a loose connection in the C4's fuel system.

[amoljoshi]

Kimi did 4th fastest time in SS4..


Thank you Ferrari for letting him go.

[phil1993]

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Petter Solberg Citroen 1h23m39.9s
2. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 15.0s
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 27.5s
4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 40.8s
5. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1m01.2s
6. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1m31.5s
7. Henning Solberg Ford + 1m37.5s
8. Matthew Wilson Ford + 2m47.2s
9. Federico Villagra Ford + 4m19.8s
10. Ken Block Ford + 4m33.3s

Dusty roads will hinder the top runners today

Kimi crashed out, won't restart

[Ali]

SS3 El Cubliete 1 (Gravel)
1. Solberg - 11:49.9
7. Raikkonen - 12:03.5 (+13.6)

SS4 Coca-Cola Street Stage 1 (Asphalt)
1. Ogier - 1:16.6
5. Raikkonen - 1:17.5 (+0.9)

SS5 Alfaro 2 (Gravel)
1. Solberg - 13:56.1
8. Raikkonen - 14:23.2 (+27.1)

SS6 Ortega 2 (Gravel)
1. Solberg - 13:41.2
8. Raikkonen - 14:13.2 (+32.0)

[iceman1]

Rally isn't for you Kimi, please come back

[phil1993]

Carnage on Saturday's opener
Sordo, Wilson and Block out

Like Friday, the rally's second day dawned clear and dry and from 0700hrs, as the sun rose over Leon, crews filed out of the Service Park to head to the first of three gravel tests in the hills north and east of Leon.

Saturday's opening stage, Ibarilla, was the longest of the rally at 29.90km and also proved to be the most dramatic of the event so far - bringing about the retirement of three top 10 drivers.

Citroen Total team driver Dani Sordo was the first to go. The Spaniard, in fourth place overnight, damaged his C4 WRC after hitting something in the road. He stopped at the 22.9km point.

Soon after, Stobart Ford driver Matthew Wilson went off the road at a left-hand corner two kilometres before the finish. Wilson's Focus came to rest beached in a ditch with three wheels off the ground.

Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block was the stage's third victim. The American stopped on a hairpin corner 23.67km from the start, his Ford Focus brought to a halt by broken suspension.

The stage was won by Citroen Total team driver Sebastien Loeb, who capitalised on his start position of third on the road to charge ahead of fellow C4 WRC driver Sebastien Ogier into second place overall. "I think that was a good time. I was pushing very hard. We have a very good rhythm, I'm just trying to stay in the lines and push hard," he said.

Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen was second quickest, but a distant 10.3 second's adrift of Loeb's time despite a road position which was theoretically better.

"Sebastien's certainly on the case," said the Finn. "My driving was okay but I still don't have a good enough feeling or the confidence to attack hard. It’s tricky. The Citroens are very fast and it's going to be difficult to keep up with them but we'll keep trying."

After Sordo's problems Hirvonen moved up a place to fifth overall, but trailed the rally lead by 1min 25.1sec.

Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was third quickest and increasingly frustrated at the pace of the Citroens. "I tried to come as quickly as I could but if you look at Sebastien's time it’s amazing," he said. "The Citroen's seem to be very strong. Okay, I know I wasn't driving perfectly, I made a few mistakes, and maybe that explains five seconds - but not 12."

Running first on the road, and carrying the burden of carving a clear line through the slippery loose gravel, rally leader Petter Solberg set the fifth fastest time and ended the stage with his lead margin reduced from 15sec to 10.7sec.

"I'm sure everybody behind is on a charge," said Petter. "The surface is very loose, as we knew it would be, but that's no problem. Actually, up to 21km it felt really good. Then I lost the balance of the car a little for the final 7km. We need to stiffen the chassis a bit to get a better feeling. Overall not bad though. The interesting thing will be to see what happens tonight."

Running behind Solberg through today's stages, Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier set the fourth fastest time. "It certainly feels different to yesterday," said the Frenchman. "It's slippery, but okay, we had a good stage. We took no risks, tried to drive clean but it’s not easy being second on the road"

Weather conditions were bright but overcast when competitors began the stage. The temperature was 14 degrees Celsius. By mid afternoon the temperature is expected to nudge 26 degrees and there is a possibility of rain.

[iceman1]

[amoljoshi]

Rally isn't for you Kimi, please come back

Oh c`mon!

Just see his speed in first few stages. He`s doing awesome job.

[phil1993]

He should have freaking well won those stages: he was running at a prime point where the gravel had been brushed aside...

[alex1369]

great shot ice... big thx, first year is always hard especially rally, f1 u run off and join back on track...., but rally... kimi showed it... 1 small error and 5-6 rolls will do it

here u will find wrc 2010 photos
http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/gall ... php?fID=23