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SEBASTIEN LOEB, CITROEN XSARA WRC IS IN
THE LEAD
The French driver took advantage of
Marcus Gronholm, Ford Focus Wrc,
retirement and took the lead of the
rally. Gigi Galli, Peugeot 307 Wrc,
retired because of mechanical problems
in the last stage of the day while
fighting for the podium
An unfinished series of Coup de theatre
at Rally d’Italia sardegna, race
organized by the Automobile Club Italy,
seventh round of the 2006 FIA World
Rally Championship. The duel started
yesterday between Marcus Gronholm, Ford,
and Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, finished
today on the second special stage of the
second leg with the retirement of the
Ford’s Finnish driver. While braking the
Focus of the Fins hit a rock with the
front of the car and broke the sump and
lost all the oil. A bad luck that gave
Loeb the possibility to take the lead,
with quite a big advantage over the
other drivers. During tomorrow’s
difficult final leg he can calmly manage
his advantage. At the end of Leg 2 Loeb
is in the lead with over two minutes
over Mikko hirvonen, Ford Focus Wrc, the
latter one drove quite fast today too.
Thee 26 years old Finnish driver has to
watch his back from the Spanish driver
Daniel Sordo on a Citroen Xsara Wrc,
that passed in the last special stage of
the day Gigi Galli at the wheel of a
Peugeot 307 Wrc, even though only by
1”3.
The two drivers were fighting all day
and got very close to Hirvonen. The coup
de theatre for the Italian driver Gigi
Galli, arrived few meters after the
finish of the last stage of the day. His
307 had a problem with the radiator that
impede him to reach the last TC, that’s
to say the finish line of today’s leg.
If during the night the car would be
fixed the Italian driver will be able to
restart tomorrow thanks to the Super
Rally rule, but he will give up the
fight for the upper places of the
classification, because he will start
with a 5 minutes penalty.
The fight for the second and third place
will be the main issue of tomorrow’s leg,
while for the lead everything seems
almost done. The third and final leg
will start tomorrow at 7.00 am from the
Service Park in Olbia and the first
stage is going to be a classic of this
rally, San Giacomo. The leg will then go
on in the Gallura region on the gravel
roads of La Prugnola and Campovaglio.
The day will finish with the Arrival
Ceremony in Porto Cervo at 2.15 pm. The
leg is composed of three stages for a
total of 78 km.
Behind the leaders a big gap. Xavier
Pons third driver of the Citroen Kronos
team is 4’30” behind them. The Spanish
is in front of Atkinson on Subaru and
Jussi Valimaki with Mitsubishi Lancer.
Another Subaru of the Finnish driver
Solberg is 8th overall, the last place
giving points for the World Rally
Championship. Among the drivers racing
for the fifth round of the JWRC the
leader is Guy Wilks on a Suzuki Swift
Super 1600, followedf by Patrick sandell
on Renault Clio Super 1600, like
yesterday. Third is now Conrad
Rautenbach with another Renault Clio.
Goes on the good race of Alessandro
Bettega among the cars of the Ford
Fiesta Trophy, while among the cars of
the Subaru Cup Alan Scorcioni is leading
afterb a long fight with Anton Alen,.
The Finnish has been obliged to retire
because he went off the road and hit a
tree in the last stage.
Classification after Leg 2 –1. Loeb –
Elena (Citroen Xsara Wrc) 3h02’26”0; 2.
Hirvonen – Lehtinen (Ford Focus Wrc)
diff 2’17”; 3. Sordo – Marti (Citreon
Xsara WRrc) diff 2’56”0; 4. Pons – Del
Barrio ( Citroen Xsara Wrc) diff 4’27”1;
5. Atkinson – MacNeall (Subaru Impreza
Wrc) diff 5’56”7; 6. Valimaki-
Kalliolepo (Mitsubishi Lancer Wrc) diff
6’01”6; 7. Soholberg - Tuominen ( Subaru
Impreza Wrc) diff 6’29”1; 8. Solberg –Mills
(Subaru Wrc)
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