WRC
Rally Mexico: Citroen WRT leg 1 summary
Loeb and Sordo waiting to pounce! On the first day of Rally Mexico, four CitroenC4 WRCs fill the first four places in the provisional classification. Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier made the most of their advantageous starting positions in the ...
Published: Mar 6, 2010, 6:44 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Loeb and Sordo waiting to pounce!
On the first day of Rally Mexico, four CitroenC4 WRCs fill the first four places in the provisional classification. Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier made the most of their advantageous starting positions in the stages, while behind, Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo are waiting to pounce. The Citroen Total World Rally Team drivers will be ideally placed to close the gap to the leaders on the second day of the rally.
As expected the passage order was the determining factor in the unfolding of the first day of the Rally Mexico this Friday in the outskirts of Leon. The stages were covered with a thick layer of dust and were very slippery for the first drivers who swept the line for their pursuers.
Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo, second and fourth in the world championship after Rally Sweden, filled these positions today. Despite the treacherous conditions they pushed hard so as not to be left behind by drivers who had a cleaner route.
At the end of the first loop of four stages, Sebastien Loeb was in third place, 26.1s behind Petter Solberg: "I'm pretty happy with the morning. I drove well and I think I've managed a good damage- limitations exercise given the road conditions. We expected that drivers starting far back would be able to take advantage of the situation to open up a good lead. Peter seems very much at ease behind the wheel of his C4 and he's driving well, but there are still 300 kilometres of specials to go! I think today will see a more level playing field for everybody."
Dani Sordo who was lying fourth three seconds behind his team-mate was also very upbeat about his start to the rally: "The car's sliding around a lot and it's not always easy to stay on the right line, but it's going well! We've made a few modifications to the C4 to adapt it to this afternoon's conditions. With cleaner roads we should have more grip."
In the second loop the leaders were unable to continue opening up a big gap. Loeb and Daniel Elena stayed in third place under thirty seconds behind the rally leader: " Like our rivals we decided not to lift off to have a better starting position on the road for tomorrow. I like fair play and I think we're going to see a great battle between five or six drivers tomorrow. With 160 timed kilometres compared to only sixty on Sunday, the day will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the battle for victory. My third place isn't ideal but it's not too bad either. I'll have to push from the first to the last metre!"
Dani Sordo and Marc Marti who kept up the same pace were still lying fourth when they arrived back at the service park in Leon: "I didn't make any mistakes and the car went well all day. Although I'm forty seconds behind Petter a good result is still a possibility. We've just got to have a super day tomorrow."
-source: citroen
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Rally Mexico SS9 results
Next article Rally Mexico SS11 results
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Sébastien Ogier
Sebastien Ogier tipped for partial WRC 2027 programme
WRC
WRC
Sebastien Ogier tipped for partial WRC 2027 programme
Sebastien Ogier’s 2027 WRC future is undecided, but he won’t be at Monte Carlo
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
Sebastien Ogier’s 2027 WRC future is undecided, but he won’t be at Monte Carlo
More from
Citroën World Rally Team
Citroen reveals new-look 2025 WRC line-up
WRC
WRC
Rally Monte Carlo
Citroen reveals new-look 2025 WRC line-up
Ostberg gets full WRC2 season with Citroen
WRC
WRC
Ostberg gets full WRC2 season with Citroen
Citroen open to making WRC car available to privateers
WRC
WRC
Citroen open to making WRC car available to privateers
Latest news
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
38 min
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Who slept best last night: Toto Wolff
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Who slept best last night: Toto Wolff
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe