Rally Sardinia: JWRC: Citroen final notes

C2 Super 1600 also wins on gravel!

Young Spaniard Dani Sordo gave himself a great birthday present! The day before turning 22 years old; he won his first world rally and equalled the record of his team mate Kris Meeke, victorious in the first 2005 JWRC round in Monaco.

Despite the fact, Kris Meeke went off the road on stage 11, he finished third on the Sardinian round. With these good team results, Kris and Dani take the two first positions in the Championship respectively.

On its first outing on the 'world gravel', C2 Super 1600 splendidly confirmed the hopes which were born after Dani Sordo and Marc Marti's victory at the recent 'Rali de Portugal'. The small Citroën was the best performer of the competition with nine stage wins out of a possible sixteen. Despite its youth on gravel, it also proves very reliable.

After he was the fastest on six stages, Dani Sordo only suffered from a single puncture and from a loose jubilee clip on the water pipe (before stage 10), which the crew fixed by themselves. The current leader of the Spanish Championship, and Carlos Sainz' protégé impressed with his top speed but also with the way he handled the end of the event: "Of course I'm really happy with this birthday present. The Citroën team worked very hard, and the team Kronos Racing was perfect. The car was easy, comfortable to drive, and reliable. In a word : fantastic ! Thank you everyone"

The very experienced Marc Marti is also part of that success. The Catalan co-driver had been sitting at the right of Carlos Sainz for the past two seasons: "I'm delighted. I took part in the first win of the Xsara WRC on gravel and it's now the same story with C2 Super 1600..."

"I'm a bit frustrated" explained Kris Meeke who also suffered from a puncture on stage 2. After he took the lead Saturday he got caught in the hanging dust coming from the car he was catching up. "But I haven't got the right to be disappointed. If someone would have told me we would obtain these results, I would have signed for it straight away! I'm also very pleased for Dani's victory so with my mistake the team isn't penalised in spite of all the work they did in the last months..."

The crew's satisfaction was also shared by Alexis Avril, the technical manager of Citroën Sport's customer programme. "Beyond Kris' misfortune, we only remember positive things. C2 Super 1600 showed very interesting potential and no actual problems. On the team's side, everything worked as planned. Our two drivers are leading the Championship with one event less than their closest rivals. It's really promising and we will work hard to improve the car even better before Greece."

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