Rally Sardinia: OMV Kronos leg one summary

OMV Kronos Citroen WRT within scoring ranks after day one
Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor in eighth place after six special stages

The OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team moved up two places on the second turn of the first day. Thus Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor are currently in eighth overall place and would score one WRC-point. But the "Rally d'Italia Sardegna" still lasts for two days. Enough time for OMV driver Stohl to move up even further.

New dampers show good potential

Manfred Stohl not only lies on course for points following the first day of the Rally Sardinia, the seventh run to the FIA World Rally Championship, but also feels more confident once again. Even though this doesn't yet show up in the times the 34-year-old OMV driver is sure that things will get better again. Stohl: "I don't want to sound too euphoric but the new dampers show potential. And the set-up is okay, too. Now we have to get acquainted with the Xsara. At the beginning of a special stage everything goes great but the good feeling vanishes as the stage goes on. We will work on this." The Austrian promises full attack for Saturday. "It is high time that we come back with absolute top times. That is the reason I drive rallies."

Loeb sets pecking order straight

In the morning of day one Sebastien Loeb (Fra/Citroen Xsara WRC) played hoover for the following cars. Result: fifth place after three special stages. But last year's winner struck back during the second turn and took the lead which he expanded by the end of day one to 22,4 seconds over Marcus Gronholm (Ford Focus WRC). Thereby he profited by the Finn's bad luck who damaged his left front shock absorber on the last special stage. Mikko Hirvonen (Fin/Ford Focus WRC) lies in third place, 29,1 seconds behind. Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin/Ford Focus WRC), leader after three special stages, had to retire after a slip on SS 5 (tyre ripped off).

-credit: omv kronos