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End day two: Hirvonen leads after a perfect Saturday
BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Mikko Hirvonen holds a commanding lead of the Acropolis Rally tonight thanks to a trouble-free run though all of Saturday’s stages and a disastrous morning for his rivals at the Citroen team.
Today has brought a remarkable turn around in fortune for Hirvonen who, after a mistake from his team-mate on Friday, seemed unlikely to have a good Saturday.
Hirvonen began the day in the unenviable start position of first of the road, destined to sweep a cleaner line in the gravel for the benefit of the cars behind. With only a three second head start, Hirvonen had been expected to lose out to the chasing Citroens behind. But by the midday service Citroen’s attack was over. Loeb crashed out on SS7, while Sordo hit a rock on SS9.
From then on Hirvonen’s biggest threat was Citroen privateer Petter Solberg, who lay only 21seconds behind after SS10. But when Solberg’s Citroen collected suspension damage on SS11, Hirvonen found himself with a much more comfortable gap to the new man in second - Sebastien Ogier of the Citroen Junior team. Now, with only 95 competitive kilometres left to run on Sunday, Hirvonen is 1min 40 sec ahead of the Frenchman.
For Hirvonen the day couldn’t have gone any better. A guaranteed no-score for his title rival Loeb means he has every chance of closing the gap between them in the drivers’ standings to seven points.
“It’s been a bit unexpected but a very good day,” smiled Hirvonen. “Lots of things happened - luckily not to us. We had a good drive, no problems. Now I have enough of a lead so I can take it very steady tomorrow. If I lose 10 or 15 seconds on a stage it doesn’t matter. For sure there will still be rocks around but now I can afford to drive around them.”
After a gloomy outlook on Friday night, Ford is heading for a good manufacturers’ championship result too. Jari-Matti Latvala’s recovery from overnight 11th to third place tonight have put the team on course for a potential maximum 18 points on Sunday.
“It’s been an amazing day,” acknowledged Latvala. “Last night I wouldn’t have believed we could do this, but we have been driving with a big respect for the stages today. We’ve done our best. It looks like the Acropolis is the rally which always brings surprises.”
Citroen Junior team driver Ogier holds second place and is on target for a career best WRC finish on Sunday. Sebastien was annoyed to have lost time when he caught Solberg’s damaged Xsara on SS11, but was in better spirits when he arrived back at Loutraki. “It’s been a better day than I expected,” he said. “We preserved the car and our tyres, and that was a good strategy. Tomorrow I will try and conserve my position. But I will not take maximum risks. Even if we finish third it will be very good for us.”
Fourth overall, and also heading for career best result, is 18-year-old Evgeny Novikov. The Russian was fastest on three of Saturday’s stages and moved up from 12th place on Friday night. “I tried to push to the maximum this afternoon - full gas,” he said. “We were fast today and now we have a good position. It’s been very difficult today because on the repeated sections it was very rough and there were lots of chances for punctures. But it was a big pleasure for me to drive in this way!"
The third Citroen Junior Team driver, Contrad Rautenbach, rounds off the top five places, 12.1 seconds behind Novikov.
BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Mikko Hirvonen holds a commanding lead of the Acropolis Rally tonight thanks to a trouble-free run though all of Saturday’s stages and a disastrous morning for his rivals at the Citroen team.
Today has brought a remarkable turn around in fortune for Hirvonen who, after a mistake from his team-mate on Friday, seemed unlikely to have a good Saturday.
Hirvonen began the day in the unenviable start position of first of the road, destined to sweep a cleaner line in the gravel for the benefit of the cars behind. With only a three second head start, Hirvonen had been expected to lose out to the chasing Citroens behind. But by the midday service Citroen’s attack was over. Loeb crashed out on SS7, while Sordo hit a rock on SS9.
From then on Hirvonen’s biggest threat was Citroen privateer Petter Solberg, who lay only 21seconds behind after SS10. But when Solberg’s Citroen collected suspension damage on SS11, Hirvonen found himself with a much more comfortable gap to the new man in second - Sebastien Ogier of the Citroen Junior team. Now, with only 95 competitive kilometres left to run on Sunday, Hirvonen is 1min 40 sec ahead of the Frenchman.
For Hirvonen the day couldn’t have gone any better. A guaranteed no-score for his title rival Loeb means he has every chance of closing the gap between them in the drivers’ standings to seven points.
“It’s been a bit unexpected but a very good day,” smiled Hirvonen. “Lots of things happened - luckily not to us. We had a good drive, no problems. Now I have enough of a lead so I can take it very steady tomorrow. If I lose 10 or 15 seconds on a stage it doesn’t matter. For sure there will still be rocks around but now I can afford to drive around them.”
After a gloomy outlook on Friday night, Ford is heading for a good manufacturers’ championship result too. Jari-Matti Latvala’s recovery from overnight 11th to third place tonight have put the team on course for a potential maximum 18 points on Sunday.
“It’s been an amazing day,” acknowledged Latvala. “Last night I wouldn’t have believed we could do this, but we have been driving with a big respect for the stages today. We’ve done our best. It looks like the Acropolis is the rally which always brings surprises.”
Citroen Junior team driver Ogier holds second place and is on target for a career best WRC finish on Sunday. Sebastien was annoyed to have lost time when he caught Solberg’s damaged Xsara on SS11, but was in better spirits when he arrived back at Loutraki. “It’s been a better day than I expected,” he said. “We preserved the car and our tyres, and that was a good strategy. Tomorrow I will try and conserve my position. But I will not take maximum risks. Even if we finish third it will be very good for us.”
Fourth overall, and also heading for career best result, is 18-year-old Evgeny Novikov. The Russian was fastest on three of Saturday’s stages and moved up from 12th place on Friday night. “I tried to push to the maximum this afternoon - full gas,” he said. “We were fast today and now we have a good position. It’s been very difficult today because on the repeated sections it was very rough and there were lots of chances for punctures. But it was a big pleasure for me to drive in this way!"
The third Citroen Junior Team driver, Contrad Rautenbach, rounds off the top five places, 12.1 seconds behind Novikov.
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