Leg 2 standings - Rallye de France-Tour de Corse.

[kam_baker]

Overall times after SS12 / Leg 2 - Top 20:

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 2hours 20mins 58.6secs M
2. Marcus Gronholm BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +00mins 27.5secs M
3. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +01mins 00.6secs M
4. Jari-Matti Latvala Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +02mins 23.9secs M
5. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007 +02mins 30.9secs M
6. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007 +02mins 49.3secs M
7. Xavier Pons Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2006 +04mins 08.2secs
8. Jan Kopecky Czech RT-Kopecky Skoda Fabia WRC +05mins 52.9secs
9. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +07mins 07.6secs M
10. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +08mins 02.7secs
11. Dani Sola Peugeot 207 S2000 +12mins 32.8secs N4
12. Brice Tirabassi Peugeot 207 S2000 +13mins 43.0secs N4
13. Marc Amourette Citroen C2 S1600 +15mins 41.6secs A6
14. Alessandro Bettega Stobart VK M-Sport Focus RS WRC +16mins 10.1secs
15. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 +16mins 19.0secs J
16. Francois Leandri Skoda Fabia WRC +16mins 37.8secs A8
17. Jozef Beres Renault Clio S1600 +16mins 53.9secs J
18. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen C2 S1600 +17mins 30.4secs J
19. Yoann Bonato Citroen C2 S1600 +18mins 07.7secs J
20. Per-Gunnar Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 +18mins 50.0secs J

Overall JRC after SS12 / Leg 2 - Top 10:

1. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 2hours 37mins 17.6secs J
2. Jozef Beres Renault Clio S1600 +00mins 34.9secs J
3. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen C2 S1600 +01mins 11.4secs J
4. Yoann Bonato Citroen C2 S1600 +01mins 48.7secs J
5. Per-Gunnar Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 +02mins 31.0secs J
6. Arnaud Augoyard Renault Clio R3 +04mins 40.4secs J
7. Michal Kosciuszko Renault Clio S1600 +05mins 10.9secs J
8. Andreas Cortinovis Renault Clio S1600 +05mins 35.3secs J
9. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 S1600 +06mins 29.2secs J
10. Stefano Benoni Citroen C2 +10mins 48.7secs J

Notable retirements:

SS3. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07 Stopped in stage. M#
SS4. Nicolas Bernardi Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC No power.#
SS5. Alessandro Bettega Stobart VK M-Sport Focus RS WRC Went off the road.#
SS6. Aigar Pars Suzuki Swift S1600 Went off the road. J
SS6. Gilles Schammel Citroen C2 R2 Mechanical. J
SS8. Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 Went off the road. J
SS10/11. Nicolas Bernardi Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC Engine.
SS12. Francois Duval OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC Mechanical. M
SS12. Andreas Mikkelsen Ramsport Ford Focus Excluded.

* denotes elected / able to re-start under SupeRally format.
M - denotes Manufacturer entry.
J - denotes Junior RC entry.
all times unofficial

Citroen team leader, Sebastien Loeb convincingly cemented his place at the top of leader-board on Saturday during the second leg of the Rallye de France-Tour de Corse.

Loeb began the day by topping the times in SS7 - 2.7 seconds up on Marcus Gronholm, who was 'best of the rest'. The Frenchman then set another top time in SS8, 3.8 seconds up on Gronholm, before taking his sixth stage win on the trot in SS9, to gain another 1.3 seconds on his chief championship rival.

Seb thus returned to the mid-day service area having increased his advantage from 4.8 seconds at the start of the day to 12.6 seconds going into the lunch time halt.

In the afternoon he continued to pull away and while his team-mate, Daniel Sordo won SS10, Loeb was only 0.3 seconds slower - and significantly 4.4 seconds up on Gronholm. The Citroen #1 driver then took another two stage wins in SS11 and SS12 and finished the day having taking five wins from six.

He will now take a comfortable 27.5 second advantage into the third and final day and is well set to take his third win in succession on his home event: “It's been a fantastic day and I've fought hard to stretch my advantage,” said Loeb. “This should hopefully mean that I need to take fewer risks tomorrow.”

Gronholm for his part had no answer to Seb's pace and despite pushing as hard as he could he had to settle for second best in all the tests, bar SS10. That allowed him to pull away from Sordo in third, but also meant he was unable to challenge for the lead.

“Catching Loeb is mission impossible,” said the Finn. "I've had a few gear selection problems in this last test too.”

Sordo meanwhile struggled for grip in SS8 and SS9 this morning and consequently was unable to close on Gronholm. Indeed the margin between them increased three-fold on the first loop going up from around 14 seconds last night to 35 seconds going into service D.

Although Dani felt more comfortable in the afternoon he was unable to cut the deficit that much and finished 30.7 seconds adrift of the runners-up spot: “I'm going to try and stay in touch with Gronholm on Sunday to keep the pressure on him,” Dani vowed.

Further down the order, Francois Duval set some strong times in his OMV Kronos-run Citroen Xsara WRC, posting the third best time in Carbuccia and then two fourth best efforts in SS8 and SS9. The Belgian lost time though in the final two stages, due to gearbox and brake issues and was forced to retire on the final road section due mechanical problems.

Duval's problems pushed Jari-Matti Latvala up to P4, 7 seconds up on Petter Solberg, his nearest challenger. The Stobart Ford man had a strong day and set three top five times, overhauling ‘Hollywood' for P5 in SS8 and then inching further away this afternoon.

Petter had problems with his tyres on the first loop and then continued to struggle with over-steer in SS10, SS11 and SS12 - just like on day 1. He remains in contention though for fourth and the battle between him and Latvala could be one of the highlights on the final day.

Further back, Chris Atkinson and Xavier Pons are sixth and seventh, while Skoda privateer, Jan Kopkecy rounds out the provisional points' scorers, followed by Stobart Ford duo, Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson.

Outside of the top ten, Dani Sola finished the day in eleventh with Brice Tirabassi 12th - both fighting over the Group N spoils in their Peugeot 207 S2000s.

In the FIAJunior Rally Championship category, Martin Prokop leads in his Citroen C2 S1600 having benefited from the problems that hit Suzuki duo, Urmo Aava and Per-Gunnar Andersson in SS8.
Aava, who was leading by more than 10 seconds, made a crucial error and crashed out in Calcatoggio 1. It has yet to be confirmed if he will be able to re-start or not. If he cannot P-G is guaranteed the Junior title as while they are equal top in the JRC standings - both having scored 38 points, P-G has the edge in terms of wins, three to Urmo's 1.

SS8 though wasn't kind to Andersson either and he lost over 2 minutes with a puncture, dropping from second to fourth. The Swede finished the day fifth overall.

Jozef Beres is on course for the JRC runners-up spot - 34.9 seconds off Aava, while Conrad Rautenbach completes the podium, a further 35 seconds or so adrift.

Yoann Bonato is next up - fourth in the class and he has had a brilliant day on his first outing in a Citroen C2 S1600, setting the JRC pace in every single test.

Of the ‘big' retirees on day 1 - namely Mikko Hirvonen, Nicolas Bernardi and Alessandro Bettega, all three re-started this morning under the SupeRally. The latter made the most progress and finished the day 14th overall, while Hirvonen is now just inside the top 30 in the #2 BP Ford Focus.

Bernardi did not complete the second leg however in the new Suzuki SX4 WRCcar - he retired en-route to SS11 due to engine problems. Prior to that he had set the 16th best time in SS7, the 14th best in SS8, the 12th best in SS9 and the 13th best in SS10.

The action now resumes on Sunday at 07.55 hours local time, when SS13 - the 24.24 kilometre-run through Penitencier-Coti-Pietra Rossa 1, kicks off the third and final leg. Two tests will be run on day 3, both repeated twice, totally around 112 competitive kilometres.

Sebastien Loeb [Citroen Total WRT]:

"It has been nearly a perfect day for me. There was no problem - the tyres were good for the afternoon. This morning I knew the gap wasn't enough, I knew I had to push more. Now I am happy for tomorrow. I know the stages a bit better tomorrow, so it should be good."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “We pushed very hard this morning, with no mistakes. I am happy at the moment. There was a lot of gravel in some of the stages, but we made it through without any mistakes. We had to take the risk this morning if we wanted to take time from Marcus. That's what we did.”

"Today's programme was always going to be difficult, with the often dirty Carbuccia stage followed by the narrow and bumpy Liamone test, and then Vico which we had to contest on tyres that had lost some of their shine on the first two stages. We've just passed the halfway point and our lead is now up to 12.6 seconds but I can't afford to drop my guard and I will continue to attack this afternoon."

Marcus Gronholm [BP Ford WRT]:

"I will happily take second place and eight points because that would be good for my championship challenge. I found a good stable speed and I will continue driving quickly, but not pushing like crazy because we must finish, so that I'm close enough to Loeb if he has a problem.

"I drove flat out this morning because I didn't want to settle for second. I kept the pressure on so that he couldn't afford to sleep behind the wheel. I didn't take Loeb's splits in the car during the stages. This was Timo's idea so that there were no distractions and I could just concentrate on driving at maximum pace. We both had to do that, so looking at his splits would have made no difference because I couldn't have driven any faster anyway."

Daniel Sordo [Citroen Total WRT]:

"The changes we made at service gave me my confidence back. The gap with Marcus is now up to 33.1s but we will do what we can to make that up tomorrow, although it won't be simple if everyone has an incident-free run."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “It was a very difficult morning for the tyres. The first stage was okay, not so bad, but then in the second one, where the road was wider and we were leaning more on the tyres, it was hard. The car was starting to oversteer some more and we didn't really have any grip. The tyre was quite finished by the end of SS8 and then we had to use again in the last one. In the last stage, we just had to drive slowly to the finish.”

Jari-Matti Latvala [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]:

“Today has been fantastic for me and to move up two places is a really good feeling. It's a shame for Duval to have stopped tonight but this is rallying and sometimes it gives you bad luck. Today I have been concentrating on driving fast and not making any mistakes and this has worked well. We have been faster than Petter [Solberg] on most stages and tomorrow I will be concentrating on keeping him behind me. I have been trying not to take any risks as I know this rally can easily catch you out. It should be good for me tomorrow, the roads are wider and clean, and this is the surface I prefer and am more confident on; hopefully I will be able to maintain my fourth position.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “The first stage this morning was not so good. I couldn't find much confidence in there, but then the next one was very, very good. There were more wider roads about halfway through, where I was able to push harder. We are having to push hard to try and compete with Petter. To beat him was nice this morning, but then he came back past in the next stage. I want to fight, but at the same time, I want the experience and I want to get to the finish – this is very important.”

Petter Solberg [Subaru WRT]:

“Today I was trying my best and doing all I could, but I wasn't happy with the balance of the car early on. We had a close battle with Latvala this morning but couldn't maintain our pace this afternoon. I made some changes which I felt made the car better, and we finished third fastest on the final stage which was a good step forwards. The car is better, and we will make some more changes before tomorrow to try and improve it again for the last four stages.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “I felt we had some grip troubles during that last stage of the morning, but we will make some changes during service and use slightly harder tyres as the surface temperature is increasing. For sure it is a shame that we slipped behind Jari Matti Latvala on stage eight, but we were able to close the gap during stage nine and so the battle is not over yet. We are only 1.3seconds behind.”

Chris Atkinson [Subaru WRT]:

“At the moment I definitely feel more confident on the stages that aren't totally flat and smooth. SS9 / SS12 suited us much better today and I was able to get that good feeling again and really push. What we really need to work on is getting the feeling like that on the smooth sections as well, as currently it's not quite there. It's going to be hard to catch anyone ahead, but we will try and see what we can do.”

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “The car was better today and we were able to finish third fastest on that last stage before service. We had a puncture part-way through after I hit something, but it caused us no problems. The surface on SS9 was a bit looser and the corners shorter, more like Germany for example, so we were able to pick up the pace a bit more. I felt much more comfortable on that surface, and that is why we were able to finish well.”

Xavier Pons [Subaru WRT]:

"This afternoon the stages were tricky as there was a lot of gravel and sand on the surface after the first pass. I am happy with the car today though; it has good balance and we haven't made changes to the setup all day. I concentrated on my driving style in the slow corners this morning and I feel I have improved a lot, and that is where our improved pace has come from. I think there is still more to come, but for now I am happy with our pace and position.”

Speaking in the mid-day service] “The first stage today was good for us and I was happy with our pace, but in SS8 I hit something with the front tyre. It didn't do any damage to the car but punctured the tyre and we had a big vibration for the rest of the stage. On the last stage this morning I wasn't pushing so hard because of the gap to ninth place overall behind me. For this afternoon we won't make any changes as I am comfortable with the setup but I will push harder again.”

Jan Kopecky [Czech RT Skoda Fabia WRC]:

"Our Skoda Fabia WRC car works flawlessly and it is only a pity that it is not available in newer homologation. If it was we would surely be able to battle with the top - even here in Corsica. The local special stages place an emphasis especially on engine torque. This parameter cannot unfortunately be significantly improved without the new homologation. Of course I am happy with eighth position though and we will wait to see now how the rally develops during Sunday's stages."

Henning Solberg [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]:

“It has been another learning day for me here and these difficult stages make it very hard to learn; but I am here, still inside the top-ten and still scoring two points. We adjusted the ride height of the car during service today and that really improved things. I do like these stages here and I'm happy to not have made any mistakes; the only way I will learn about this surface is to complete the stages. If I do a mistake then this won't happen. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, the roads are wider and it's a cleaner surface, I think this will be better for me.”

Matthew Wilson [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT]:

“Today has been quite good and this afternoon's stages have been a definite improvement on yesterday. Our tyre choice was perfect, a slight compromise as we went for a slightly softer compound to everyone else but it worked well and now we have a healthy selection for tomorrow. We are very close to [Andreas] Mikkelsen now and hopefully we may be able to get that position back tomorrow. The roads tomorrow and wider and smoother which are better and I enjoy them more; I have more confidence and find it easier to concentrate on driving cleaner and maintaining a better speed.”

Manfred Stohl [OMV Kronos Citroen WRT]:

"Suddenly [in SS11] we didn't have any petrol pressure. We tried everything but it was probably a connection problem. In the end we lost over 17 minutes on this special stage. It was surely not what I had expected but these things happen. I'm not angry. It is much more important to regain my confidence."

Mikko Hirvonen [BP Ford WRT]:

"I checked my notes and made some changes which will help for next year. I made the set-up stiffer this afternoon to try to find a better balance. It was a difficult day and I'm a bit frustrated. It's hard to be fully motivated in this situation but I would feel better if I could set some good times."

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "I tried really hard on the first two stages but the times just weren't there. It feels like there is something choking the car and I don't have maximum power. The team will take a look in service but I will take a stiffer set-up to try to find a better balance."

Notable retirements:

Mikko Hirvonen [BP Ford WRT]: [retired from leg 1 in SS3 - went off the road – re-started on day 2 under the Superally]

"My pace notes were too fast for a left corner and I entered the bend too quickly. The car slid wide towards a concrete block and I hit it just where the suspension is attached to the bodyshell. I was lucky that the car slid rather than went straight on because there was a big drop off the edge. I knew we weren't going to get round and the concrete blocks aren't that soft around here.

"There was a small fire because fluid dripped onto the exhaust. The wheel was ripped off and bounced onto the roof of a house which was just below the level of the road. It bounced back onto the mountainside before rebounding onto the wall of the house and missing the kitchen window by about half a metre. It damaged a few tiles on the roof but the owner wasn't angry - he was quite excited by it all!"

Nicolas Bernardi [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from leg 1 after SS4 - no power - re-started on day 2 under the Superally]

"We had no problems at all in the morning, which was extremely encouraging but to be honest we were not pushing really hard. It felt good to set times so close to the top 10 - but this was not at all the objective. On SS4 I noticed a warning light that said the car was overheating, and I called the team to ask for advice. Unfortunately the line was extremely bad and it was not easy to describe the warning light that we had seen. Rather than risk any further engine damage that could compromise our testing campaign, we decided to switch it off. The ironic thing is that this was completely unnecessary. We've learnt a lot of lessons today - but this was not one that we expected!"

[Speaking in the mid-day service] "It's nice to have the WRC dream on the road. The car hasn't given any trouble at all this morning. All I wanted to do was come through the stages. I was quite steady in the first one and then went a bit more in the second. The car is easy to drive and feels fantastic."

Nicolas Bernardi [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from leg 2 after SS10 – broken fuel injector]

"We're basically learning more with every kilometre. We've not had so much running on asphalt, so this is a valuable opportunity to develop the car further. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow's stages, which are more traditional Corsica Rally stages from the past."

Francois Duval [OMV Kronos Citroen WRT]: [retired from leg 2 after SS12 – mechanical]

[Speaking in the mid-day service] “I didn't really think it was possible to make the podium when we left service this morning. But now, after those three stages, I know it is impossible. We drove well and did a good time in the first stage, I was pushing hard in there, but then in the next one the tyre was too hot and we had to slow. It was the same for the last stage. There's nothing else I can do, I'm not going to risk more when we have the gap to [Dani] Sordo ahead.”

Team principals:

Guy Frequelin [Citroen Total WRT - team principal]:
"At the wheel of their Citroën C4 WRC, Sébastien and Daniel put in a perfect run today. They managed to come through all the potential pitfalls unscathed and make full use of the potential of their car and BFGoodrich tyres to consolidate their position. We still need to be cautious, though. With 112km of competitive action still to come, tomorrow will be a long day and, as they have shown in the past, tomorrow's stages are extremely selective. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí had contrasting fortunes today. Tomorrow they will need to try to push as hard as possible to keep the pressure on Marcus."

Malcolm Wilson [BP Ford WRT - team director]:

“Marcus kept the pressure on all day but we need to be realistic now and look at maintaining our position. About 3km from the end of the final stage Marcus lost the use of the hydraulic gearshift and a drop in engine power but fortunately he didn't lose any serious time. We traced this to a gearbox sensor problem and we replaced the sensor in the service park this evening."

Malcolm Wilson [Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT - team boss]:

“It has been another great day for the Stobart team. Jari-Matti has now moved into an amazing fourth place and it really has been a superb performance from him today, if he maintains a similar pace tomorrow then he can certainly hang onto fourth position which will be a fantastic result. Both Henning and Matthew's times have improved during today and all three cars have run faultlessly. The guys have all done a solid job and haven't made any mistakes or put a wheel wrong.”

Andrew Tinkler [Stobart Group CEO]:

“Jari-Matti's consistency has really impressed me today. Asphalt isn't his preferred surface but since Germany he has improved quite a bit and is now chasing for third and fourth fastest times. He seems to be able to handle the pressure better now and things are definitely looking good for the end of the year and a strong finish to our manufacturer battle. Matthew's split times on this event have also been very consistent and it's a good base for him to build upon in the future.”

Richard Taylor [Subaru WRT - managing director]:

"Petter and Chris have each achieved a top-three time today but overall we are still struggling to achieve the pace we expected following our recent test. All three cars however are still in points-scoring positions and Petter is close enough to try and fight for fourth place on the final day.”

Nobuhiro Tajima [Suzuki WRT - team principal]:

"It's been another very educational day, which was quite different to the opening day. We gained plenty of experience, and we will continue to do so tomorrow. The problem with the fuel injector was unusual, but it is not serious and easily fixed: this is all part of the learning process. Nicolas did another excellent job for us today, and I believe that the team as a whole is working very well together."

[JS]

Most excellent thanks for that!

JS