RALLY ITALIA SARDINIA – AFTER STAGE 8, TANDALÓ
Sixty-three of the original 66 starters departed Olbia this morning for the second leg of this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Thirteen of the 63 cars are competing under the SupeRally rules after retiring yesterday. Ahead of them this morning lay the two longest speed tests of the rally before returning to Olbia for service. A short stage broadcast live on television will be followed by a second pass over the two long stages, a total of 144.01km.
Glorious sunshine greeted the opening 30.73km Loelle stage. BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen made a good start in their Castrol-branded Focus RS World Rally Car. The Finns were fourth fastest and climbed to fourth overall. They were on course to consolidate that position during the 38.77km Tandaló, the longest test of the rally, until they overshot a junction near the finish. They dropped about 10 seconds and now lie fifth.
"The first stage went well," said Gardemeister. "It was so good I attacked even more in the next test, but I pushed too hard. I overshot a junction and had to reverse back onto the road. Because I was pushing too much, the car was sliding and I picked up a puncture. Towards the end of the last stage the road was so sandy that it was like driving on a beach. Conditions should be better when we repeat the stages this afternoon because the roads will be cleaner."
Team-mates Roman Kresta and Jan Možný also started well in their similar Focus RS. The Czechs, 11th overnight, climbed onto the leaderboard in Loelle and were 10th as they returned to service. "I've driven carefully because the roads are very slippery," said 28-year-old Kresta. "I'm fifth in the start order today and there was much more loose gravel on the roads than I experienced yesterday. I opted for Michelin's hard compound tyres with full cuts to combat the gravel. It was a safe choice, and it paid off because there was so much soft gravel that the grip wasn't good. We did a lot of sliding and it felt like driving on ice. It's easy to make a mistake in those conditions."
Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, lying third overnight in a privately-entered Ford Focus RS, retired in Loelle after hitting a rock and breaking the suspension. However, both Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud and Mark Higgins and Trevor Agnew climbed onto the leaderboard this morning, ensuring that four Focus RS cars are now in the top 10. Solberg enjoyed a superb morning. Lying 16th overnight, the Norwegian was seventh and ninth in the two stages to move up to seventh overall, despite breaking the front right damper on the second stage. Higgins moved up four places to eighth in his Eddie Stobart Motorsport Focus RS, despite overshooting the first junction on the opening stage and struggling to find reverse gear.
Leaderboard after stage 8 of 17
1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen Xsara 2hr 22min 49.7sec
2. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 2hr 23min 25.9sec
3. H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen FIN Mitsubishi Lancer 2hr 25min 01.6sec
4. M Märtin/M Park EE Peugeot 307 2hr 25min 12.1sec
5. T Gardemeister/J Honkanen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 25min 24.6sec
6. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Peugeot 307 2hr 25min 26.8sec
7. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS 2hr 27min 30.9sec
8. M Higgins/T Agnew GB Ford Focus RS 2hr 27min 53.2sec
9. A Schwarz/K Wicha D Skoda Fabia 2hr 28min 03.0sec
10 R Kresta/J Možný CZ Ford Focus RS 2hr 28min 21.2sec
____________________
Rick (Rokie)
rtdring@yahoo.com
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