The OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team has finished the first day of the “Rallye de France – Tour de Corse” in fourth and twelfth place. Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato (Bel/Fra) impressively proved their forte on tarmac and lie only behind Marcus Grönholm (Fin/Ford Focus WRC) and the Citroen works drivers (Loeb und Sordo). Following a rather cautious beginning, Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor gained speed with each special stage. Thus they could move up to the top-10 already on Saturday.
Strong performance right from the start
Francois Duval took up the 13th run to the FIA World Rally Championship in the same manner in which he had finished the twelfth less than one week ago. The Belgian OMV driver immediately ascertained his place behind the works drivers of Ford and Citroen. Following the retirement of Mikko Hirvonen (Fin/Ford Focus WRC) he moved up to fourth place. Currently the runner-up of the Rally Germany only misses 39,9 seconds on the podium – third-placed after day one is Daniel Sordo (Spa/Citroen). Duval: “Unfortunately it is impossible to attack the first three. But we can still be satisfied with our performance. ”
Things didn’t go according to plan for Manfred Stohl but the 35-year-old OMV driver showed figthing spirit and made the best of his situation. Following a rather disappointing beginning his speed increased (except for SS 5) and he currently is about to move up into the top-10 on which only 7,9 seconds are missing. Stohl: “I’m simply thinking too much. Of course, there is always that security-issue in the back of my mind. Since the Kronos-Team has shown immense commitment to make this start possible I don’t want to do too much damage since they’d get into problems concerning the rally in Japan otherwise. ”
Loeb – Grönholm: fight for tenths of seconds
Just like in New Zealand at the end of August Marcus Grönholm and Sebastien Loeb are once again fighting on the razor’s edge in Corsica. The two opponents for the WRC-crown 2007 are only 4,8 seconds apart after the first day. Tarmac specialist Dani Sordo (Spa/Citroen) lies in third place, also only 18,5 seconds behind.
Intermediate standings after six of 16 special stages
01. Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (F) Citroen C4 WRC 59:29,7 min.
02. Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen (Fin) Ford Focus WRC +4,8 sec.
03. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Spa) Citroen C4 WRC +18,5 sec.
04. Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato (Bel) Citroen Xsara WRC + 57,8 sec.
05. Peter Solberg/Phil Mills (Nor) Subaru Impreza WRC +1:03,1 sec.
06. Jari-Matti Latvala/Mikka Anttila (Fin) Ford Focus WRC +1:06,4 min.
07. Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot (Aus) Subaru Impreza WRC +1:20,6 min.
08. Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo (Spa) Subaru Impreza WRC +1:58,0 min.
…/…
12. Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor (A) Citroen Xsara WRC +3:43,6 min.
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