CITROEN JUNIORS STOP THE ACROPOLIS BECOMING A GREEK TRAGEDY FOR CITROEN
The Citroen Junior Rally Team scored its first World Rally Championship podium at the weekend (12-14 June 2009) in Greece’s round of the world series, the Acropolis Rally and, in doing so, stopped the event becoming a Greek tragedy for Citroen after World Champion Sébastien Loeb crashed out of the event on day two, followed, by his team mate, Dani Sordo, two stages later.
Sordo restarted the event and went on to score four manufacturers’ points for Citroen, but Loeb’s crash and the subsequent win by Hirvonen throws the chase for both World Rally titles open again. For Loeb it was a rare error that destroyed his Citroen C4 WRC.
"We were on a very fast part of the stage, on a plateau," explained Sébastien. "There was a right-handcorner that I perhaps took a little too quickly. I was off-line for the left-hander that followed and I hit abig rock at the apex. The front wheel was ripped off and it sent us into a series of barrel rolls. The car was too badly damaged for the team to repair it in time for the final day. In any case, the C4 WRC showedhow tough a car it is because we don’t have a single scratch on us after a pretty dramatic crash. Clearly,it’s not a good result in terms of the championships because it will cost us a large portion of our pointsadvantage. But whatever happens, we’ll still be in the Championship lead tomorrow evening, and that’s the mainthing.”
Starting just three seconds behind Mikko Hirvonen, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti took a cautiousapproach at the start of the second day. Basing their pace on that of the leaders, the Sordo was nevertheless caught out on Kefalari (SS9).
"We broke a suspension arm on a rock. It happened fourkilometres in, in a very slow right-hand corner. The rock was hidden in the grass and I hadn’t seen itduring the recce," explained Dani. "I’m really disappointed because everything was in place to take ourfirst win in the World Championship.”
After restarting under the SupeRally ruling for the third and final day of the 2009 Acropolis Rallyof Greece, Dani Sordo and Marc Marti made caution there guiding force and scored four points for Citroën inthe Manufacturers’ world championship by finishing 12th overall.
“It’s nevereasy to run at a controlled pace but I’m taking no risks,” explained Sordo. I’m staying in the middle of the road – at times,it feels like we’re doing a recce!”
“Dani and Marc did a perfect job,” concluded Citroën Total World Rally Team manager Sven Smeets.“These points are even more important because our rivals once again took a maximum score. We’re already looking ahead to the next rally. We’ll be going to Rally Poland even hungrier for a win!”
Thus it was left to another Sébastien to put Citroen on the podium in Greece, France's reigning Junior WRC champion Sébastien Ogier, who drove a skilled and mature event to finish in second place, giving the Citroen Junior Team its first podium result. Fifthplace fell to their Zimbabwean teammate Conrad Rautenbach and British co-driver Daniel Barritt, whileRussian teenager Evgeny Novikov and his New Zealander co-driver Dale Muscatt claimed points forCitroën at the end of one of the performances of the year.
“Apart from a littledisagreement with a stray cow on one of the stages this morning the event went very well,” Ogier said. “This result is excellent! It was just a perfect weekend for us, and thissecond place comes at a good time. Our strategy was the key to this result, we learned a lot fromcompleting it with very few problems and it's a great reward for the team who have put in so much effortsince the start of the season. With Julien, we are happy to see the C4 WRC on the podium and both wantto thank Citroën for the confidence shown in us.”
Rally Results
Stage wins
Day 1 – SS1 : Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS2 : Dani Sordo (Citroën C4) – SS3 : annulée – SS4 : EvgenyNovikov (Citroën C4) – SS5 : Sébastien Ogier (Citroën C4) – SS6 : Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus).
Day 2 – SS7 : Latvala – SS8 : Novikov – SS9 : Hirvonen – SS10 : Latvala – SS11 and 12 : Novikov.
Day 3 – SS13 : Mads Ostberg (Subaru Impreza) – SS14 : Henning Solberg (Ford Focus) – SS15 : MatthewWilson (Ford Focus) – SS16 : cancelled – SS17 : Latvala.
Best performers : Novikov and Latvala, 4 fastest times – Hirvonen, 2 – Sordo, Ogier, Ostberg, H. Solberg andWilson : 1.
Leaders : SS1 to 5 : Latvala – SS6 to 17 : Hirvonen.
Provisional final leaderboard
1. Hirvonen/Lehtinen Ford Focus 4h09’42’’5
2. Ogier/Ingrassia Citroën C4 +1’12’’9
3. Latvala/Antilla Ford Focus +1’45’’0
4. Villagra/Diaz Ford Focus + 3’48’’3
5. Rautenbach/Barritt Citroën C4 +3’59’’8
6. Al Qassimi/Orr Ford Focus +7’04’’3
7. Ostberg/Andersson Subaru Impreza +12’24’’9
8. Athanassoulas/Zakheos Skoda Fabia +12’47’’6
9. Al Attiyah/Bernacchini Subaru Impreza +13’09’’9
10. Araujo/Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer +15’04’’5
11. Arai/Mac Neall Subaru Impreza +16’02’’5
12. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +18’41’’0
(ends)
For further information:
Citroën Australia Media Web Site:
Miles Williams
/ Tel: (02) 9701 8020General Manager / Fax: (02) 9701 3555
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0419 800 520
E-Mail:
Edward Rowe
/ Tel: (02) 9701 8015Public Relations Manager / Fax: (02) 9701 3555
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0407 913 244
E-Mail:
Citroen Australia
Street Address: Heritage Building, Campus Business Park, 350 Parramatta Road, Homebush NSW 2140 Australia. Postal Address: Ateco Automotive Pty Ltd,Locked Bag 260, Silverwater, NSW 1811, Australia
Telephone: 02 9701 8000; Direct Telephone 02 9701 8015 Fax: 02 9701 3555. Mobile +61 0407 913 244
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EJR/ejr/917
6/15/2009