Sardinia: Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team - Leg 1It was an historical start for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team today as both the team and its Finnish crew of Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila led a World Rally Championship event for the first time.
Latvala blitzed
the more experienced opposition on the opening test, claiming his first stage win on a gravel surface; he held the lead coming into the event's first service in Olbia after three stages.
However disaster struck on the second pass over the Terranova test. Just three kilometres into the stage their car collided with a large rock on the inside of a corner, breaking the front left track control arm on the suspension and forcing the rally leaders into instant retirement from leg 1 action.
It was a cruel blow for the up-and-coming Finnish star, showing pace that could have led to his first WRC podium. The team is currently correcting the damaged vehicle and re-preparing the car for tomorrow's action as the crew re-start under the SupeRally regulations.
Norwegian sensation Henning Solberg and co-driver Cato Menkerud have driven a superb opening leg of Rally d'Italia Sardegna to finish the day in fourth position, just 3.8 seconds behind BP-Ford's Mikko Hirvonen.
Team-mates Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr stayed in the hunt all day, despite early gear selection problems, climbing into the top ten with some impressive closing stage times; ending the day in ninth just one place short of a points scoring position.
The team's current third placing in the Manufacturers' Championship is further strengthened with Solberg's performance as he remains ahead of rival manufacturers; keeping the Stobart team on top of the more experienced outfits.
Today's stages ran through the Nuoro region, south of Rally Headquarters in Olbia, over a surface of sandy gravel on top of a hard rocky base. These included the longest of the event, the 31.13 kilometre Crastazza stage, which was run twice in today's competition over ground temperatures as high as 32 degrees.
Road position played a key role in the opening few tests as front runners had to contend with sweeping the loose, sandy covering, making traction and grip a big issue in the morning. In addition, rocks line the roadside ready to catch out the unwary or the over-brave.
After a slow start due to his Stobart Ford Focus RS WRC06 stalling twice on the opening test, Solberg turned up the Sardinian heat finishing the next five stages all with top five times. This effort included a third fastest time on stage 2 and the quickest on stage 3.
The open loop proved quite misfortunate for Wilson who battled minor gear-change problems, resulting in him being unable to use the normal flat shift method. With the fault diagnosed and rectified in service the 20-year-old came out firing in the afternoon; finishing the closing two tests and the day's leg in ninth.
Tomorrow sees 142.27 kilometres over six special stages run to the south east of Olbia. If the current weather conditions remain, crews will be meet with relatively high summer temperatures which can be physically demanding on drivers and theirr BF Goodrich g-Force gravel tyres.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team
