Tour de Corse - Leg 1 - ReviewThe expected confrontation between
Sebastien Loeb and Marcus Grönhom took place today on the roads of France's 51st Corsican Rally.
For the time being, the advantage is in the hands of Loeb after he returned to Ajaccio this evening with
a 4.8-second lead on championship rival Grönholm.
The duel of Loeb and Grönholm
The 'real' start of the rally was delayed until the beginning of the second route; the first stage was cancelled for safety considerations when several spectators did not respect the rules. The drivers simply drove through at low speeds.
The launch of the second stage would be the beginning of the race. Marcus Grönholm would start strong by setting his works Ford Focus ahead of both official Citroëns, a performance that would be repeated again at the outcome of the following stage. That double show would leave Grönholm at the top of the leaderboard.
The Ford team would however lose its second contender during the forenoon when Mikko Hirvonen ripped off a wheel after arriving too quickly into a curve, forcing him into retirement until tomorrow.
The morning scenario would afterwards be reversed when Loeb won the three stages of the afternoon loop. Grönholm would try to get back into the lead with all his energy, but his adversary was in good form and unbeatable.
With ten stages to go for this rally and only 4.
8 seconds between them at present, we may confidently expect another great battle between the championship duelists during Saturday's second leg.
Ciroën's Dani Sordo tried to join the fight, but he was not able to match the pace set by the two leading men. The Spaniard has not said his last word however: at 13.7 seconds behind Grönholm, he may still have a chance to reach ahead of the Ford driver.
Solberg's and Latvala's prey is named Duval
If during Rally Catalunya François Duval was unable to battle with the works Citroëns and Fords, the Belgian expected to hold his own on the Corsican stages. But with a Xsara fitted with slightly uncomfortable settings at first, Duval would lose time in the morning.
His OMV Kronos Citroën car is presently in fourth overall position this evening, 57.8 seconds away from the leader. If he cannot fight with the drivers up front, he will have to watch closely and ward off those behind him.
Petter Solberg's Subaru is only 5.3 seconds down the line from the Belgian, even though things were not easy for him today. A heavy understeer problem during the first loop would only be slighty fixed for the afternoon runs following the service break.
Solberg himself is in the sights of Jari-Matti Latvala, whose Stobart Ford hovers 3.3 seconds astray in sixth position. For a driver who is not quite a tarmac specialist, Latvala did well today by reaching fourth place on two different routes. If he can deal with Solberg, Duval will be next in line on his to-do list.
Seventh-placed Chris Atkinson also had a bad day at the wheel of a works Subaru Impreza. Along with understeer issues, there were brake problems: not a combination that helps build confidence in a machine nor does it allow a driver to attack. Teammate Xevi Pons would suffer through much of the same, taking eighth position 37.4 seconds behind Atkinson.
Kopecky close to the points zone
Driving a Skoda far from capable of competing with the top WRC teams, Jan Kopecky counted strongly on a regular pace to make a good showing. By his own account he was too cautious at first, but the Czech would nonetheless bring his Fabia within the top ten by taking ninth place overall.
Henning Solberg played it safe without really looking at the other participants' times. The Norwegian Stobart driver set his own pace while he continued to learn the art of the tarmac, settling into tenth place.
Aava leads the Juniors
The Junior Rally Championship members are disputing their last event of the season. Urmo Aava and Per-Gunnar Andersson, teammates of the Suzuki team, each hold the same amount of points as the competiton goes down to the wire this week-end.
At the end of the first leg, Aava's Swift is 8.8 seconds ahead of Martin Prokop's Citroën, while Andersson is 16.9 seconds in tow. Nothing has been decided yet!
The action resumes tomorrow morning at 8:58 local time (GMT +2) with the first of six stages scheduled for Saturday.
