STOBART PICK UP PLACES IN PORTUGAL
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally team is well-placed to gain valuable manufacturer points as drivers Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg enjoyed a successful start to day two of the Rally de Portugal, making up five places between them in the morning session. With many crews struggling in the difficult conditions caused by the constantly varying pace demanded on today’s stages, Wilson and Solberg can both be happy with their morning’s work.Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin are up to fifth place overall as they produced a strong run on the opening stage of the SS8 Santa Clara 1. Wilson lost around ten seconds on SS10 Vascao 1 as the car stalled at a slow hairpin, but has a solid position going into the afternoon session which will see the crews take a second pass at the morning stages.
Solberg and Cato Menkerud have climbed three places from their overnight position of ninth and have shown good pace in all three morning stages despite struggling to find a good rhythm. The Norwegian equaled the time of his brother Petter on the opening stage of the day and on the longest stage of the rally, the 27.18km SS9 Almodovar 1 he was fifth fastest.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Matthew Wilson said:
“It is great to have moved up another couple of places this morning. It’s very tricky out there. The middle stage this morning didn’t go very well, it was a bit scrappy and our pacenotes weren’t great. But generally it’s been a very positive morning. Apart from the stall it has been the day that I was hoping for. On the final stage we went too wide into a slow hairpin corner, the revs dropped too low and we stalled, losing about ten seconds.”
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg said:
“We’ve had a good morning moving up three places. It shows that our start position made a difference and our times are much faster than yesterday. It is very tricky out there switching from fast to slow and back to fast again which makes it difficult to get the pacenotes to flow. The car feels really good but I am trying to find a better rhythm.”
Leaderboard after SS10
1. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) Citroën C4 2h10m24.7s
2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen (FIN) Ford Focus RS +6.9s
3. D Sordo/M Marti (ESP) Citroën C4 +37.5s
4. P Solberg/P Mills (NOR) Citroën Xsara +1m25.5s
5. M Wilson/S Martin (GB) Ford Focus RS +2m12.2s
6. H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR) Ford Focus RS +2m33.2s
7. Mads Ostberg/O Unnerud (NOR) Subaru Impreza +3m43.8s
8. E Novikov/D Moscatt (RUS) Citroen C4 +3m45.3s
9. C Rautenbach/D Barrit (ZIM) Citroën C4 +5m08.7s
10. F Villagra/J Perez Companc (ARG) Ford Focus RS +6m56.9s
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