Dani Sordo closes the gap, as Sébastien Ogier moves up the order
A score of three fastest times from three – two for Sébastien Loeb and one for Dani Sordo – enabled the two Citroën Total World Rally Team C4 WRCs to showcase their speed this morning. Dani Sordo and Marc Marti are still third and have closed to within less than 20 seconds of top spot. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were also on form over today’s first loop and have climbed two places to fourth overall.Dani Sordo and Marc Marti succeeded in shaving 17.5 seconds off their overnight deficit of 37s to home in on the front-runners: "We dropped a bit of time on the first test, but went well on the other two which both exceeded 30km in length. I feel confident with my C4 WRC, but today’s roads are even quicker than those we visited yesterday. We’ll try not to drop any time this afternoon. In fact, it would nice if we could claw back a few more seconds."
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena profited from the SupeRally ruling to rejoin this morning and went on to collect two fastest times: "We found a good pace. There’s little more we can do now than make sure we reach the finish to notch up some Manufacturers’ points. It’s also a good way to restore confidence."
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were running sixth on the road this morning and succeeded in passing the two Solberg brothers to ease into fourth spot prior to the lunchtime halt: "Yesterday’s run did a great deal for our confidence. This morning, I felt particularly comfortable from the start, and that meant I was able to push a little harder. My aim was to catch at least one of the Solbergs, and we ended up passing both of them. There’s still a long way to go, but we will try to keep up the same sort of pace."
Conrad Rautenbach and Daniel Barritt are ninth overall: "I’ve got a good feeling with my car but that doesn’t show in my times. Our C4 WRC is competitive; we are just going to raise the ride-height for this afternoon’s second pass. I need to find a rhythm I am comfortable with."
Evgeny Novikov and Dale Moscatt also profited from the SupeRuling to rejoin today, and they have every intention of upping their pace this afternoon: "We had an electronic problem which meant we were a little down on engine power this morning. I hope we manage to cure that at service. My only aim now is to try to post some top times on the next few stages."
The morning’s three tests are repeated this afternoon, with the first car due back in Mikolajki at 6.38pm.
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