Rallye de France – after stage 9, Vico - Col St Roch
Another gloriously sunny day greeted 71 of the original 74 competitors who left Ajaccio this morning for the second leg of this 13th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Ten of those are competing under SupeRally regulations having retired yesterday, including BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen who restarted in 63rd position in their Focus RS World Rally Car after crashing yesterday morning.
Today's route takes competitors north of the Corsican capital for two identical groups of three speed tests covering 122.94km, split by a return to Ajaccio for lunchtime service.
BP-Ford's Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen started the day just 4.8sec behind arch rival Sébastien Loeb in their Focus RS. The Finns were faster than Loeb throughout the opening 21.88km stage from Carbuccia to Scalella but lost out on the final section and ended second fastest, 2.7sec behind the Frenchman. Grönholm was also second on the 26.55km Calcatoggio - Plage du Liamone and the 13.04km climb from Vico to St Roch to return to service 12.6sec behind Loeb.
"I'm still driving flat out because I don't want to settle for second," said Grönholm. "It will be difficult to catch Loeb but I will keep the pressure on so that he can't afford to sleep behind the wheel. I'm not taking Loeb's splits in the car during the stages. This was Timo's idea so that there are no distractions and I can just concentrate on driving at maximum pace. We both have to do that, so looking at his splits would make no difference because I can't go any faster anyway."
With little chance of gaining any points, Hirvonen concentrated on checking his pace notes and increasing his experience of the Corsican roads. He was 11th on the opening test before setting seventh fastest time in the middle stage and eighth through Vico - St Roch. He now lies 50th.
"I tried really hard on the first two stages but the times just weren't there," said Hirvonen. "It feels like there is something choking the car and I don't have maximum power. The team will take a look in service but I will take a stiffer set-up to try to find a better balance. It's hard to be fully motivated in this situation but I would feel better if I could set some good times."
Leaderboard after stage 9 of 16
1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4 1hr 40min 11.7sec
2. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 40min 24.3sec
3. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4 1hr 40min 59.7sec
4. F Duval/P Pivato B Citroen Xsara 1hr 41min 38.8sec
5. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 42min 05.7sec
6. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 1hr 42min 07.0sec
7. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 1hr 42min 24.7sec
8. X Pons/X Amigo E Subaru Impreza 1hr 43min 24.8sec
9. J Kopecky/F Schovanek CZ Skoda Fabia 1hr 44min 36.4sec
10 H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS 1hr 45min 39.8sec