All-action Latvala and Hirvonen poised for day two push
All-action Latvala and Hirvonen poised for day two push
‘Flaming’ Al Qassimi’s ‘on fire’ and finishes in 10th despite ‘nightmare’ day
Dead Sea, Jordan. 25th April, 2008: After eight stages – comprising two loops of four - and 115 kilometres of blind crests, sweeping corners and action without traction, BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team safely negotiated leg one of the Jordan Rally today.
Ahead of Friday’s leg two, ‘Flying Finns’ Jari-Matti Latvala (third) and Mikko Hirvonen (fourth) are entrenched in a top of the table tussle with Citroens’ Daniel Sordo first) and championship leader Sebastien Loeb (second).
Although trailing Daniel Sordo and Sebastien Loeb, Latvala and Hirvonen will be confident of catching the Citroen pair who’ll be first out on the stages tomorrow and should sweep some of the loose gravel away for the third and fourth running Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority-backed drivers.
The UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, who won last year’s Dead Sea spectacle - then a Middle East Rally Championship stage and candidate World Rally Championship event - began slowly with clutch problems affecting his pace.
The Abu Dhabi driver adapted his driving style in the afternoon to get more out of his Ford Focus RS and his stage times steadily improved, despite flames roaring from the exhaust of his Abu Dhabi branded Ford Focus RS at the end of stage six.
Al Qassimi completed Jordan Rally’s Dead Sea and Mount Nebo leg one stages in 10th place, his best WRC placing to date. Despite the high ranking, the Emirati said nothing had gone his way.
“This has not been a good day for me, I have had so many problems - engine, launch control, brake issues and the back of my car even caught fire at the end of stage six!” said Al Qassimi.
“The fire brigade had to put it out and although stage seven went OK, the flames were back at the end of stage eight. The car was drivable but wasn’t performing to its peak and I couldn’t push like I wanted. It’s loose and slippery and as soon as I push for more pace I’m losing traction and it's difficult to control the car.
“There are many blind corners with huge rocks and it’s the same with the crests. Tomorrow’s a long day and I hope I can reach the end and then complete the rally on Sunday.”
With much of the pre-rally hype focusing on Jordan being the first world championship rally in an Arab country since 1976, and how the WRC field would cope in relatively unknown conditions, the slippery, asphalt-like ‘gravel’ stages didn’t disappoint with most drivers intent on sacrificing a fraction of pace to compensate for the lack of traction on the man-made surfaces.
Malcolm Wilson, Team Director, BP-Ford Abu Dhabi said Latvala and Hirvonen were ideally placed for a leg two battle and was confident the team would pick up enough manufacturers’ points to protect its three-point standings lead over chief rivals Citroen.
“We’re in the perfect position and Jari-Matti and Mikko drove faultlessly. Mikko responded well after his drama this morning and the chase for points is on,” said Wilson.
“Khalid’s suffered intermittent problems throughout the day and it has also been a while since his last WRC event – he’s playing a tactical game and I’m sure his confidence will grow tomorrow as he knows how to tackle this rally better than anyone.”
Third placed Latvala is predicting another session of leaderboard to-ing and fro-ing in leg two: “It is an exciting battle – I did not expect it to be this close. Tomorrow I want to try and keep my position or move up one place, but this is a good position to be in this evening.
“My confidence has improved since this morning but I am still using my tyres too much. I tried to brake more softly in the latter stages and be more precise but the tyre wear was still quite heavy so I need to work on that. It’s so different from any other event and they're not my favourite roads but I need to be able to drive on every surface. I had a few small escapes but no big dramas,” said the 22-year old.
Trailing championship leader Sebastien Loeb by five points, BP-Ford Abu Dhabi lead driver, Mikko Hirvonen, knows he’ll have to push a little harder to catch the rapid Frenchman: “I didn’t push too hard as there were lots of loose stones – on one I had one of the luckiest escapes ever!
“My pace notes were too optimistic and I came over a crest too fast and went off when the road turned immediately afterwards. There were some huge rocks which I just managed to avoid but I slightly damaged the rear right suspension. It didn't cost much time but the handling felt strange afterwards. I'm happy with fourth as I pushed hard on the last stage because I wanted to keep the gap as small as possible – the difference between the top four is only 13 seconds and I have a good road position for tomorrow. It is all to play for,” added the Finn.
Jordan Rally’s leg two sees the multi-national field tackle 109.84 competitive kilometres across eight stages featuring a similar format to leg one - two identical loops of four.