Solberg nestles into fifth for Stobart
Henning Solberg continues to impress as he sits comfortably in fifth position after the opening loop of three stages on day 2 of the Acropolis Rally of Greece. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team-mate Matthew Wilson has also impressed and improved on his overnight position as he now occupies ninth position at the midway point of the event.
Retiring from yesterday’s leg has not seemed to shake the form of Gigi Galli who has achieved two fastest stage times out of a possible three this morning. The only thing stopping the Italian from completing the hat-trick of stage wins was when he got caught in the dust of fellow WRC competitor Conrad Rautenbach for almost 20 kilometres in stage 8.
Solberg used his head driving a no-risk morning to be over two minutes ahead of sixth place. The Norwegian is just 22.4 seconds off a podium spot and will look to continue this pace into this afternoon’s repeat loop of stages. The only problem for Solberg was an engine issue when it cut out on both stage 9 and 10. Fortunately this did not affect the performance or times set but the issue will be checked by his technicians in service before returning this afternoon.
Wilson began 10th fastest on the monster Aghii Theodori 1 stage – the longest of the event – followed by a seventh fastest on stage 9 just 10 seconds off the fastest time set by his team-mate Galli. Unfortunately the last stage was not the best for the Brit who spun on a fast section of the 10.8 kilometre test then picked up a puncture five kilometres from the end. Still he sits just 3.6 seconds off a drivers points’ position.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Gigi Galli said:
“We lost some time on the first stage as we were slowed by Conrad Rautenbach’s dust as he had a problem on the stage. All three stages were really good this morning and the car and tyres were working well and you can see this as we got two fastest times on the three stages so obviously I’m very pleased with that. We are not on maximum attack but I’m not driving to the shops for ice cream either! For sure the stages this afternoon will be even more rough and we will need to be careful not to cause any damage.”
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Henning Solberg said:
“We didn’t push too much in the first stage as the plan was to preserve tyres for the other two. But this morning has been good and is all going to plan and the only problem we had was when the engine cut out for a few seconds in the last two stages but I’m confident the team can repair it in service. I know the conditions will be worse for the second pass so I will need to concentrate.”
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Matthew Wilson said:
The stages are very rough today and we didn’t push too much on the first one as I knew from last year that it would be difficult. Our pace in the middle stage was good but then on the last one we got a puncture with about four kilometres to go and also had a spin on a slow corner near the end. So this has obviously dropped us some time but the important thing is we have moved up three positions from this morning. Now I’m close to drivers’ points but for sure it will be even harder this afternoon.
Leaderboard after SS10
1. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroën C4 2h04m54.6s
2. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroën C4 +16.4s
3. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza +45.9s
4. J-M Latvala/M Attila FINFord Focus RS +47.4s
5. H Solberg/C MenkerudN Ford Focus RS +1m00.6s
6. F Villagra/J Maria VoltaRA Ford Focus RS +3m06.3s
7. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWESuzuki SX4 +3m10.8s
8. M Hirvonen/J LehtinenFINFord Focus RS +3m36.1s
9. M Wilson/S Martin GBFord Focus RS +3m39.7s
10. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FinSuzuki SX4 +3m53.4s
37. G Galli/G BernacchiniI Ford Focus RS +30m18.5s