WRC - Rallye de France - Day ONE.. WOW...
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WRC - Rallye de France - Day ONE.. WOW...
WRC Corsica - Leg one report
It was little surprise that the winner of every stage of the 2005 Rally de France would end Leg one with the rally lead. But Marcus Gronholm in second place and Alexandre Bengue in third was a welcome surprise to challenge the Frenchman's domination.
Loeb enjoyed a relatively trouble-free day as did his rival Gronholm who had the pleasure of taking a win on the second stage and breaking the Frenchman's dominance on the event for the last 13 stages. Gronholm's major complaint for the day was with his brakes and the fitting of new callipers fixed this for the afternoon's stages.
Bengue also had a trouble free run once he made changes to his car in service. For the Frenchman, it was tweaking the suspension set up that helped his solid performance.
Alex Bengue
Dani Sordo, who was tipped to be the one to challenge Loeb for victory, suffered from problems with the car's electrics on the rally's opening stage, dashing his chances at toppling Loeb's tarmac strength as he dropped to 13th outright from the first stage. He ends the day in 5th, over a minute and a half behind Loeb.
Petter Solberg didn't enjoy the best day. He damaged his Subaru's exhaust on the first stage and complained of having little grip for much of the day. Solberg was also troubled with gear shift problems and as a result he set only one stage time in the top ten. He ends the day in 14th outright.
Mikko Hirvonen also had a day he would rather forget. He was dogged by problems with the Ford's launch control for most of the day, with a stall on the rally's opening stage and further problems on the Leg's last stage. He ends the day in fourth.
BP-Ford's Mikko Hirvonen
On stage two, François Duval failed to warm up his brakes sufficiently and then suffered brakes problems on the next stage. He finishes the leg in 11th outright.
Stage two was also unlucky for Jan Kopecky, as his power steering began to fail. The problem intensified on stage four and he commented that it was so difficult to drive that he almost went off on a roundabout on a liaison stage coming back to service. He ends the day 12th outright.
Stage three claimed a trio of spins. Chris Atkinson lost about six minutes after his spin, which damaged his exhaust and gearbox and resulted in selection trouble. Stephane Sarrazin spun on one of the hairpins in the village that the stage runs through. Matthew Wilson completed the hat trick, damaging the rear differential cooler as he did. This was also the stage where Solberg had gear shift troubles.
Leaderboard after Leg 1
1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen Xsara 1hr 13min 18.9sec
2. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 13min 38.8sec
3. A Bengue/C Escudero F Peugeot 307 1hr 14min 34.5sec
4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 14min 42.3sec
5. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen Xsara 1hr 14min 55.5sec
6. X Pons/C Del Barrio E Citroen Xsara 1hr 15min 03.5sec
7. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 15min 13.3sec
8. N Vouilloz/J Boyere F Peugeot 307 1hr 15min 23.4sec
9. M Stohl/I Minor A Peugeot 307 1hr 15min 29.3sec
10 S Sarrazin/S Prévot F Subaru Impreza 1hr 15min 38.5sec
*** As taken from WRC.com ***
http://www.wrc.com/page/News/Breakin...813382,00.html
It was little surprise that the winner of every stage of the 2005 Rally de France would end Leg one with the rally lead. But Marcus Gronholm in second place and Alexandre Bengue in third was a welcome surprise to challenge the Frenchman's domination.
Loeb enjoyed a relatively trouble-free day as did his rival Gronholm who had the pleasure of taking a win on the second stage and breaking the Frenchman's dominance on the event for the last 13 stages. Gronholm's major complaint for the day was with his brakes and the fitting of new callipers fixed this for the afternoon's stages.
Bengue also had a trouble free run once he made changes to his car in service. For the Frenchman, it was tweaking the suspension set up that helped his solid performance.
Alex Bengue
Dani Sordo, who was tipped to be the one to challenge Loeb for victory, suffered from problems with the car's electrics on the rally's opening stage, dashing his chances at toppling Loeb's tarmac strength as he dropped to 13th outright from the first stage. He ends the day in 5th, over a minute and a half behind Loeb.
Petter Solberg didn't enjoy the best day. He damaged his Subaru's exhaust on the first stage and complained of having little grip for much of the day. Solberg was also troubled with gear shift problems and as a result he set only one stage time in the top ten. He ends the day in 14th outright.
Mikko Hirvonen also had a day he would rather forget. He was dogged by problems with the Ford's launch control for most of the day, with a stall on the rally's opening stage and further problems on the Leg's last stage. He ends the day in fourth.
BP-Ford's Mikko Hirvonen
On stage two, François Duval failed to warm up his brakes sufficiently and then suffered brakes problems on the next stage. He finishes the leg in 11th outright.
Stage two was also unlucky for Jan Kopecky, as his power steering began to fail. The problem intensified on stage four and he commented that it was so difficult to drive that he almost went off on a roundabout on a liaison stage coming back to service. He ends the day 12th outright.
Stage three claimed a trio of spins. Chris Atkinson lost about six minutes after his spin, which damaged his exhaust and gearbox and resulted in selection trouble. Stephane Sarrazin spun on one of the hairpins in the village that the stage runs through. Matthew Wilson completed the hat trick, damaging the rear differential cooler as he did. This was also the stage where Solberg had gear shift troubles.
Leaderboard after Leg 1
1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen Xsara 1hr 13min 18.9sec
2. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 13min 38.8sec
3. A Bengue/C Escudero F Peugeot 307 1hr 14min 34.5sec
4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 14min 42.3sec
5. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen Xsara 1hr 14min 55.5sec
6. X Pons/C Del Barrio E Citroen Xsara 1hr 15min 03.5sec
7. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 15min 13.3sec
8. N Vouilloz/J Boyere F Peugeot 307 1hr 15min 23.4sec
9. M Stohl/I Minor A Peugeot 307 1hr 15min 29.3sec
10 S Sarrazin/S Prévot F Subaru Impreza 1hr 15min 38.5sec
*** As taken from WRC.com ***
http://www.wrc.com/page/News/Breakin...813382,00.html
