|
After two
days of fast paced action in icy conditions on the Monte
Carlo Rally privateer
Toni Gardemeister upholds Abarth honour having climbed
up to fifth place on the overnight leaderboard while the
factory challenge for honours continues to flounder. Hit
by transmission problems on the opening day in his
Astra-run Grande Punto Abarth S2000, the experienced
Gardemeister turned in a steady second day after making
good tyre choices in the tough conditions to climb up
from eighth place, and end the day 1 minute and 40.7
seconds off the rally leader.
The much
vaunted Abarth factory challenge collapsed within two
stages of the rally getting underway yesterday and
little improvement was seen today. With Luca Rossetti
crashing out on stage one, it was left to Giandomenico
Basso and Anton Alén to mount the fightback today, but
the former had a mixed day and slipped from seventh to
eighth while the latter climbed back into the top-10 to
end day two in ninth place. Basso is 4 minutes and 17.8
second off the leader while Alén is a massive 8 minutes
and 12.8 seconds back. Both felt that they had not
always made the correct tyre choices throughout the day,
with Alen’s rally being further complicated by a fire
that broke out in the footwell of his Grande Punto
during the final stage. He also lost time after being
stuck behind another competitor who encountered
problems. No Grande Punto Abarth driver has yet posted a
fastest stage time.
Although
Juho Hanninen and the Skoda team maintained their
comfortable pace at the head of the field throughout
most of the second day, it is the reigning Junior World
Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier who returned to parc
ferme in Valence this evening in the lead of the 77th
Monte Carlo Rally.
Hanninen
enjoyed a hard-earned advantage of a minute and a half
up until the final stage, when he picked up a front left
puncture after about five kilometres. The crew took the
decision to continue for the remaining 15 or so
kilometres with the flat tyre, but more than two minutes
were lost over the course of the stage.
As a result, Peugeot 207 S2000 driver Sebastien Ogier,
who was selected for the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team seat,
leads the Monte Carlo Rally by 32.4 seconds with one day
and five more stages remaining. The reigning Junior
World Rally Champion, making his Super 2000 debut, had
no major problems throughout the day but he is locked in
a close battle with Peugeot Belgium driver Freddy Loix,
who currently occupies second place. Hanninen is now
third after his unfortunate puncture, just five seconds
behind Loix. Like most people, Ogier found it hard to
judge just how much grip was available on the icy stages
and it proved impossible for everyone to predict how the
weather conditions would evolve.
However, Hanninen was not the only person to encounter
problems. Irishman Kris Meeke dropped some time as the
result of an off-road excursion in the morning but is
still firmly in contention for a podium place. The
situation was considerably worse for reigning IRC
champion Nicolas Vouilloz. The Frenchman’s title defence
has got off to an unfortunate start after he hit a rock
on SS7 and damaged the steering of his Peugeot Belgium
207 S2000 – forcing him into instant retirement.
One of the first upsets of the day was an off for Le
Mans star Stephane Sarrazin, who put his factory Peugeot
off the road on the opening stage of the day and lost
five minutes. Once more, tyre choice was the main issue
of the day, with the route containing a wide mixture of
conditions including ice, grease, damp and snow. For
those who made the correct choices or took some lucky
gambles, there were several important gains to be had.
As well as Gardemeister, Jan Kopecky (Skoda) also set
impressive times throughout the day after choosing the
right tyres for the conditions. The eighth stage, the
epic St Bonnet le Froid test, was particularly momentous
for Skoda, as the Czech team set first and second
fastest times thanks to Hanninen and Kopecky. It was
another good day for the young Franz Wittman Junior in
his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 run by Stohl Racing. The
Austrian ends the second day of his first Monte Carlo
Rally in 10th overall, having found the right compromise
between speed and safety in the treacherous conditions.
The IRC 2WD Cup continues to be led very comfortably by
the Italian driver Manuel Villa behind the wheel of a
Fiat Punto S1600. Local driver Guy Mottard in a Peugeot
206 RC is second while Englishman Nick West is third in
a Volkswagen Polo.
|
