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The factory
Scorpion team might have backed away from the toughest
of challenges, however Toni Gardemeister has immediately
registered his intent to fight for victory by winning
the the prologue stage of the 78th Rallye Automobile
Monte-Carlo at the wheel of a private Astra-run Abarth Grande Punto S2000 last
night.
"The time was
OK, but cleaning was difficult," said the Finn at the end of
the short stage, "I didn't know, if there was dry tarmac or
ice." The 78th Rallye Monte Carlo is the opening round of the
2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
Gardemeister and co-driver Tomi Tuominen
completed the 8.83-kilometre climb from Lente up the Col de l’Echarasson to the
finish at the foot of the Col de Gaudissart in a time of 6:54:2. The Finn, who
was lying second overall last year in a similar Astra
Racing-run Abarth Grande Punto S2000, before retiring, said
last night that he was surprised to have gone fastest of all having only completed 50 kilometres of pre-event testing.
Gardemeister commented: “The grip was better than I expected it to be even though there was ice
for 40 per cent of the stage. The speed did not feel so good so I am surprised I
was fastest.”
Although the results of the stage won’t count towards the final standings, they
will have an influence on the starting order for today’s opening leg. But
rather than tackling today’s four stages first on the road, Gardemeister
will be the tenth car to head out from the service park in Valence. That’s
because the top ten seeded finishers from yesterday evening’s test will run in
reverse order when the action proper gets underway this morning.
The other two
private Abarth Grande Punto S2000 machines in the 78th
edition of the world's most prestigious rally are being
campaigned by privateer French crews Renaud Poutot/Lionel
Currat and Olivier Marty/Thomas Roux, they were locked in
battle last night finishing 23rd and 24th overall on the
prologue respectively.
Meanwhile a
highly impressive 42nd overall out of the 55 crews to safely
complete the prologue stage was Martin
Rada and
Jaroslav Jugas in their venerable Alfa Romeo 147 TS. The
Czech crew, who turned in a true giant-killing performance
last year with the same car, were third in their class (N3)
over the short stage last night.
Nicolas Vouilloz, making his debut appearance in a Skoda Fabia S2000, was second
fastest even though he reported driving
conservatively for much of the stage, with his Skoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecky third
last night. “It was very slippery at the first corner
so I decided not to take too much risk after that,” said the Frenchman. Defending IRC
champion Kris Meeke was fourth in a Peugeot 207, with Mikko Hirvonen giving
M-Sport’s new Fiesta S2000 a promising debut with the fifth quickest time. Meeke, and last year’s Monte
Carlo winner, Sebastien Ogier, both picked up punctures during the stage but
completed the run without dropping too much time.
Skoda UK driver Guy Wilks was first to tackle the 8.83-kilometre course in his
Fabia Super 2000. He was eight fastest and said: “It was tricky because it was
difficult to see if you were driving on ice or a damp surface. If anything we
had the car set-up too hard so it’s something else we’ve learned and that can
only help for tomorrow.”
Portugal’s Bruno Magalhaes admitted he had struggled during the opening section
of the stage as he adapted to driving his Peugeot 207 on studded tyres for the
first time. He was 12th fastest. “It was wet Tarmac for the first 1.8 kilometres
and I lost a lot of time because of this,” he said.
The rally though got off to a very disappointing start for new Renault Formula One driver Robert
Kubica. He is reported to have retired from the prologue stage with a suspected
engine failure. It’s not clear if he will start the rally proper today.
Special stage one, from Burzet to Lachamp Raphael in the Ardeche region of
France, gets underway at 11:51 local time today.
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