The WRC season is hotting up as Mikko Hirvonen won the inaugural Jordan Rally at the weekend, with the recent rounds marking out three clear contenders for the manufacturers championship; BP-Ford, Citroën and Subaru.
Reigning champion Sebastien Loeb pushed hard but crashed out early on in the rally, not out on the field, but in a head-on collision with Conrad Rautenbach on an access road. With Loeb retired it was up to Citroën teammate Dani Sordo to bring home the bacon, but unknown to the Citroën team, as Sordo was out sweeping the road, the Ford-BP team played on tactics to keep Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala within reach of Sordo’s stage times and allowed Sordo the lead for most of the event. Unfortunately by the third day, the suspension on Latvala’s Focus WRC broke and he fell out of contention for a podium position.
On the morning of day three Hirvonen applied pressure on Sordo and came out of the scuffle with a slight lead over the Spaniard. By midday, that lead stretched to over a minute as Sordo backed off to ensure a podium finish rather than risk valuable points with unnecessary speed. To top off a superbly played weekend, Hirvonen claimed the final stage win, reclaimed the title lead with five points over championship rival Loeb and will go down in history as the first-ever winner of the Jordan Rally.
“My strategy paid off but I was nervous in the final stage. No split times were available for Sordo and I didn’t know how hard he was pushing. I really needed these 10 points and this is a great result for my championship challenge. I need to keep my feet on the ground and continue trying to find more speed and more wins. I’ve learned how important it is to consistently score points on every rally but 10 is perfect. It was a tough rally but it’s good to lead the series again,” said Hirvonen.
Although Sordo would have loved to give Hirvonen a fight to the finish, it soon became clear on day three that he didn’t have the pace to match the Finn. Nevertheless, he notched up a podium finish and kept his team seven points clear of manufacturer rival Ford.
“I did all I could to recover the lead but it wasn’t enough. Even so, I am pleased with our performance this weekend. We led on two occasions and I was delighted with my feeling at the wheel of the Citroën C4 WRC from start to finish. The rally was quite stressful but it was also beneficial for me. I’m sure the experience will come in useful on the forthcoming events,” said Sordo.
Latvala would definitely have rattled the Sordo’s cage had suspension trouble not cut his charge short on the third day. Even after repairs were made to his Focus, he managed a stage win and retains his fourth spot in the drivers championship, though he is now drifting away from the top three.
Third went to Subaru’s Chris Atkinson, his fourth podium in five events. Atkinson never had the kind of pace to threaten for the lead, but his consistency paid off when the two front running teams experienced troubles. Atkinson and Subaru are both third in their respective title chases.
“We had some hard times when things weren’t going well but we managed to get through. It was a bit of misfortune for others, but lucky for us. Sometimes that’s just how it goes. We’ve still got a lot of work to do and we want to be more competitive on pace and pushing for wins, but four podiums from five rallies is a very consistent start for us so with that I’m happy,” said Atkinson.
Loeb charged his C4 through the field with the intention of breaking into the top eight and scoring a few points – he eventually finished 10th, but did manage three stage wins while trying to make up time. The next event takes place in and around the town of Porto Cervo, for Rally Sardinia – an event Loeb has previously dominated.
