1.8.2009 20:03

End of Leg Report

Day Three, Leg Two
01.08.2009

As his brand new replica Rothmans Mk2 Escort sat soaking up admiring glances in a sun-kissed Service Park, its owner was busy flying through the forests and no-doubt imagining what it would feel like to kiss the winner´s trophy... provided he could keep the car on the road! Indeed, Mikko Hirvonen´s fortunes would appear to be intact as day two draws to a close, his lead over a disappointed Loeb increasing to 32s after the Citroen ace resigned himself to second place after a puncture cost him any hope of challenging for the lead.
"Nothing else to do. Just trying to finish now," said the World Champion. "I took a lot of risks but Mikko was always in front. It was very difficult to try to catch him, and now the game is over."

Away from the top two, Hirvonen´s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was enjoying a real fight of his own, snatching third place away from Dani Sordo in the sister Citroen by the end of the day. But the morning didn´t start at all well for Latvala. A food bug had reduced the Finn to being sick in his car on the opening stage and after taking on board some food at lunchtime his constitution had improved sufficiently to allow him the audacity to pilot his Focus to fastest times through a third of the day´s stages. "It´s been a really, really been a tough day," said Latvala. "In the morning I was feeling so unwell and had to push against Sordo and he was so quick.
"Then in the middle of the day I was feeling better and I was able to get closer, and then it got even better." Sordo admitted that he could have driven better this afternoon, but promised a fight back on Sunday.

In the Junior class, Martin Prokop has led from the outset and is fully on target for a win that would crown him as the series champion for 2009.

There´s just the question of keeping it all together for one more day. Something all the remaining drivers share as their common goal, regardless of class or position...


Leading positions after SS19:

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 2h27m35.8s
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 32.0s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1m08.3s
4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 1m18.8s
5. Matti Rantanen Ford + 4m10.6s
6. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 4m28.1s
7. Jari Ketomaa Subaru + 4m59.1s
8. Matthew Wilson Ford + 6m01.7s
9. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen + 8m43.8s
10. Mads Ostberg Subaru + 9m45.2s