WRC Wales Rally GB – Day One: The Action

After the three opening stages of the title-deciding WRC Wales Rally GB, there has been action and drama aplenty. Sebastien Ogier (Citroën Total World Rally Team) crashed his Citroën DS3 WRC only 1.6km into SS1, but was towed to Service Park to undergo repairs. He is on the leader board, but is out of the running for a podium. His role as support for team-mate Sebastien Loeb is still his primary objective this weekend.

Also suffering poor luck once again is Petter Solberg (Petter Solberg World Rally Team). He clipped a kerb in the same stage, but managed to still set a fairly competitive stage time. He is currently fourth overall, only 11.9sec off the lead pace.

The two factory Ford Fiesta RS WRCs of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala (both pilots for the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) are second and third overall, both within 3.1sec of Loeb’s lead.

Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo (both drivers for the MINI WRC Team) are fifth and sixth overall respectively, with Sordo engaged in a three-way battle for sixth position with Mads Ostberg (M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team) and Ott Tanak (DMack Ford Fiesta RS WRC).

Tomorrow sees competitors tackle eight stages.

Here are the overnight standings after Day One for three categories:
World Rally Championship:
01) S. Loeb – 14m 38.0s
02) M. Hirvonen + 0.7s
03) J-M. Latvala + 3.1s
04) P. Solberg + 11.9s
05) K. Meeke + 18.7s
06) D. Sordo + 27.3s
07) M. Ostberg + 27.8s
08) O. Tanak + 30.6s
09) M. Wilson + 36.5s
10) H. Solberg + 37.8s

Production Car World Rally Championship:
01) J. Nikara – 16m 10.5s
02) P. Flodin + 20.0s
03) M. Kosciuszko + 36.8s
04) J. Pritchard + 37.9s
05) M. Semerad + 43.9s
06) B. Guerra + 01m 16.4s
07) M. Al Shamsi + 01m 20.5s
08) N. Fuchs + 01m 24.6s
09) V. Gorban + 01m 26.7s
10) B. Al Jabri + 01m 32.4s

WRC Academy:
01) C. Riedemann – 16m 01.9s
02) C. Breen + 01m 06.0s
03) A. Fisher + 01m 32.8s
04) F. Ahlin + 01m 47.2s
05) Y. Lemes + 01m 57.9s
06) E. Kaur + 01m 59.7s
07) B. Reeves + 02m 32.2s
08) J. Cerny + 02m 38.1s
09) S. Karyakin + 02m 47.0s
10) M. Niinemae + 02m 57.2s