The FIA World Rally Championship season kicked off last night, with the opening round hosted in the snowy forests of Karlstad, Sweden.
The new generation of World Rally Cars also made their competitive debut and, with no fewer than eight manufacturers and WRC Teams registered for the series, 2011 looks set to provide fresh and exciting competition. And, at the end of the first full day of competition, Norwegian Mads Østberg has taken control of the leaderboard with fellow Fiesta driver Mikko Hirvonen second and former FIA World Rally Champion Petter Solberg third.
The event opened last night with a short super special stage in Karlstad, in which Sweden’s Per-Gunnar Andersson took honours. However, today’s action took the crews into the forests for two loops of three stages covering a total distance of 129.34 competitive kilometres. With snow having fallen for the last 24 hours, conditions were perfect for a true winter rally, although those running at the front of the field were left at a disadvantage as they swept the stages of loose snow.
Østberg, running ninth on the road, capitalised on his advantageous road position and won two of the opening three stages to take the lead by 24.8 seconds at the mid-day service. This afternoon the Norwegian claimed another stage victory but lost time in the final stage when he hit a hole and the additional bonnet-mounted lamp pods broke loose. He nevertheless overnights with a 14.8 second lead and heads an FIA World Rally Championship event for the first time in his career. Hirvonen and Solberg have had trouble-free runs to second and third respectively.
Behind the leading trio, Jari-Matti Latvala experienced a high-speed spin, losing the front bumper and rear spoiler, but remains within striking distance of the podium positions. Henning Solberg incurred a 10 second penalty for a jump-start and Sébastien Ogier is the highest placed of the registered Citroëns in sixth position, as well as the first non-Nordic driver on the leaderboard. The trio are split by just 10.6 seconds going into the second day of competition. Seventh and eighth positions are held by Sweden’s Patrik Sandell and Norway’s Eyvind Brynildsen, both driving Skoda Fabia Super 2000 cars.
Seven time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb has struggled, the Frenchman running first on the road and experiencing the worst of the loose snow. He also sustained a puncture in the final stage, but will doubtless take advantage of a better road position on Saturday. Kimi Räikkönen holds 11th overnight.
Rally Sweden – Results after Day 1
| 1. Mads Østberg /Jonas Andersson 2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen 3. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson 4. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila 5. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor 6. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia 7. Patrik Sandell/Staffan Parmander 8. Eyvind Brynildsen/Cato Menkerud 9. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena 10. Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr |
Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Skoda Fabia S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC |
1 hr 17 min 21.2sec 1 hr 17 min 36.0sec 1 hr 18 min 18.6sec 1 hr 18 min 31.2sec 1 hr 18 min 41.5sec 1 hr 18 min 42.8sec 1 hr 19 min 56.3sec 1 hr 20 min 04.7sec 1 hr 20 min 09.6sec 1 hr 21 min 33.6sec |
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