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Jordan Rally 2009
April 15th, 2009 at 3:34:56 AM
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 Jordan Rally 2009
Round 5, 25 - 27 April, 2008. Amman, Jordan.
Press Conferences:
1- Thursday 24 April 2008
2- Sunday 27 April 2008
Friday 25 April 2008
News Bulletin - Day 1
After the opening day of competition, Spaniard Dani Sordo leads the Jordan Rally, round five of the FIA World Rally Championship. The Citroën driver heads four-time World Champion and team-mate Sébastien Loeb, with Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala claiming the final provisional podium position.
This is the first year Jordan has been included in the World Rally Championship calendar. Based from the service park on the shores of the Dead Sea, the first day took the crews over eight treacherously slippery gravel stages and, with scorching temperatures that have neared 40ºC over the past few days, conditions have been particularly grueling for the competing crews.
Sordo took the lead from the outset, winning all but one of the first loop of four stages to pull out a 13.8 second advantage over Latvala. This morning he benefited from starting sixth on the road and, as a consequence, then lost time to his rivals this afternoon when the roads were cleaner for the second run of the same stages. He overnights with a 1.1 second lead over Loeb, who had a better feeling with the car this afternoon after set-up changes during the mid-day service.
Latvala has had a relatively trouble-free day, his only problem being high tyre wear and a puncture in the final stage. His team-mate Mikko Hirvonen damaged the rear suspension on the second stage, but is still only 13.4 seconds adrift of the lead. Chris Atkinson leads Subaru’s challenge in fifth position, after team-mate Petter Solberg was forced to retire with broken suspension having hit a rock. Urmo Aava has put in a good performance in his Citroën C4, the Estonian sixth at the end of the day.
Leading retirements of the day also include Gigi Galli (Ford), who broke the rear differential cooler, and Suzuki drivers Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson. Gardemeister had a suspected engine problem, while Andersson went off the road this morning.
Jordan Rally - Results after Day 1
1- Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 16 min 53.7sec
2- Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 16 min 54.8sec
3- Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 17 min 02.2sec
4- Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 17 min 07.1sec
5- Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot
Subaru Impreza WRC 1 hr 18 min 01.7sec
6- Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk
Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 18 min 53.0sec
7- Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin
Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 19 min 46.4sec
8- Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud
Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 20 min 16.0sec
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News Bulletin - Day 2
Citroën Total driver Dani Sordo continues to lead the Jordan Rally after the second day of competition. Jari-Matti Latvala and BP Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen hold second and third respectively, but all three crews are split by just 10.4 seconds after another 109 kilometres of competition. Reigning World Champion Sébastien Loeb crashed out of the event, although the Frenchman will re-start tomorrow.
Today’s route included another two loops of four stages over roads in the Jordan Valley, south west of Amman. Loeb dominated from the outset, overhauling Sordo and taking the lead after the first stage. Two further fastest stage times extended his advantage to 34.1 seconds. However, on the road section out of the stage, the Frenchman and fellow Citroën driver Conrad Rautenbach had a head-on collision on a two-way access road. While no one was injured in the accident, both cars retired.
As a consequence, Sordo regained the lead but was soon overhauled by Latvala and Hirvonen, the trio still split by less than seven seconds. However, in the final stage of the day both Ford drivers tactically eased the pace and dropped back behind Sordo, mindful of securing better road positions for tomorrow’s longest day of the rally.
Behind them, Subaru’s Chris Atkinson remains a lonely fourth, ready to capitalise should those in front have problems. Estonian Urmo Aava (Citroën C4) is fifth with Britain’s Matthew Wilson (Ford) sixth.
Jordan Rally - Results after Day 2
1- Dani Sordo/Marc Marti
Citroën C4 WRC 2 hr 29 min 02.9sec
2- Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 29 min 11.4sec
3- Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 29 min 13.3sec
4- Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot
Subaru Impreza WRC 2 hr 31 min 05.4sec
5- Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk
Citroën C4 WRC 2 hr 32 min 10.1sec
6- Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin
Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 33 min 59.4sec
7- Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud
Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 34 min 13.8sec
8- Federico Villagra/J P Companc
Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 35 min 59.2sec
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