Full ice/snow round of the WRC 's, Rally Sweden took off on a high note on Thursday . It was VW Polo R WRC driver Sebastien Ogier who we...
Full ice/snow round of the WRC's, Rally Sweden took off on a high note on Thursday. It was VW Polo R WRC driver Sebastien Ogier who went fastest on the Qualifying stage, while the senior Seb, Sebastien Loeb clinched the Karlstad SSS [SS1] win to end the opening leg in his Citroen DS3 WRC.
Opening Day, top 5 result.
1 | Sebastien Loeb / Daniel Elena | 01:34.5Citroen DS3 WRC
2 | Evgeny Novikov / Ilka Minor | 01:35.0 | +0:00.5
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
3 | Jari Matti-Latvala / Miika Anttila | 01:35.0 | +0:00.5
VW Polo R WRC
4 | Mads Ostberg / Jonas Andersson | 01:35.2 | +0:00.7
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
5 | Mikko Hirvonen / Jarmo Lehtinen | 01:35.2 | +0:00.7Citroen DS3 WRC
_ ______ ____________ _ ____________ ______ _
Day 2
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| Sebastien Ogier screams his Polo WRC to be the fastest. |
Sebastien Ogier in his VW Polo R WRC is the fastest man on snow / ice at the end of Day 2 of Rally Sweden. He started his winning streak and the dominance since the opening stage of the day, totaling of 5 stage wins today. His team-mate Jari Matti-Latvala has been equally competitive, but couldn't manage to out-win any stage, which is accepted with his experience in his new car.
Senior Seb, Loeb was surprisingly competitive on the pure-white-stuff, which was not seen in the past and he sits in second overall, with a large 30s+ down the leader. Latvala is in third with a little margin of 1.7s down the nine-timer.
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| A Frustrated Mikko Hirvonen.. |
It was a disaster rally for Mikko Hirvonen as his car stuck into a snow bank and lost more than 25 minutes and fell way below point scoring points, to end the day at 30th overall. However, it was the local young Swedish lad, Pontus Tidemand who put a surprising and applauding performance in his homeland by finishing 6th overall at the end of the leg, in his first ever WRC event.
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| Thierry Neuville takes a big leap! |
There were many off's to other drivers, but few managed without much time penalties with the help of the nearby spectating crowd, including Dani Sordo.
And this year's Colin's Crest trophy goes to Thierry Neuville of Qatar M-Sport WRT.
Second Day, top 5 result.
1 | Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia | 1:16:00.1Volkswagen Polo R WRC
2 | Sebastien Loeb / Daniel Elena | 1:16:31.5 | +0:31.4 Citroen DS3 WRC
3 | Jari Matti-Latvala / Miika Anttila | 1:16:33.2 | +0:01.7Volkswagen Polo R WRC
4 | Mads Ostberg / Jonas Andersson | 1:16:42.4 | +0:09.2Ford Fiesta RS WRC
5 | Evgeny Novikov / Ilka Minor | 1:17:11.8 | +0:29.4Ford Fiesta RS WRC
_ ______ ____________ _ ____________ ______ _
Day 3
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| Sebastien Ogier maintains lead, at SS16 |
At the end of SS 16, Sebastien Ogier is showing his eagerness to keep his position over Loeb and maintains a good 26.9s lead. Loeb seems to be not in a hurry to push or being pushed as he is atleast 30+s lead from down under and probably waiting for the final day to yield the result he needs.
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| Rolled Qatar M-Sport Fiesta by Mathew Wilson |
Jari Matti-Latvala keeps his cool and his car on the road without any issues, while not worrying of the slip to 4th overall by a tiny 6.1s to the Norwegian, Qatar Fiesta driver Mads Ostberg, who now settles in third position at the end of the day.
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| Celebrating the win - Solberg couple |
In the down order, it was Mathew Wilson who went under serious scrutiny by the rally critics as he rolled the Qatari's car on being a guest driver [since Nasser had called in sick just before the start of the rally].
In the historic class, Petter Solberg with his wife/codriver Pernilla Solberg won the Rally by nearly 2 minutes in their Ford Escort Mk2 rally car.
Second Day, top 5 result.
1 | Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia | 2:18:22.8Volkswagen Polo R WRC
2 | Sebastien Loeb / Daniel Elena | 2:18:49.7 | +0:26.9Citroen DS3 WRC
3 | Mads Ostberg / Jonas Andersson | 2:19:20.5 | +0:57.7Ford Fiesta RS WRC
4 | Jari Matti-Latvala / Miika Anttila | 2:19:26.6 | +1:03.8Volkswagen Polo R WRC
5 | Evgeny Novikov / Ilka Minor | 2:20:06.3 | +1:43.5Ford Fiesta RS WRC
_ ______ ____________ _ ____________ ______ _
Last Day [4]
Sebastien Ogier clinches the maiden victory for VW Polo R WRC in the very second outing on a World Rally event. He beat his compatriot and rival [on stages] Sebastien Loeb with a comfortable margin of 41.8s and also took the power stage victory and its valuable 3 points to his collection.
Rally Sweden, Top 5 Final Result.
1 | Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia | 3:11:41.9Volkswagen Polo R WRC
2 | Sebastien Loeb / Daniel Elena | 3:12:23.7 | +0:41.8Citroen DS3 WRC
3 | Mads Ostberg / Jonas Andersson | 3:13:06.4 | +1:24.5Ford Fiesta RS WRC
4 | Jari Matti-Latvala / Miika Anttila | 3:13:13.5 | +1:30.6Volkswagen Polo R WRC
5 | Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Klinger | 3:16:48.3 | +5:06.4Ford Fiesta RS WRC
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