Rally Bulgaria 2010: SS2 - Loeb quickest again, Ogier up to second

SS2 Belmeken Lake 2

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb was the fastest man through stage two in Bulgaria, extending his rally lead to 16 seconds after the opening 59 kilometres of the rally.

Loeb's Citroen stable-mate Sebastien Ogier moved ahead of Dani Sordo into second place in the overall standings, while the closest man to Loeb on the stage was Petter Solberg - tackling his first rally with new co-driver Chris Patterson.

Solberg held fourth place overall, with Kimi Raikkonen rounding off an all-Citroen top five. Ford Focus driver Mikko Hirvonen holds sixth, 41.6 seconds off the lead.

Source: WRC

Rally de Portugal 2010: SS2 Santa Clara 1

Sordo sweeps ahead

Citroen factory team driver Dani Sordo was fastest through Friday's opening stage in Portugal to move three places up the overnight leaderboard into the rally lead.

Headed by Sordo, Citroen C4's locked out the top three times through Santa Clara, with Junior team driver Sebastien Ogier his closest rival and world champion Sebastien Loeb third fastest.
Overnight leader Mikko Hirvonen slipped to third after going fourth-fastest in his Ford Focus WRC.

Henning Solberg reported a power steering problem with his Ford Focus WRC, while Ken Block dropped almost minute to the leaders after misunderstanding a pace note.

Stage Times:

Source: WRC

Rally of Turkey 2010: SS2 Karabeyli 1

Times:

1.M. HIRVONEN 4:43.1
2.S. OGIER 4:46.0 +2.9
3.D. SORDO 4:46.6 +0.6
4.J. LATVALA 4:47.0 +0.4
5.S. LOEB 4:48.0 +1.0
6.F. VILLAGRA 4:50.3 +2.3
7.P. SOLBERG 4:53.5 +3.2
8.M. WILSON 4:56.1 +2.6
9.K. RAIKKONEN 5:00.4 +4.3
10.O. TANAK 5:08.4 +8.0

Source: WRC

Jordan Rally 2010: SS2

Times:

J. LATVALA - 7:05.2
P. SOLBERG - 7:09.1
D. SORDO - 7:09.5
S. LOEB - 7:09.6
M. HIRVONEN - 7:09.6
S. OGIER - 7:10.8
H. SOLBERG - 7:13.6
P. ANDERSSON - 7:17.0
M. WILSON - 7:18.8
F. VILLAGRA - 7:19.3
K. RAIKKONEN - 7:23.8

Source: WRC

Corona Rally Mexico 2010: Kimi Räikkönen in SS2

Source: Youtube

Kimi Räikkönen SS1 and SS2 in Mexico Rally 2010

Source: YouTube

Trouble on SS2: Kimi loses over a half an hour

SS2 was a troublesome one for Kimi. He stopped after the first split and when his times were recovered, he had already lost over 30 minutes.

Kimi Räikkönen: "We hit a rock and bent the steering arm and we couldn't go full speed. We changed it on the road section and now it is okay. In the second stage a connection came loose on the fuel pump after three kms.The steering is still a problem."

There was talk of mechanical problems on WRC Radio. Kimi said he had a loose fuel connection, unrelated to his problems on SS1.

He got a 2:40min penalty for finishing over 16 minutes late at TC3.

We'll keep you posted.

SS2 Official Times

Click to enlarge

Source: WRC
Thanks: maki @OF

SS2: Solberg fastest again while Raikkonen hits problems

Citroen privateer Petter Solberg extended his lead of Rally Mexico on Friday's second stage, increasing his advantage over second placed Sebastien Ogier to 14.4sec.

Measuring 23.83 kilometres, Friday's second stage, Ortega, is the longest of the day and the highest of the rally - reaching an altitude of 2,737 metres above sea level.

Solberg and Citroen Junior team driver Ogier were the two fastest drivers through in almost identical C4 World Rally Cars, with Solberg completing 4.6sec quicker.

After hitting a rock on the previous stage, Citroen Junior Team driver Kimi Raikkonen had a more serious problem on SS2 which brought his C4 WRC to a halt four kilometres from the start line.

Raikkonen stopped after two large jumps, but the Citroen team said early indications were that a mechanical problem was to blame.

Raikkon and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom are working on the car and more information is expected soon.

Raikkonen's exit promoted Munchi's team driver Federico Villagra up into tenth place overall. Otherwise there were no changes to the top ten positions.

Source: WRC

Kimi interview after SS2

Kimi Räikkönen on SS2 video

Source: WRC.com