Citroën faces (major) problems on the 2nd day

The second day of the ‘Jordan Rally’ ended this evening on the shores of the Dead Sea. Behind the wheel of their Citroën C4 WRC, Dani Sordo/Marc Martí are leading. Competing in a Citroën C4 WRC maintained by the PH-Sport team and Citroën Sport Technologies technicians, Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk are in 5th place.

The schedule for this second stage was quite similar to that of the previous day. Four stages were to be run twice for a total of 109.84 timed kilometers. Rocky ground, high speed, and intense heat were the main challenges of this Saturday during which the Citroën team did not see their dominance rewarded.

A very rare incident indeed put an end to the demonstration that Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and the C4 WRC were in the process of showcasing. “To try to take the lead in the race, we decided to start strong,” recounted Sébastien Loeb upon his return to the ‘Dead Sea’ service park. “Our Citroën C4 WRC was performing remarkably well, and my feeling at its wheel was truly excellent.” By aligning three consecutive best times at the beginning of the morning, the World Champion crew took the lead in the race and immediately widened the gap. Seb narrates the rest: “The liaison route between the end of SS11 and the start of the twelfth special was very narrow. There were also many sections with no visibility. In one of them, we couldn’t avoid an oncoming competitor. The crash was violent, and we couldn’t continue. It’s really unfortunate; we were in a good position for both championships. However, we are only at the 5th race of the season, and many things can still happen…”

« Definitely, since the beginning of the year, nothing has been spared for us! », lamented Olivier Quesnel. « At the end of ES11, everything was going very well. Our two teams were leading the race. Sébastien had overtaken Dani and had started to increase his lead. He was in control of the events… until this accident. It’s hard to swallow. We went from paradise to hell in a few seconds. This is part of the uncertainties of motorsport. We have to know how to accept it. »

There are also very positive aspects to take away from this day, added the leader of the ‘Reds’. First of all, our C4s have once again proven to be very efficient and reliable. Then, Dani and Marc had a great stage. Remarkable this morning, they managed to hold off their opponents even while opening the road. They then suffered a puncture in ES13 which cost them a few seconds, but they managed to return to the lead this evening. For the final stage, everything remains possible, as our competitors seemed to encounter problems at the end of the last special stage, where they suddenly lost 20 seconds… For the beauty of the sport, I hope they will have solved their issues by Sunday… and that Dani and Marc will be able to hold them off tomorrow.

« I knew that opening the road would be disadvantageous, concluded Dani Sordo. « However, we managed to limit the damage well. The rest of the stage started badly with a slow puncture that made us lose time. I then continued at a good pace to try to stay in touch with our opponents. First place was returned to us at the end of the last special stage of the day where our rivals, strangely, experienced difficulties. We will have to perform very well tomorrow to successfully defend our position. Everything is still possible for the victory. »

According to a Citroen Sport press release