Day 2 – Ford leaves Sordo at the top of the rally

Dani Sordo is still leading the rally of Jordan, the first of its kind, but is ahead of the two Ford drivers, Latvala and Hirvonen, after Sébastien Loeb’s withdrawal. The Spaniard, with his Citroën C4, suffered a puncture in special stage 13 and despite a major disadvantage as the road opener, he managed to retain more than eight seconds over Jari-Matti Latvala due to a very strange strategy by the Ford drivers, leading with one stage remaining at the end of the day…

With 134 timed kilometers still to be contested on the final day, none of the Ford drivers want to take Dani Sordo’s place, thus forcing him to start first tomorrow and clean the track for them. It’s actually in special stage 15, with more than 20 seconds deliberately lost by the Fords, that suspicions about the strategy proved correct.

Latvala started the day in third position, setting three second-fastest times in four stages to close in on Sordo. After Loeb’s retirement, Latvala aimed to manage the gap he had with Sordo. At one point, he was just a second behind the C4 driver before ending the day more than 8 seconds back. According to him, it won’t be a problem to close the gap tomorrow…

« I’m close to Dani [Sordo]. I have to manage the gap », announces Latvala. « It’s perfect to manage the gap with Sordo because I don’t want to open the road tomorrow. I might not have to push too hard. I made a few mistakes this morning. I was sliding too much and ended outside in ES11 due to a notes error. Luckily, I never damaged the car. »

Hirvonen is also optimistic about his chances tomorrow: « I didn’t make any mistakes. It’s difficult to gain time. I can’t do better at the moment. I’m thinking about my position on the road tomorrow. Third is a good place as long as I’m close to Sordo and Jari-Matti. »

Loeb with his retirement did not restart in SupeRally but should do so tomorrow to aim for a constructor point. In the same accident, Rautenbach was also removed from the standings. These are the only two retirements and the only modifications to the standings after special stage No. 16.

Atkinson is now 4th, ahead of Urmo Aava, Wilson, and Henning Solberg.

Gigi Galli, who re-entered through SupeRally, moves into the top 10, just like Petter Solberg, who moves into the top 20.

There is still a very long third day for the drivers to make a difference, especially since starting in first position as an opener on sandy tracks will not be an advantage for Sordo, who also won’t have the cover Loeb provided until now…

Also noteworthy is the presence of Sebastien Ogier, one of the best French representatives in rallying, in the 12th position.

Day 2 Results – 2008 Jordan Rally