Citroën finishes the first day at the forefront

Hot and contested, the first day of the ‘Jordan Rally’, a new event on the world calendar, ended this evening. At the wheel of their Citroën C4 WRC, Dani Sordo/Marc Martí lead this fifth event of the season. In the second car of the Citroën team, Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena are second at 1s1. The performances of the official C4s are complemented by those of the two cars maintained by the PH-Sport team and the technicians of Citroën Sport Technologies, notably with the sixth place of Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk.

If during the reconnaissance the temperatures in the Jordan Valley and the shores of the Dead Sea had cheerfully crossed the 40°C mark, this first stage took place under slightly less stifling heat. A loop of four special stages had to be covered twice, totaling 115.18 kilometers against the clock, the majority of which was below sea level.

With three C4 WRCs in the top ten, including two on the highest steps of the podium, it was difficult to dream of a better start to the race, observed Olivier Quesnel this evening. Our crews and all members of the Citroën Sport team have perfectly negotiated this stage. Dani and Marc were able to take advantage of their position on the road during the morning. They then kept up with the best times in the afternoon. They deserve their first place all the more since it is the first time in their career that they finish at the top of a rally stage on gravel. For Sébastien and Daniel, the opposite occurred. After a difficult start caused by the significant sweeping they had to do, they brilliantly turned things around during the second pass to allow us to achieve a provisional double. This will not prevent us from being very cautious tomorrow. Everything is still possible. The gaps are tight, and the road conditions will remain complicated.

The unfolding of this stage, contested between -410 meters (SS1), the lowest point of the championship, and 700 m, the highest of the rally, saw the Citroën teams take turns to shine. It was first Dani Sordo and Marc Martí who sprang into action.

We hoped that our position on the road would be favorable to us. That’s exactly what happened, Dani recounted. On this type of terrain, you should never go off the tracks. I tried to drive as “cleanly” as possible to avoid ending up in the gravel where it’s impossible to control the car. It worked well in the first three stages. However, in the last stage of the morning loop, I wasn’t able to be completely free. There were many crests and hidden turns, and I lost a bit of time. As expected, the fight evened out this afternoon with identical conditions for everyone. I’m satisfied with the start of this ‘Rally Jordan’. Now we need to firmly hold our first place tomorrow. We’ll do everything to achieve that.

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena can testify, as they had the heavy task of opening the road today. Finding a “cleaner” road during the second loop, the World Champion crew went on the attack: “During the reconnaissance, we saw that this terrain didn’t resemble anything known,” explained Seb. “It wasn’t easy to create good notes because everything looks the same. It’s both fast and tricky. I also knew that making the track would be a handicap. I struggled to find the right rhythm, my driving wasn’t efficient, and I had a few scares. After some minor adjustments, the second part of the day went much better. Without the layer of gravel, it became ‘simpler’ to fully utilize our C4. The gaps don’t mean much. A new race, as tough as today, awaits us tomorrow…”

According to a Citroen Sport press release