Stage 2 – Loeb and Sordo take off… towards the double victory

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena continued their way at the top of the standings.

At the end of the second stage of the Ireland rally – the first of its kind in WRC – the Frenchman holds almost a minute’s lead over his teammate Dani Sordo and more than two minutes over Jari-Matti Latvala, who is on his way to securing his first podium finish with Stobart.

The top 6 during this second day has not changed, but the gaps have widened. Just off the podium, we find Mikko Hirvonen who is content with securing the points, thus allowing Ford to win a new manufacturer title, despite a Citroen double. The American firm only needs 3 small points.

Peter Solberg places the first Subaru in the top 5 and, just 15 seconds behind Hirvonen, he can hope to recover a position.

The young Guy Wilks on Subaru takes the 6th position and is ahead of Wilson on Ford.

In the absence of leaders like Stohl – who lost 30 minutes in a road incident – Gronholm or even Mikko Hirvonen, lesser-known names appear at the end of this top 10. Thus, McHale, Mikkelsen, and Ahaujo are 8th, 9th, and 10th.

So far, Loeb and Sordo have shared 13 of the 16 stages of the rally. The last two were won by Atkinson, in Super Rally, and by Latvala. The first was won by Gronholm.

There are still 4 special stages and 60 km remaining for Loeb to make a significant step towards the 4th consecutive title of his career. He will then have a 6-point lead over Gronholm before the final rally of 2007 in Great Britain.

Rally of Ireland – Standings after Stage 2 – SS16