Day 3 – Sordo falls… Loeb and Hirvonen in the lead

Sébastien Loeb confirmed his position as number one once again today for the first rally of the 2008 WRC season: Monte-Carlo.

The Citroën C4 WRC driver has widened his lead over other competitors, including his teammate Dani Sordo, who fell victim to a mechanical issue in SS11. Dani Sordo lost a lot of time. He was in second position yesterday and finds himself out of contention tonight…

Hirvonen, in the first Ford Focus, takes the second position effortlessly and without hopes of victory as well, with two minutes separating him from the Frenchman, poised to set a new record with 5 consecutive wins in the legendary Monte-Carlo.

Hirvonen therefore approached the second part of day 3 with caution: « Sébastien [Loeb] and Chris [Atkinson] are quite far from me, either ahead or behind. I will try to keep them at this distance if possible to manage my race. »

One in two cars is therefore at the finish in the WRC for Citroën, but it’s also the case for the BP Ford team, which loses Jari-Matti Latvala today due to a shock absorber problem.

The victory seems to be decided tonight, but the battle for the podium is still raging.

Atkinson – third – won SS13, just like in 2007, and is only 20 seconds behind the 4th driver, François Duval in the Stobart Ford.

« 20 seconds, it’s not too bad. But to be honest, I’m really happy with my day. » Commented the Belgian.

In 5th position, we find the second Subaru Impreza with Peter Solberg, who distances himself from Gigi Galli on Stobart. The Italian is gaining confidence but is still getting to know his new ride. « We are making good progress… but we are mainly taking this opportunity to get familiar with the Ford Focus. »

Jean-Marie Cuoq, the local of the Rally – an Ardèche native – slips into a very nice 7th position and outranks, for his first Rally in WRC, the Suzuki SX4 of PG Andersson. His teammate is in 10th place, enough to inspire confidence in the new Japanese team.

“A very good day – six perfect stages without any problems and with very good times,” said Andersson. “We are very happy.”

After being delayed by a myriad of technical issues in the first half of the rally, Gardemeister is making great progress today and is now just a few seconds behind the ninth-placed Henning Solberg.

The two main retirements of Day 3, Sordo and Latvala, resumed competition in Super-Rally despite their lost time.

Monte-Carlo Rally – Day 3 – TOP10