Sebastien Loeb was the first one through the opening stage of the rally.
He completed the opening test in a time of 13m 59.4s.
"It was tricky, but no mistakes. It was not easy to find a rhythm."
His team mate Sebastien Ogier who is determined to beat his rival Loeb on this years rally Germany began well sets a blinding pace on SS1 to reach the third split two seconds faster than his team mate, and finishing the stage 0.2s faster, even after damaging his DS3.
Fords Mikko Hirvonen finished the stage dropping 0.2 to Loeb
"Not a bad run. Quite happy with that. Could have pushed harder, I can maybe improve."
His team mate Latvala set the fastest time on the opening stage taking the early rally lead.
He went 1.2s faster than Sebastien Ogier and was a bit suprised with his good start.
"I had a suprisingly good start. I was pushing hard and nearly going off the road. In some places the car feels a little bit too soft."
Norwegian Petter Solberg was 6.7 slower than Latvala. He hasn't tested his DS3 much on tarmac so it may take a while for him to get the right rhythm.
"I'm trying hard. I just have to get into the rhythm, I haven't driven the car much on
tarmac."
Dani Sordo sets a time of 14m 5.0s in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC, 7.6s slower than Jari-Matti Latvala.
"I'm quite happy. For the first stage it wasn't bad. The roads were a little bit dirty."
His team mate Northern Irish Man Kris Meeke set a time of 14m 17.3s on the opening stage.
STAGE TIMES FOR SS1 WERE....
stage
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 4 | J. LATVALA | 13:57.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | 13:58.9 | +1.5 | +1.5 |
| 3. | 1 | S. LOEB | 13:59.4 | +0.5 | +2.0 |
| 4. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | 13:59.8 | +0.4 | +2.4 |
| 5. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | 14:04.1 | +4.3 | +6.7 |
| 6. | 37 | D. SORDO | 14:05.0 | +0.9 | +7.6 |
| 7. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 14:07.3 | +2.3 | +9.9 |
| 8. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | 14:12.4 | +5.1 | +15.0 |
| 9. | 8 | K. RÄIKKÖNEN | 14:21.5 | +9.1 | +24.1 |
| 10. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | 14:26.8 | +5.3 | +29.4 |
Tyre choice this weekend will be very important for the teams and drivers, and with both Citroen and Ford hoping for different weather conditions who will have picked the right tyres?
Citroen has gone for the softer compound and will be hoping for rain, while Ford will be hoping for dry weather having selected the harder compound.
Stage 2 begins and with reports of rain showers on the stage it looks like Ford will be losing time on the stages.
Sebastien Ogier set the fastest time on SS2 stopping the clock at 13m 18.9, 0.8s quicker than Team-mate Loeb.
At the end of the stage Loeb contemplated his tyre choice.
"We were not confident that it would be dry. You lose less time with a soft tyre in the dry than with a hard tyre in the wet, so we took that decision."
Unfortunately for Mikko Hirvonen his tyre choice cost him a lot of time on SS2.
He dropped 30.8s to Sebastien Loeb. Mikko struggled with his tyre choice on the stage. He did not expect it to rain.
Like his team mate Jari-Matti also struggled with his tyre choice dropping 40.6s.
It was very difficult. It was very heavy rain towards the end of the stage. I had a couple of moments. It's extremely difficult to drive on these tyres in the rain."
Unfortunately for Petter Solberg also struggled with tyre choice, his choice of tyre cost him more than a minute on SS2. A spin in the wet conditions cost him a lot of the dropped time.
Matthew Wilson became yet another Ford driver to lose time in the rain of SS2, he dropped more than a minute and a half to stage winner Sebastien Ogier.
STAGE TIMES FOR SS2
Stage
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 2 | S. OGIER | 13:18.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 1 | S. LOEB | 13:19.7 | +0.8 | +0.8 |
| 3. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | 13:50.5 | +30.8 | +31.6 |
| 4. | 4 | J. LATVALA | 13:59.5 | +9.0 | +40.6 |
| 5. | 37 | D. SORDO | 14:03.0 | +3.5 | +44.1 |
| 6. | 22 | O. TÄNAK | 14:10.4 | +7.4 | +51.5 |
| 7. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 14:10.4 | 0.0 | +51.5 |
| 8. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | 14:18.0 | +7.6 | +59.1 |
| 9. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | 14:22.2 | +4.2 | +1:03.3 |
| 10. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 14:22.5 | +0.3 | +1:03.6 |
So SS2 is over and most drivers have lost chunks of time choosing the wrong tyres.
Will they continue losing time of will they be able to make it up and beat the (very intelligent) Citroen Factory team drivers??
Going into SS3 there were no reports of rain on the stage as there were on the previous.
Sebastien Loeb was a bit surprised to set the fastest time.
"I'm quite surprised at the speed, because it was too dry for our soft tyres. It's going well."
Sebastien Ogier was 5.7 slower than Loeb because he didn't protect his tyres as well as Loeb did.
Although the weather had changed the Ford drivers were still having problems on SS3.
Mikko Hirvonen finished 4s slower than Loeb.
"I think the rear anti-roll bar is broken. It feels funny to drive."
He's very lucky that he is now heading to service where the team can asses the suspected damage.
For his team mate a right-rear puncture saw Jari-Matti lose more than a minute to Sebastien Loeb on the stage.
"12km into the stage we got a rear puncture. There was no impact. I think it was on a small gravel section."
Privateer Petter Solberg set the fifth fastest time.with a time of 12m 24.7s.
"I'm trying my best. It's very difficult with all the hairpins in this stage. Not so bad."
A fourth fastest time on SS3 and Jari Matti's puncture saw Dani Sordo climb up to fourth place overall.
Team mate Meeke was 11.9s off the fastest time.
It's not too bad. The second stage was tricky for everybody on the hard tyres. These stages are a lot different in a World Rally Car. These cars have so much more ability [than my old S1600 car]."
OVERALL CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER SS3
overall
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | M | 39:34.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | M | 39:38.6 | +4.4 | +4.4 |
| 3. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | M | 40:09.4 | +30.8 | +35.2 |
| 4. | 37 | D. SORDO | 40:29.8 | +20.4 | +55.6 | |
| 5. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 40:44.7 | +14.9 | +1:10.5 | |
| 6. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | M | 40:51.0 | +6.3 | +1:16.8 |
| 7. | 4 | J. LATVALA | M | 41:35.0 | +44.0 | +2:00.8 |
| 8. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 41:37.6 | +2.6 | +2:03.4 | |
| 9. | 8 | K. RÄIKKÖNEN | M | 41:41.3 | +3.7 | +2:07.1 |
| 10. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | M | 41:45.8 | +4.5 | +2:11.6 |
So the opening stages of Day1 are complete. The drivers now head for service in Trier before a repeat of this mornings loop of stages.
What will tyre choices be like this afternoon?
what will the weather be like?
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