Wine and Drama at Rally France

Seven-time defending WRC champion Sebastien Loeb was leading his home event, Rally France, when a failure in his engine put him on the sidelines and drew the curtains back on a dramatic event

Wine and Drama at Rally France
by Bill Wood

All over America this weekend people will be paying good, hard-earned dollars for the chance to see dramatic Hollywood stories they could see for free at the World Rally Championship round in France. Championships are at stake. First time competitors are in first place for the first time. An engine has blown up sidelining one of the best rally drivers in history. And all that was in the first of three days of competition.

First the headline: MINI driver Dani Sordo has completed a thrilling first day of Rallye de France Alsace leading the world championship qualifier with 2.8s covering the top three drivers after the opening eight stages south of Strasbourg.  Sordo is only one second ahead of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg at the end of stages on Friday.

"I’m really, really happy," said the Spaniard who's competing with the Prodrive Mini in only its first season and fourth event. "We have been working so hard for this and now we’re in a good place. There are still two days [to go] but today has been really good. To be leading Citroen at home is very nice but it’s only one day at the moment. I try to be flat again tomorrow." It's an unheard of accomplishment and a testament to Prodrive's development program for MINI.

Rally leader Dani Sordo of Spain.	Mikko Hirvonen is fighting Loeb for the 2011 WRC title.

In fact, Sordo's teammate, Kris Meeke, the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion, is fourth after the first day of competition in France.Solberg is also satisfied despite his one second deficit. He's in a privateer Citroen DS3 WRC and ahead of both factory crews including Sebastien Ogier whom he flat outran on SS7 of eight run on Friday. Ogier took over the lead when seven-time defending WRC champion Sebastien Loeb, the 2011 points leader, was sidelined with a blown engine on SS3 early Friday.

Ogier said his team would be carrying out a thorough inspection of his car after he reported a possible engine fault on Friday afternoon’s closing stages. The Citroen team was especially concerned about any possible engine problems after Loeb's let go earlier.  Citroen team manager Sven Smeets has confirmed that Loeb, who grew up just miles away from the Alsace wine growing region of France and last year's Rally France winner, would not be restarting on day two of his home rally. The WRC allows crews to get back in the rally with a severe time penalty under what's called SupeRally Rules. That's changing next year but that's another story here.

Ready to pounce now that the Citroen factory crews are not dominant for the second straight rally is the Ford World Rally Team headed by Mikko Hirvonen.

Hirvonen is 15 points behind Loeb in this title battle. He showed up in France with a new black paint scheme on his Ford Fiesta. The aggressive black livery was covering aggressive new shock and spring setups for the all-tarmac roads in France.

But all that aggression might have been too much. Hirvonen hit trouble on SS3 when he went off and damaged the steering of his Fiesta RS WRC. He’s 6.9s behind teammate Jari-Matti Latvala at the overnight halt in sixth position, having dropped behind his countryman on stage seven.

Hirvonen was sixth when he clipped a bank early in the stage. "I made a mistake a few kilometres after the start by entering a slow right corner too quickly," he explained.  "The impact knocked the front left tyre off the wheel rim and it filled with mud and grass.  Afterwards the steering pulled to the left, and the vibration was so bad Jarmo’s pace notes sounded like they were coming from a lamb!”

Hirvonen has expressed issues with tarmac rally competition and he's not as fast as many imagined with the new livery and aggressive suspension setup for France.

Before the rally is over Jari-Matti Latvala (R) most likely will be asked to surrender his fourth place to teammate Mikko Hirvonen (L) to maximize points for Hirvonen's run at the WRC title. Let's hope they remain smiling...