Round 2 of the WRC campaign kicked off today with the shakedown stage and a number of cars would not make it back to service without a battle wound courtesy a water bridge.
Petter Solberg would claim the fastest time in the shakedown with a 2:51.7. It would appear as though the gremlins that haunted the Norwegian during Rally Sweden would allow him to enjoy at least one day of the event. Both Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo would suffer damage to their Citroens with the latter actually busting a radiator. Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen would also collect damage from the water crossing with Latvala breaking a cooling package as well.
Much had been made of Ken Block’s first world championship start in Mexico and the American would end up 11th on the time sheet. He did have a moment during the shakedown when he suffered a slide that slow down his stage run. All in all a rather impressive start to the weekend as he has not crashed so far. More than what I can say about the Kimster’s first run in Sweden. Oh yeah….what about Kimi? He was able to set the 5th quickest time at a 2:54.2. Impressive way to bounce back after Sweden in my humble opinion. However, I still have $15 that says Block finishes ahead of him.
Stages begin tomorrow early and we will have a day one wrap-up here at the paddock.
1. P. SOLBERG. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:51.7
2. SORDO. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:51.8
3. OGIER. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:51.9
4. LOEB. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:52.5
5. RAIKKONEN. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:54.2
6. HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 2:55.3
7. H.SOLBERG. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:56.2
8. VILLAGRA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:56.4
9. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:59.9
10. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 3:00.1
11. BLOCK. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:04.6
I think you’re $15 is smart money. Block had a gearbox issue, and that really messed up his shakedown, but I still agree that Kimi will likely hit a rock or a cactus that will put him out of the rally.