2007 Rally of Great Britain - Leg One

[ianwilly]

Leaderboard after Leg 1

1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr

17min 21.3sec

2. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 18min

00.9sec

3. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4

1hr 18min 19.2sec

4. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 1hr

18min 55.3sec

5. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4

1hr 19min 59.2sec

6. M Wilson/M Orr GB Ford Focus RS 1hr

22min 22.6sec

7. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 1hr 22min

23.6sec

8. M Stohl/I Minor A Citroen Xsara

1hr 22min 59.2sec

9. X Pons/X Amigo E Subaru Impreza 1hr

23min 18.8sec

10 A Mikkelsen/O Floene N Ford Focus RS 1hr 24min

03.1sec

1. BP-Ford

2. Citroen Total

3. Subaru

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

6. Munchis Ford

7. CRT Skoda-Kopecky

1. BP-Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team dominated today's opening leg of Rally GB to hold first and second with its Focus RS World Rally Cars. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were outstanding in dreadful weather conditions to win five of the day's six speed tests in south Wales and build a 39.6sec lead.

Team-mates Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen shared fastest time on the other special stage to end the day in second.

Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen: I was too cautious at the start of the first stage this morning because it was uncomfortable in the fog and I couldn't see much," he said. "I don't have to take risks and I didn't drive flat out. I didn't try to catch Mikko, I was just trying to control my pace, but my confidence wasn't so good because the weather this afternoon was some of the worst I can remember in my career. There was water on the car, under the car and all around the car - there was even water in the car!"

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "I guess I took more risks than the others and I felt confident with the car and tyres. That allowed me to keep pushing and build my lead. Tomorrow I will try to maintain it, but I've not driven those stages for a few years so it won't be easy."

2. Citroen Total

The weather encountered during the first leg of the 2007 Wales Rally GB, the last round of the season, seemed to go from bad to worse. At the end of what turned out to an awesome opening day, Citroën C4 WRC crews Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Martí returned to the service park in Swansea in overnight third and fifth positions.

Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "For once, I didn't set out with the intention of winning. It would have been stupid to throw everything away by trying to take the lead. We spent the day trying to adapt our pace to the difficulty of the stages and how we felt. Despite the thick fog that marked this morning's stages, for example, I had confidence in my notes and I managed to find a good pace. I didn't take any risks through the muddier parts where braking was very tricky, though. I tried not to cut across the deepest ditches and did what I could to avoid the rocks. There is still a long way to go but I'm glad today is behind us."

Dani Sordo/Marc Marti: Our Citroën C4 WRC performed perfectly; it's just me who needs to loosen up a bit. That said, the stages are so slippery and so difficult that it would be easy to make a mistake, and that's the last thing I want to do."

3. Subaru

On the first day of the final round of the 2007 FIA World Rally

Championship, Petter Solberg and his Welsh co-driver Phil Mills kept their

focus and consistency in some terrible conditions to finish in a solid

fourth position overall. All three Subaru World Rally Team entries finished

the opening day inside the top nine.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "I've never seen Rally GB conditions like this

before. Today has been very, very stressful, but quite good also. It's been

good fun as the surface is so slippery. It is good we are in fourth, but I

hope we can climb from there. We will try everything we can here to improve

on our position, so we will see tomorrow how we go. It's going to be a tough

rally and a long rally so I am not giving up for a podium."

Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: "We struggled with the screen which kept

fogging up in the last two stages, and it was always on my side so I couldn't

see much. I was driving with my head tilted, trying to see round the side. I

drove the last stage with my window down which helped, but there was mud

coming in. The conditions out there today have just been unreal -torrential

rain, full fog, just no visibility. You need absolute confidence in the car,

and you can see a few people having problems today."

Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo: "The screen was just completely misty for the last

three stages, and I just didn't see anything, it's incredible. And also the

last stage, it was very foggy so it was very difficult. For me, it's my

first time in these conditions, but okay, I have arrived here at the end of

the day. This is important. Tomorrow I think will be better if the screen is

ok, as that is more important than the conditions so I am looking forward to

it."

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

The OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team fights for a WRC-point at the last

run to the FIA World Rally Championship. But the first day of the Wales

Rally GB was anything but optimal for Stohl/Minor. A place on the podium

seems out of reach just like during the whole season. Therefore the OMV pair

at least fights to successfully prolong their Wales-series. For they always

scored points during the last four rallies here.

Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor: "It was incredibly foggy. We couldn't see our

hands in front of our face. Additionally our low-beam light didn't work

optimally. So visibility was almost zero which easily explains the time-gap"

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

In one of the most weather-driven days in this year's FIA World Rally

Championship, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford crew Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr have

battled the elements to finish leg 1 of Wales Rally GB in an impressive

sixth position overall. Team-mates Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud and

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila became victims of severe conditions and

were both forced to retire from today's leg with similar, visibility related

issues.

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "I was not happy this morning which started

off with a puncture but that is a part of the game. I couldn't really find

my rhythm today and then on stage 4 things got worse when the heater started

playing up and I couldn't see anything for the whole stage. This got worse

over the final two stages today and in the end Cato [Menkerud] had to use a

stick with his hat on the end to try and clear the windscreen because the

mist was just too bad to see anything. I just couldn't see a thing at all

when the screen was misted up. Then it was even worse in the dark and I had

no option but to crawl through the stages. I am so disappointed with today

as we were hoping for things to start off well here."

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "After a slowish first stage things got

much better on the next two stages. While I was still making some small

mistakes and sliding too much in places the rhythm was OK and we were in

fourth fighting Loeb for third. In the last stage everything went wrong. The

visibility was really bad and my wipers were not working properly. The rain

was so bad I couldn't see anything and then I hit a bank quite hard on a

very rough part of the stage which damaged the bumper and made the wipers

stop working completely. I really couldn't see anything at all and had to

stop and get out of the car a few times to clean the mud off the windscreen.

There was so much water coming up over the screen that I had no option but

to stop in places. It was a really frustrating end to what was a very

encouraging start to the rally."

Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr: "This morning was very tricky because sometimes

the visibility was fine but other times you really couldn't see anything

which made it hard to pick the right braking points. Things got better

though as the fog began to clear and it was really fun on that last stage

this morning. In the afternoon there was so much rain which made things very

difficult and that last stage is one I will never forget, that's for sure;

it was one of the most challenging I have ever done especially with the fog

making it almost impossible to see. I just cannot explain how bad the

visibility was; it was just a matter of damage limitation. I'm feeling quite

good at the moment and it's great to be in a points scoring position but

there is still a long way to go and a lot of tricky corners left in this

rally. My times today were very encouraging and it's great to be sixth after

the first day and even better to have stayed out of trouble today."

6. Munchis Ford

No information available at time of going to press.

7. CRT Skoda-Kopecky

No information available at time of going to press, please check site later.

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Remaining Event Schedule

Saturday 1 December: Leg 2 Swansea - Swansea

Serv C Swansea (10 mins) 08.00

SS7 Crychan 1 19.56km 09.38

SS8 Epynt 1 13.76km 10.21

SS9 Halfway 1 18.37km 10.54

Serv D Swansea (30 mins) 12.49

SS10 Crychan 2 19.56km 14.47

SS11 Epynt 2 13.76km 15.30

SS12 Halfway 2 18.37km 16.29

SS13 Cardiff 1.10km 19.00

Serv E Swansea (45 mins) 20.10

Finish Swansea 20.55

Total 104.48km

Sunday 2 December: Leg 3 Swansea - Swansea

Serv F Swansea (10 mins) 06.25

SS14 Brechfa 1 28.89km 07.46

SS15 Trawscoed 1 28.24km 08.33

Serv G Swansea (30 mins) 10.28

SS16 Brechfa 2 28.89km 12.09

SS17 Trawscoed 2 28.24km 12.56

Finish Cardiff 15.10

Total 114.26km

Rally total 359.54km