The second day of Rally Turkey spelt disaster for Friday's leader, Sebastien Ogier. The Citroen Junior driver was able to hold on to his lead for most of the day until stage 15 where a puncture at high speeds knocked him out of the running. The lead was handed off to the other Sebastian in the Citroen camp, Loeb. The reigning champ moved up the order all day, making the most of the tarmac sections. Loeb closed out the second leg over 16 seconds ahead of Petter Solberg. Ford's Mikko Hirvonen sits third, a mere one second behind Solberg.
Even with being first on the road Ogier was able to win a morning stage and kept the charging field at bay. Dani Sordo, who started second on the road had a much more difficult time and fell behind first Hirvonen and then Solberg. By the midday break Solberg had moved pat Hirvonen. Meanwhile Loeb overtook Sordo for fourth and was 15 second off Ogier's time.
On stage 14 the gap was closed to 8 seconds between the two as Loeb took the stage win and blew past both Hirvonen and Solberg in the order. It looked like a fight between the two Sebastien was forming until Ogier ran over a piece of metal on stage 15. The puncture was immediate at high speed and the Frenchman could do little as the car plowed off the road. Losing over three minutes Ogier rejoined the fight in fifth with damage to the left of his car; while Loeb went on to inherit the lead.
"We at last managed to open up a good gap and take first place, said Loeb. "Our lead is anything but comfortable as the third day will be long and difficult. The weather too could play a role in the outcome of the rally. If it rains, being first out on the road could be an advantage. In the opposite case, we'll just have to push very hard to stay in front."
The Junior driver was very impressive on the next stage, taking the win right after such an unpredictable crash. But with a gap over three minutes to Sordo, it looks Ogier can do little to improve his position.
"In a very quick part of the stage, when we were travelling at around 180kph the front-left tyre just exploded, even though we did not hit anything," explained Ogier. "We were able to change the wheel and get going again. Now we need to rediscover our motivation and get to the end of the rally."
Solberg was also on a charge today and was able to avoid any issues to move into second. On the morning loop Solberg went with new tires while the Citroen team picked worn rubber for Loeb. It seemed the right choice was fresh tires and Solberg went from fourth to second in four stages. Having learned their lesson the main Citroen team switched to new tires and Loeb easily dominated the afternoon stages. Solberg isn't out of the fight yet, but he'll have to stave off Hirvonen, who will start tomorrow with better road position.
"I'm so happy about the day and the rally so far," said Solberg. "I'm not going flat out all the time, these stages are so rough on the car that I need to back off a little. We are a small private team, with limited resources so I need to be careful. Had a puncture 7km before the finish on SS16 today and that probably cost me some time, other than that everything has been perfect. And it is so great to actually be fighting in the lead with the big manufacturer teams."
Hirvonen seems ready to take on tomorrow's challenging stages, "I'm excited about tomorrow. I have a good road position and I want to go out and win. I'm really enjoying the close fight."
Fourth is Sordo, the Spaniard wasn't able to keep the pace he demonstrated Friday. Sordo is only five seconds away so the top four order can easily change in any direction on tomorrow's six stages.
Further back Kimi Raikkonen sits in sixth, his best result so far since making the switch from Formula One to the World Rally Championship. Federico Villagra is seventh for the Munchi's Ford team, over five seconds off Raikkonen's pace. Mathew Wilson rounds off the top eight for Stobart.
Notable names making mistakes included Jari-Matti Latvala and Ken Block. Latvala rolled off only 1km into today's first stage, the conditions were a bit more slippery then his pace notes had estimated. The Finn struggled on and sits 12th after a day of major repairs.
"The first corners were slippery so I was cautious," commented Latvala. "Then we came to a long, fast right bend over a crest, which was flat out in my pace notes. It tightened and the car started to slide. The rear left hit a bank and the impact pulled the front into a ditch and we rolled. The car ended on its roof and we couldn't open the doors to climb out. Spectators helped us out and pushed the car onto its wheels. My pace notes were too optimistic for the bend."
Block was still recovering from a mistake yesterday and set impressive times within the top ten of most stages. Unfortunately the Monster Energy driver went off on the final stage of the day and was forced to retire after becoming stuck.
There are six stages left tomorrow, with enough distance to make being first on the road a tricky situation. If Loeb losses too much time his lead will be gone in an instant. Then the question will be which of the other top four were able to have the best pace? Solberg will have to hold off Hirvonen while being second on the road, while Sordo will have a cleared path and be able to chase both down. By the afternoon if Loeb isn't far behind he might be able to attack back, so expect all four to be flat out in the final stages at Rally of Turkey.
Top-10 after Day 2....................
1} Sebastien Loeb(FRA/Citroen), 2hrs., 19:13.5 sec
2} Petter Solberg(NOR/Citroen), -16.2 sec
3} Mikko Hirvonen(FIN/Ford), -17.3 sec
4} Daniel Sordo(SPN/Citroen), -22.4 sec
5} Sebastian Ogier(FRA/Citroen), -3:21.0 sec
6} Kimi Raikkonen(FIN/Citroen), -4:37.5 sec
7} Frederico Villegra(ARG/Ford), -5:10.1 sec
8} Matthew Wilson(GBR/Ford), -6:16.6 sec
9} Ott Tanak(EST/Mitsubishi), -14:33.6 sec
10} Dennis Kuipers(NED/Ford), -17:16.2 sec