Ogier fastest in Rally Portugal Shakedown

One of the stars
of this year’s Rally New Zealand, Sebastien Ogier, was the fastest
driver at the pre-event shakedown for Vodafone Rally de Portugal earlier
today, with former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg his closest
rival.

The four hour test – a prelude to this weekend’s rally –
took place on a 5.03km gravel road at Vale de Judeu, 12km from the main
Service Park near Faro. The same piece of road was used for Shakedown in
2009. Weather conditions were dry and sunny throughout, with a
temperature peaking at 23 degrees Celsius.

"I know Shakedown isn’t
important to the real rally but it’s good for the confidence to be
fastest and we have a lot of confidence now," said Ogier. "I found the
car very good, like usual, and although we tried a couple of different
set-ups we’ve ended up sticking with our usual one – there’s nothing
new. The road was slippery and cleaning a lot; more than the proper
stages I think. I was 16 seconds faster though on my fourth pass
compared to my first – that’s more than three seconds per kilometre – so
you can see the effect."

Fellow Citroen C4 WRC driver Petter
Solberg was closest to Ogier’s time, stopping the clock 1.3sec later,
while Citroen team leader Sebastien Loeb was third. "It’s a challenging
stage; maybe the most difficult of the rally!" said Loeb, "The surface
is loose and abrasive, just like the actual stages, but the road is very
fast and narrow. We tried out a few suspension adjustments but nothing
major. Everything was fine."

1. OGIER. Citroen C4 WRC.
3:05.0

2. P. SOLBERG. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:06.3

3. LOEB. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:07.3

4. SORDO. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:07.9

5. HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 3:08.0

6. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 3:08.4

7. H. SOLBERG. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:09.2


8. RAIKKONEN. Citroen C4 WRC. 3:10.0

9. VILLAGRA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:11.1

10. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:12.1

11. Al QASSIMI. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 3:12.2

12. BLOCK. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:15.7