WRC: Rally Jordan - Day 1 result: Ford driver Latvala wins the day

N oh 7 of 21 gravel tests around the Dead Sea, the Ford driver had a clear lead over the French Citroen Junior after almost 308 kilometers.

Loeb only achieved third place

The French Defending champion and World Cup leader Sebastien Loeb came in third, 31.8 seconds back. As expected, Loeb, who started first, had no chance in the battle for the top. With a best time on the last stage, however, he moved very close to Ogier and thus kept all chances for Friday. Petter Solberg followed in fourth place, around ten seconds behind Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen reached the target for the day.

Ex-Formula 1 world champion Kimi Räikkönen finished in tenth place. The Finn wasn't overly fast today, but he was on the road without major incidents.

Citroen with brush trick

Citroën has something for the Jordanian gravel roads Come up with something special. Whoever has to be the first vehicle on the gravel roads usually loses time because he is cleaning the track for his pursuers. To counteract this effect, Citroën attached two small brushes on both sides of the front spoiler of the C4, which are supposed to sweep loose gravel from the runway like a sweeper.

At least on the vehicle of Loeb's Spanish teammate Dani Sordo, they seem Mini-brushes have shown an effect. After a second place behind Latvala, Sordo was in the lead after the third decision. On the last stage, for tactical reasons, he dropped to sixth place for the second stage. 'That is normal in a gravel rally,' was Sordo's explanation. Loeb himself improved from sixth place in the morning to third place. The 55-time overall winner was eliminated at the Jordanian World Cup premiere in 2008 after an accident with his then Citroën brand colleague Conrad Rautenbach (Zimbabwe).