WRC
31 March 2012Dani Sordo leads the MINI teams.
Dani Sordo set the fastest time on five of the last eight stages on the Rally Portugal during his spectacular charge through the field in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC.
On the 14th special stage the MINI fans held their collective breath. The dot bearing the number 37 on the GPS system was motionless, meaning the car it represented had come to a stop. Normally not a good sign. The number 37 is affixed to the MINI John Cooper Works WRC of Dani Sordo. Until that point Dani had put in a storming charge through the field which brought him ever closer to the leaders. He had won four consecutive stages, twice he was second fastest – each time only a few seconds adrift of Petter Solberg. The fans were speechless.
Now Dani was stationary. What had happened? Had his valiant charge come to a stop? Then relief: the number 37 GPS dot moved into life. Relief was visible amongst the fans and entire Prodrive crew. Exhaust gasses inside the car had brought Dani to a halt, but only briefly. Dani discarded a part of the rear bumper and removed a window on co-driver Carlos del Barrio’s side. The charge continued – with fresh air and renewed haste.
Dani Sordo moves ahead of Patrik Sandell.
On the next stage he again posted the second-fastest time. On Saturday’s final stage he proved quickest overall, enabling him to claim a total of five fastest times from eight stages to move into 12th place overall and best MINI WRC driver ahead of the final day of the Rally Portugal. Thus Dani overhauled team-mate Patrik Sandell, who held down a promising fourth place overall until the 13th stage, where an involuntary stop forced Patrik out of the top ten.
In the meantime local hero Armindo Araujo had prepared himself for eleventh place, with just 22,6 seconds separating him from his stated aim of a top ten finish when he was forced to a halt and out of the third day of the Rally Portugal at the end of the 15th stage with a mechanical problem. However, he is hopeful of taking the start again on Sunday.
The final day of Rally Portugal, which features a total of 115,08 kilometres and ends with the short 5,08 kilometre Power Stage, opens with Special Stage 17 at 07:59 local time (08:59 CEST). Live updates are available on Twitter.com/MINImotorsport.
Top 5 overall Saturday :
1. Mikko Hirvonen
2. Mads Ostberg
3. Evgeny Novikov
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah
5. Martin Prokop
