2010 Rally Bulgaria Day 2: Solberg fastest. Loeb leads overall.

Loeb leads the rally after Day 2

After Day 2 of the 2010 Rally Bulgaria, Sebastien Loeb leads the overall classification. Citroen have managed to hold on to the top 3 spots but watch out for the battle for 2nd place between Sodro and Solberg. Solberg was fastest on Day2 winning all the three stages of the day. With the 2003 World Champion almost on fire, Sordo was finding it tough to keep up with Solberg’s pace.

Solberg was quickest and won all of the three stages.

Day 2 of the rally had a probability of rain showers along the stages. For this reason Citroen sent Solberg out on soft tyres which worked perfectly as it never rained as was predicted in the morning. This meant Solberg was now catching Sordo. The Citreon team gambled on a soft rear and hard front rubber for Dani which did not pay-off quite as expected. Solberg managed to make up 22.1sec over Sordo’s 2nd best time and was now trailing by just 4.7sec. “We’ve got to remember that a podium result is the thing I am chasing here. I’m not going to go mad – but it’s been a good afternoon. We made some changes to the suspension at service mid-way through today and I have the real confidence in the car now. I could go fast before, but now I can fly.”, said Peter.

Mikko Hirvonen comfortably held on to 5th

Sordo was not quite relaxed after day 2 as his 2nd place was no more secure. “We had some understeer from the car running it with the tyres like this,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, but if the rain had come we could have made the advantage – we were carrying two spare soft tyres. It’s just a shame the rain didn’t arrive.” Asked if he was confident for the final-day fight with Solberg, he replied: “I’m looking forward to the battle, it’s always interesting to fight.”

P-G Andersson negotiates a hair-pin on day2

Sebastien Loeb on the other hand was relaxed about his position. “Everything is perfect,” he said. “The tyre was not the right choice, but it was the safe choice for me this afternoon. It made sense to do this. The tyre worked well, it was moving about and that changedthe handling of the car a little, but it was okay, I could adapt to it.”

Down the order, Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen settled into a good rhythm during the afternoon stages. Team mate Latvala had problems of his own. His Ford Focus RS WRC suffered from power steering problems which meant he had to drive through two of the stages without assistance. “In the long corners, I had no power in my arms to hold on to the steering wheel,” he said. “It was better in the less twisty, faster sections. My priority now is to see the physio. It’s frustrating because I feel I was driving well – before this problem my times were closer to Mikko than on previous asphalt rallies.”

Image Courtesy: rallybulgaria